Title: Mysterious Migrations

Title: Mysterious Migrations

Lesson: Migration of Animals

Authors: Linda M. Carrier, Leigh Ann Warnock, Mary Gaut

School: Summit Hill Elementary School, Alpharetta, GA

Grade Level: 1^st Grade (mid to late in the school year)

Rationale: This first grade lesson on animal migration incorporates the big ideas of patterns and change. According to Project 2061’s Benchmarks for Science Literacy, students in early elementary should be acquainted with earth-related phenomena that they will come to understanding as being cyclic. Migration is certainly a cyclic phenomenon. Students in Grade One should have a basic understanding of temperature (hot, cold, pleasant), precipitation (none, some, lots), and, time (week, month, year). First graders should be able to begin to spot patterns. They should start to become familiar with all aspects of their surroundings, including noticing things that change.

Students should begin to develop good questioning skills concerning why things change. Because they are naturally curious, asking “why do things happen the way they do?” requires analysis of cause-and-effect and builds understanding of relationships between variables. Asking “how do natural and man-made things (factors) affect migration?” sets the stage for synthesis and problem solving. Asking “which animals migrate and which do not?” requires decision-making – a reasoned choice – based on explicit criteria and evidence. These questions will promote reasons for wanting to collect information and will advance the teaching of research skills at the early elementary level.

This lesson provides opportunities to encourage the development of good questioning skills, helps to teach beginning research skills, and encourages the discovery of geographical knowledge using migration as a vehicle.

OBJECTIVES

NCSS Standards:

Standard 2: Knows the location of places, geographic features, and patterns of the environment.

Level 1 (Grades K-2)

1. Knows the location of school, home, neighborhood, community, state,

and country.

Standard 1: Understands the characteristics and uses of maps, globes, and other

geographic tools and technologies.

National Geographic Standards:

The World In Spatial Terms:

Standard 1: How to use maps and other geographic representations,

tools, and technologies to acquire, process, and report information from a

spatial perspective.

Physical Systems:

Standard 8: The characteristics and spatial distribution of ecosystems on

earth’s surface.

The Uses of Geography:

Standard 18: How to apply geography to interpret the present and plan for

the future.

Georgia Performance Standards:

Life Science:

S1L1 Students will investigate the characteristics and basic needs of

plants and animals.

b. Identify the basic needs of an animal.

1. Air

2. Water

3. Food

4. Shelter

d. Compare and describe various animals – appearance, motion,

growth, and basic needs.

Geography Understanding:

SS1G3 The students will locate major topographical features of the earth’s

surface.

a. Locate all the continents: North America, South America, Africa,

Europe, Asia, Antarctica, and Australia

b. Locate the major oceans: Arctic, Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian.

c. Identify and describe landforms (mountains, deserts, valleys,

Plains, plateaus, and coasts.)

Map and Globe Skills, First Grade:

1. Use cardinal directions.

2. Use intermediate directions.

Information Processing Skills:

2. Organize items chronologically.

3. Identify issues/problems and alternative solutions.

5. Identify sequence of events and cause and effect.

6. Identify and use primary and secondary sources.

Requirements/Resources

Chart paper, white board, or chalk board ( and appropriate writing utensils)
Pictures of migratory animals (see end of lesson for example pictures)
Short description of chosen migratory animals (teacher made according to students’ ability level)
Large note cards or handwriting paper
Pencils with erasers, for students
Large classroom map of the world
Individual student maps, write-on (laminated detailed world maps may be used); appropriate writing instruments for maps
Student atlases
Access to computers, one per student team (optional)
Library/trade books about assigned animals

Procedures

Opening Activity:

1. Gain interest by asking students what a mystery is. Accept all reasonable responses and record on chart paper or board. Reinforce that a mystery is something that is difficult or impossible to understand, explain, or identify. Explain to students that they will be helping to solve mysteries by writing clues about certain pictures they will be given. Tell students they will be divided into Investigation Teams of 2 or 3. Each team will be given a “mystery” picture of a migratory animal whose identity should not be revealed to the other teams.

2. Divide students into heterogeneous groups of two or three. Pass out pictures of migratory animals.( Each picture should contain the name of the animal and a brief description of the animal, which the teacher has added.) While in their Investigative Teams, ask students to observe their group’s picture and then work together to write 5 good clues that will help the other teams solve the mystery of what their picture is to. Remind students of behavioral expectations for working cooperatively and assign number of minutes to complete the activity. Review where the “minute hand” on the clock will be when time is up. Twenty minutes is the recommended time.

