We have just started our last topic of the school year: Environments! This unit begins with very basic information and vocabulary, such as producer/consumer/decomposer, biotic/abiotic factors, herbivore/omnivore/carnivore, and predator/prey. Once students are comfortable with the vocabulary terms, we will move to food chains and food webs. Throughout this unit, we will be discussing various biomes around the world. There are slightly different biomes based on where the information is coming from, so we will use the ones in the textbook for our current unit. One very important part of this unit is the importance of each factor (plant or animal) within that single environment, and the effects of even one factor being removed due to disease, hunting, or similar situation.
We will also spend time talking about animal adaptations, which allows us to watch some amazing videos that show another side of animals. Many are way more intelligent than they may seem!
We watched a video on decomposers early in this unit because that was one that the students seem least familiar with. Many were confusing decomposers with scavengers. You can view the video here.
Here is another video that the students will watch about predator and prey interactions in the ocean.
This link gives a thorough overview of the initial part of this unit, and this link will take you to a game that helps students identify producers, consumers, and decomposers.
This game will help students understand the dynamics in an environment, and how the various levels of the food chains interact and affect one another.
We will also spend time talking about animal adaptations, which allows us to watch some amazing videos that show another side of animals. Many are way more intelligent than they may seem!
We watched a video on decomposers early in this unit because that was one that the students seem least familiar with. Many were confusing decomposers with scavengers. You can view the video here.
Here is another video that the students will watch about predator and prey interactions in the ocean.
This link gives a thorough overview of the initial part of this unit, and this link will take you to a game that helps students identify producers, consumers, and decomposers.
This game will help students understand the dynamics in an environment, and how the various levels of the food chains interact and affect one another.
Additional Videos
The students watched additional videos on animal intelligence and animal adaptations. The discussions about adaptations focused on both physical and behavioral/learned adaptations. There are LOTS of amazing videos available! Here are a few:
Paul Nicklen TED Talk about Arctic wildlife interactions
Are Crows the ultimate problem solvers? Excerpt from Nova's Inside the Animal Mind
How Smart Are Animals? (NOVA)
Why You Can't Outrun a Cheetah (Smithsonian)
Dolphin Mud Rings (BBC One Life)
Whales Feeding as a Team (PBS Fellowship of the Whales)
Shark vs. Octopus (National Geographic)
Beneath the Waters of Cocos Island (NOVA: Island of the Sharks)
The final video if the unit is not one available online. It is the PBS NOVA video titled "Wild Predator Invasion". The students watched it on DVD in class. The focus is on the effects of removing apex predators from an environment (such as the wolves from Yellowstone), and then the process of reintroducing the predators back into that area. There are also sections about introducing non-native species to an area.
Paul Nicklen TED Talk about Arctic wildlife interactions
Are Crows the ultimate problem solvers? Excerpt from Nova's Inside the Animal Mind
How Smart Are Animals? (NOVA)
Why You Can't Outrun a Cheetah (Smithsonian)
Dolphin Mud Rings (BBC One Life)
Whales Feeding as a Team (PBS Fellowship of the Whales)
Shark vs. Octopus (National Geographic)
Beneath the Waters of Cocos Island (NOVA: Island of the Sharks)
The final video if the unit is not one available online. It is the PBS NOVA video titled "Wild Predator Invasion". The students watched it on DVD in class. The focus is on the effects of removing apex predators from an environment (such as the wolves from Yellowstone), and then the process of reintroducing the predators back into that area. There are also sections about introducing non-native species to an area.
Live Animal Cams
The Monterey Bay Aquarium in California has several live animal cams so that the public can view the animals any time during the day. I have linked those cameras below.
There are also several Eagle Cams from around the country. Some of these will have nests with baby eagles so that the public can watch them grow. Below are a few options.