Age: Grade(s) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, Kindergarten
Subjects: Art, Biology, Environmental Problems, Geography, Health, Industrial Arts, Language Arts, Mathematics, Social Studies, Technology
Skills: analysis, communication, composition, cooperation, drawing, interpretation, observation, planning, reading, research
Duration: two 45-minute periods and at least one full day for outdoor projects
Group Size: small groups working simultaneously
Setting: indoors and outdoors
Related Links
Objectives
Students will:
- Understand the relationship between habitat health and human activities both inland and along coasts.
- Discover the value of aquatic habitats, such as saltmarshes, estuaries, and prairie potholes, to migratory species.
- Cope with the challenge of coexisting with marine migrants and other wildlife.
- Work in partnership with their communities and other schools in Canada and throughout the Western Hemisphere.
- Collect data and organize information about marine habitats and migratory species.
- Cultivate a sense of responsible stewardship toward marine habitats and species through ocean action projects.
Procedure
- Assign the resource sheet entitled "Ocean Life on the Move" to students as homework or as a classroom reading activity.
- Discuss, as a class, the importance of aquatic and terrestrial habitats to ocean migrants and to all other life forms. Consider how these habitats serve as national and international links in migratory pathways and how human activities, such as agriculture and industry, affect these environments. Point out that doing the projects in this kit can raise students' awareness of ocean issues and help them restore marine habitats.
- Have students choose suitable projects from the pages below. They may also brainstorm project ideas of their own.
- Obtain permission from parents and your school principal, as well as your municipality or landowners, before undertaking projects near water. Keep these participants informed and involved while projects are under way. Ask an area by-laws inspector or conservation authority if there are any regulations that you must follow.
- Tackle one or more projects, ideally working in cooperation with your community and in partnership with a coastal or inland school elsewhere in the Western Hemisphere.
- After implementing projects, follow up with awareness activities to broaden student learning and to confirm that your educational objectives have been met.
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