3. Facilitate and assess learning by monitoring students, observing their ability to follow directions, work cooperatively in teams, and accurately write clues about their assigned migratory animal. Facilitate higher order thinking by assisting teams in discriminating between “good” and “not-so-good” clues. Help students pace their timing with reminders of time remaining.

4. Solve mysteries using an inductive reasoning strategy: One team at a time stands in front of the class and gives one clue at a time. They are the “giving” team.” After each clue is given, the “mystery solvers” teams discuss within their own teams the guesses they make have. They can jot down notes and guesses on index cards or paper. A mystery solver team may guess their “final answer” at any point, but, if it is incorrect, that team is out of play until the giving team’s animal is correctly solved. Continue in this manner until all team’s mystery pictures have been solved.

PROCEED WITH LESSON:

1. As a pre-assessment, ask student to write down or dictate things they want to find out about their assigned animal and its migratory story.

2. Keeping their assigned migratory animal, student teams research them using library books and the computer.

3. As students research they should be told to keep particular note of the migratory paths these animals take. Students should “mark” the paths on maps as they are discovered.

4. The final “product” will be an oral report on each animals and a visual – a map on which teams have traced their migratory animal’s route. The final report should contain questions that the students still want to know about mysterious migrations.

5. Teams should present to the class or have a migration fair at which parents, school personnel are invited.

6. As a culminating activity, the teacher should ask the class to help assemble a class book about what they have learned. Teams should write or dictate what they have learned about their assigned migratory animals and draw or computer generate pictures of their animals. The teacher should compile all into a class book Mysterious Migrations.

Concluding Activity – Assessment

Teachers should design their own rubric, appropriate for their body of learners, which address the aforementioned standards by assessing the following:

Ability to work collaboratively
written information about assigned animal to research
computer generated or hand-drawn pictures of assigned animals
Appropriately traced paths of animal migration; appropriate location of countries and/or bodies of water
Ability to orally present information to classmates
Students should self-assess what they have learned about migration, “I learned…” They should also describe things about migratory animals that they would still like to learn. “I would like to find out more about…” “I still wonder about…”

Teacher Resource Pages

Arctic Tern
The Arctic tern has the longest migration of any bird. The 22,000 mile journey to and from Antarctic takes the bird 90 days each way. The birds migrate over sea and are rarely seen on land except during breeding season.

Migration Distance
Round-trip journey can total 22,000-30,000 miles

Migration Route and Stopover Sites
Arctic terns leave the Arctic Circle in the fall and head eastwards across the Atlantic Ocean. They fly down the west coasts of Europe and Africa until they reach the Antarctic Ocean. In spring they fly north back to the Arctic, following the east coasts of South and North America. This roundtrip of 32,000 – 40,000 enables the Arctic Tern to see more daylight than any other living creature.

Bird Size
14-17 inches and weighs under 2 pounds

Interesting Facts
Considering an Arctic tern might live up to 30 years, a single bird may travel more than 650,000 miles in its lifetime.

They see more daylight than any other living creature since they are in both the Arctic and Antarctic during the periods of longest days.

Young Artic terns begin the migration with their parents. After they have reached Antarctica, the young will stay in the southern hemisphere until they are about two years old and will then migrate back to their birthplace.

The Great White Shark

GENERAL DESCRIPTION – Great White Shark
The great white shark is a streamlined swimmer and a ferocious predator with 3,000 teeth at any one time. This much-feared fish has a torpedo-shaped body, a pointed snout, a crescent-shaped tail, 5 gill slits, no fin spines, an anal fin, and 3 main fins: the dorsal fin (on its back) and 2 pectoral fins (on its sides). When the shark is near the surface, the dorsal fin and part of the tail are visible above the water.

MIGRATION

The great white shark mysteriously appears each spring along the U.S. coast of the North Pacific Ocean, in an area called the “Red (Blood) Triangle”. No one knows where they come from. They arrive in early April, at the Farallon Islands, 45 kilometers west of San Francisco, California, where they feed on newborn seal pups. The sharks then swim south to the Channel Islands off the coast of Los Angeles, California where they give birth. Come summer, the sharks circle northward to Ano Nueva Island (just south of the Farallons) before they migrate to southern Alaska. What happens after that? No one knows for sure!

COLORATION
Only the underbelly of the great white shark is actually white; its top surface is gray to blue gray. This is useful in hunting its prey. The great white usually strikes

from below and its grayish top coloration blends in with the dark water, enabling it to approach the prey unobserved.

