Aim:
1. What is an endangered
species?
2. What is the difference between endangered and extinct species?
Motivation:
1.
Display pictures from Internet sites and teacher photographs of extinct
and endangered species.
2. Students examine pictures to discover what all of these
animals have in common.
3. Elicit the fact that the animals are extinct or endangered.
Vocabulary:
extinct | no longer in existence |
endangered | existence is threatened, they face extinction |
To develop an awareness of man's
role in the extinction of living things.
To foster a respect for these living things through daily actions.
Procedure:
1. Use these Internet sites to research
these endangered and extinct animals:
http://rom.on.ca/biodiversity/auk/
(photos and information related to the great auk)
http://bagheera.com/inthewild/ext_pigeon.htm
(information on the extinction of the passenger pigeon)
http://sites.state.pa.us/PA_Exec/PGC/pigeon/profile.htm
(photos and information about the extinction of the passenger pigeon)
http://geocities.com/SunsetStrip/5283/Memorial.html
(photo and information relating to the Labrador duck)
extinct: great auk, passenger
pigeon, and the Labrador duck
endangered: whooping crane,
grizzly bear, and bald eagle
Students add two more animals of their choice that are
extinct or endangered.
2. Students record
findings on chart.
ANIMAL | EXTINCT | ENDANGERED | CAUSES OF EXTINCTION OR ENDANGERMENT |
great
auk
Photo by Brian Boyle |
|
||
bald
eagle
Photo by Tim Knight |
|
||
passenger pigeon
photo by Luther Goldman |
|
||
whooping crane
photo by USFWS |
|
||
labrador duck
photo |
|
||
grizzly bear
photo by John Marriott |
|
3. Results are shared by all students.
4. Elicit the fact that man has been responsible for
the loss of more species since his time on earth than the losses
that occurred in all the other eras put together.
5. Read quote from letter from Chief Seattle to U. S.
Government: "Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of the earth...
We do not understand when the buffalo are all slaughtered, the wild horses
are tamed, the secret corners of the forest heavy with scent of many many,
and the view of the ripe hills blotted by talking wires. Where is the thicket?
Gone. Where is the eagle? Gone. The end of living and the beginning of survival."
Students discuss with partner what they think Chief Seattle's words mean.
Elicit that man must respect all living things and that what one man does
to the environment affects future generations.
6. Student write a letter
to Senator Hillary Clinton asking for congress to pass more legislation
to protect endangered species.
7. Students can create posters using information they
have learned about endangered species, for display on bulletin boards. See
student poster