Marvelous Moose
Erin Anderson
ESMIS: Isle Royale, 2002
First Grade Lesson
Overview:
“Marvelous Moose” is designed to incorporate habitats and the food chain into a first grade classroom. It can easily be adapted for other primary grades (K-2) and focuses on learning about the habitat, diet, and life cycle of the moose. Though it can be used as a science unit, it also utilizes literature and art. It will take approximately a week to complete and meets Michigan educational standards.
Learner Expectations:
Students will learn about the forest habitat of moose through hands-on exploration, discussion, problem solving, and literature. The students will use the content to apply knowledge of words and sounds as well as illustrations to create a “Marvelous Moose” book. Depending on each student's individual level, the teacher may have students fill out the entire sentence, complete partial sentences, or copy sentences.
Activities and Procedures:
The lesson will begin with the teacher presenting a partially stripped aspen branch, moose scat, and a moose print. The students will explore the items in a detective role. They will view clues that indicate the presence of an animal and make predictions about what animals might create the signs. The teacher will then list the students' data and the class will compare and contrast the predictions. The teacher will give input on correlations and help the students to apply clues to determine specific animal characteristics.
After analyzing the data, the teacher will present that the lesson will be about moose. Mapping skills will be used to locate habitats using the “Michigan Moose” DNR pamphlet and a Michigan map. Attention can be made to Isle Royale, an island in Lake Superior, where the food chain is surprisingly simple. The vegetation consisted largely of aspen, balsam fir, and plants, which are the choice diet of a moose. Moose are hunted on the island only by only one predator, wolves, since hunting is not allowed and no other predator exists.
Following that activity, a nonfiction moose book, such as Our Wild World Series: Moose by Anthony D. Fredericks, will be read and discussed. This can easily be done over several days because the literature has so much content. Students will discuss the habitat information and photographs. Then, each student will create a “Marvelous” habitat book to assess knowledge. With the teacher's help, students will determine ways moose function within a habitat. The habitat activity is based on critical comprehension skills of reading: who, what, when, where, why. Questioning students throughout the readings will increase their grasp of the material and help students to understand nonfiction text.
During the activity, students will work on sounding out words, completing sentences, and utilizing information for illustration. The teacher will help the students to read the sentences and determine appropriate answers, if necessary. Discussion and research can be integrated into the book to enhance the content and tailor it to a particular classroom's interest in forest ecology. The unit can be expanded to include plants and wolves.
Resources and Materials:
A selection of drawing materials should be available for book illustrations. Also, a bit of brown faux fur or fabric to glue on to the moose on the cover page will add texture to the individual cover pages. Aspen and fir leaves pressed in wax paper can serve as decorations. The books can be placed in a classroom library or displayed at conferences.
Performance Assessment Strategies:
By using the following rubric, the students' final products can be evaluated.
4 The student understood the material presented about moose habitat. The project showed considerable effort and the student used knowledge of words and sounds to create the project.
3 The student understood the material presented about moose habitat. The project showed some careful effort, but was lacking in some areas. The student used knowledge of words and sounds to create the project, in most cases.
2 The student mostly understood the material presented about moose habitat but made some errors. The project showed some careful effort, but was lacking in many areas. The student did use knowledge of words and sounds to create the project, but not in most cases.
1 The student made many errors in the moose habitat book. The project showed no indication of use of words and sounds to create the story.
Michigan Curriculum Framework Elementary Science Standards:
Standard I.1.5 Develop strategies and skills for information gathering and problem solving.
Standard II.1.2 Show how science concepts can be interpreted through creative expression such as language arts and fine arts.
Standard II.1.4 Develop an awareness of and sensitivity to the natural world.
Standard II.2.1 Compare and classify familiar organisms on the basis of observable physical characteristics.
Standard II.5.1 Identify familiar organisms as part of a food chain or food web and describe their feeding relationships with in the web.
Standard II.5.2 Explain common pattern of interdependence and interrelationships of living things.
Resources:
Corbis. 2001. “Moose with Calf” and “Aspen Trees.” Yahoo Picture Gallery.
Department of Natural Resources: Michigan. 2001. “Michigan Moose.”
Fredericks, Anthony. 2000. Our Wild Word Series: Moose. NorthWord Press, Minnetonka, Minnesota.
Michigan Curriculum Framework: Elementary Science Standards. 2002.
Marvelous Moose!
(photo: Hindelang)
By_____________________________________________
Date____________________________________________
Who lives in the forest?
What does a moose eat?
When does a moose live in the forest?
(Pick a season and illustrate it)
Where do moose live?
Why does a moose live there?
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Trees and Plants
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Wolf
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Moose
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A moose is part of the food chain.
(Draw arrows to complete the food web)
(Photos: Corbis and Unknown)
