K-3, Unit Two:"My Home's in the Park"

Introduction and Teacher Background

As background for activities to come in this guide’s sequence, students need some basic introductions to the occupants of the International Peace Park, and the ways in which they interact. This unit serves that purpose (along with unit four on bears), but does double duty in introducing such concepts as habitat, community, carrying capacity, predator-prey, herbivore/omnivore/carnivore and food chains. It uses local animals – animals students have a reasonable chance of seeing near their home – to introduce the concepts.

Animals are inherently fascinating to students in primary grades. Plants are usually much less so, probably because they aren’t scary or cuddly, and they don’t move. For that reason, the K – 3 units are more specific about animals and treat plants generally. The specifics on plants come later in the sequence, at the 4 – 6 and 7 – 12 levels.

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Activity 1: Who's Wild?
Grades: K-1
Methods: Students learn the differences between wildlife and domesticated animals.
Time: 30 minutes
Subjects: Life science, visual arts

Activity 2: Habitat is Home
Grades: 1-3
Methods: Students explore the idea that animals need a home and what the basic parts of a habitat are. They compare student homes with animals homes.
Time: 30 minutes
Subjects: Life science, visual arts, physical education

Activity 3: Habitat Hunt
Grades: 1-3
Methods: Students will understand the difficulty animals have finding all the components of their habitats through a rol-playing game (best done outside).
Time: 30 minutes
Subjects: Life science, physical education

Activity 4: Is There Room for Everybody?
Grades: 3
Methods: Students will develop an awareness of carrying capacity (the number of species that can survive in an area over time) and its relationship to habitat).
Time: 45 minutes
Subjects: Life science, physical education, mathematics

Activity 5: Who Eats Who?
Grades: 2-3
Methods: Students are able to classify animals by their basic food sources (herbivore, omnivore, and carnivore).
Time: 45 minutes
Subjects: Life science, visual arts

Activity 6: Track Stories
Grades: 2-3
Methods: Students will learn differences between predator and prey tracks, and unravel track mysteries to tell a story.
Time: 30 minutes
Subjects: Visual arts, life science

Activity 7: The Web of Life
Grades: 2-3
Methods: Students will be able to illustrate the interrelationships of the Waterton Glacier International Peace Park animals and plants through the weaving of a simple web.
Time: about 45 minutes
Subjects: Life science, physical science

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