Summary

Classroom discussions about the choice of the Swainson's hawk as the school mascot generated student interest in this animal and the larger question of how animals depend on specific habitat types for their survival. Students learn about the environment they live in and the wildlife that shares it, and gain an appreciation for the complexities of place and how it changes over time.

• Slide show on hawks

• Read about Swainson's hawks and summarize them

• Map hawk migration

• Develop norms of behavior to enable us to see more wildlife

• Observe wildlife on school grounds, at a park, in a vacant lot and a parking lot

• Record our observations in our journals

• Graph what we see

• Predict what we will see at Cache Creek

Identify 6 habitat types: oak woodland, wetlands, riparian forest, marshland, grasslands, and former agricultural lands

Observe wildlife and record observations

• Journal write: view habitat from animal's point of view

• Map the site: using a grid over a map, figure out proportions of habita

• Presentation by a Cache Creek Nature Preserve educator about land use in the past and present (take notes, write and re-write summary)

• Wetlands Kit: wetlands experiments and bird identification, over several days

• Read about habitats: classify, compare and contrast

• Create a habitat as a model or a mural

• Skull identification

• Students focus on observing one habitat type

• Take notes and photos in order to report to other groups

• Pursue student-generated investigations

• Students write thank-you letter to the field site educators

• Students prepare and present an oral presentation to the class about the specific habitat they have researched and observed

• Students write to inform others: other classes and schools, newspapers, parents, and the school board

• Discuss the school mascot (Swainson's hawk), its habitat and migration