Life Cycle - Natural Environment (KA)
Post Lab 

   
OBJECTIVES:
  • Describing a favorite environment.
  • Comparing environments.
VOCABULARY:
  • environment
MATERIALS:
  • worksheet
  • Curious Creatures in Peculiar Places by A. Koss (optional)

Students use a worksheet to describe their favorite environment. 

BACKGROUND:

There are many different places on Earth where organisms can live. These areas can be called an organism’s environment.   Students may not be aware that humans and wildlife share environments.  Many times humans intrude into the range of many wildlife, causing some of the wildlife to go extinct.  Wildlife is present in or on nearly all areas of the Earth's surface.  There are some areas like tropical rainforests that have more wildlife than other areas of the world.   

Humans and wildlife all depend on the Earth for their living conditions.   Humans and wildlife have habitats that include components like food, water, shelter or cover, space, and the arrangement of these in relation to each other.  Any environmental changes in any of the habitats can affect the life of an organism.

PROCEDURE:
  1. Curious Creatures in Peculiar Places by A. Koss is an excellent poetry book that introduces different animals from exotic lands around the world. "Toads with fire-engine red tummies, goggly-eyed tarsiers with sticky fingers and sloths who hang upside down from their toes are among the many creatures you'll find in this look at some of the nature's most bizarre animals and where they live.  Lively rhymes provide oodles of facts to fascinate all readers (from the book)."  Read some of the poems to the students and have the students locate the place where the animals are from.  Note that in front of the book there is a map locating the different animals.
       
  2. On the worksheet children need to describe their favorite environment.  Instruct the students to circle the word that they feel best describes their favorite environment.  For instance, the first environment can be green, brown, or blue.  A student likes a blue environment (representing water), so he or she would use a blue crayon and circle the word.  Green is for forest and brown is for the desert or dry mountains.  
       
  3. At the end of the activity, have students draw their favorite environment and see if it matches their descriptions.  For instance, if a child draws the forest and traces brown, they might have a little explaining to do.

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