SIZE
Great whites average 12-16 feet long (3.7-4.9 m) long. The biggest great white shark on record was 23 feet (7 m) long, weighing about 7,000 pounds (3200 kg). Females are larger than males, as with most sharks. Shark pups can be over 5 feet (1.5 m) long at birth.

Desert Locusts

Locust

Desert Locusts

Desert locusts hold the record for the longest insect movement. Migration in insects serves not only for escape from old habitats but also for reproduction and colonization in new ones. Each year, seasonal winds carry these breeding desert locusts from the west coast of Africa, at the country of Mauritania, to as far west as the West Indies – a distance of 4,5000 km. Others have reached the east coast of South America. In fact, some probably traveled thousands of kilometers from their habitats in North Africa before they began their trip across the Atlantic.

Locusts differ from grasshoppers in that they can swarm. Normally locusts are solitary insects, but under the right circumstances of rain, combined with population density, and consequent shrinking of food resources, they develop

swarming behavior. Locusts lay 'egg pods' which each contain about 100 eggs. Upon hatching, in two to three weeks from the time the egg pod was laid, the flightless locusts can form hopper swarms with a density as great as 5,000 per square meter. As they reach adulthood, they develop wings, and under the right conditions, begin to swarm and can cover vast distances. These swarms can be many square kilometers in size, and the insects are able to completely devastate entire fields in only a matter of minutes. This swarming behavior is a survival strategy, since it is typically the case that locusts breed in drier regions, and swarming over vast distances ensures the survival of the species (which is dependent on rainfall, which might be erratic in these drier regions).

Up to four locust generations are born each year, and it typically takes good rains, and at least four generations for the locusts to reach swarming density, as under these favorable conditions population growth is quite rapid.

Red Crabs

The Christmas Island red crabs live in Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands in the Indian Ocean. (This is just southwest of Indonesia). They make one of the most bizarre migrations known. Although restricted to a relatively small area, it is estimated that up to 120 million red crabs may live there, making it the most abundant of the 14 terrestrial crab species on Christmas Island. Christmas Island red crabs eat mostly fallen leaves and flowers, but will occasionally eat other animals, including other red crabs, if the opportunity arises.

Christmas Island red crabs are famous for their annual migration to the sea in order to lay their eggs in the ocean. During the migration, the crabs cover the routes to the coast so densely that they can be seen from the air. At the beginning of the wet season (usually October through November), some 120 million of these land crabs scurry from the forest to the sea, where they breed and lay eggs. The crabs travel more than 90 meters in an hour to prevent dehydration in the hot sun. The three-week journey involves climbing down high cliff faces, marching through human settlements, and crossing the streams and highways. Volunteers shovel the crabs off the roads and, although no harm is intended, some of the countless millions of crabs inevitably get injured. If caught in unshaded heat, the crabs die; about one million are killed crossing the streets.To reduce the number of crabs killed by vehicles during the migration, 'crab crossings' are being constructed in roads which cross main crab migration paths. Points where high numbers of Red Crabs cross roads have been identified, and tunnels are built under the road for crabs to pass through. Walls that the crabs can not climb over are built alongside the road to 'funnel' the migrating crabs through the tunnels. Other conservation measures used by the community are road closures and traffic detours around the major migration paths during peak periods of the migration

The migration is linked to the phases of the moon, so that eggs may be released into the sea precisely at the turn of the high tide during the last quarter moon.

Green Turtles

One place in the world to find Green Turtles is at Brazil, South America. Green turtles leave their feeding grounds off the coast of Brazil, and head east, to begin a remarkable 2,000km roundtrip journey to tiny remote Ascension Island in the south Atlantic. Adult turtles make this journey every three to four years. The turtles swim for six weeks through open ocean to nest on the very beaches where they were born. Green sea turtles nest only at night. The female must pull herself out of the water and all the way to the dry sand of the upper beach using only her front flippers. This is a difficult task as her front limbs have been modified into highly effective swimming flippers, and do not support the bulk of her weight in the sand. Reaching the upper portion of the beach, she uses her front flippers to dig a broad pit in the sand and her rear flippers to delicately carve out a bottle-shaped burrow. She then lays her clutch, which consists of approximately 100 leathery-skinned eggs, in the burrow and covers them carefully with sand. Finally, she buries the pit entirely to disguise the location of her nest. Her parenting job completed, she returns to the sea to head back to Brazil, leaving her young to fend for themselves.

Green sea turtle eggs take about two months to incubate. Studies indicate that the temperature of the eggs during incubation influences the sex of baby sea turtles. Lower temperatures tend to produce males, while higher temperatures tend to produce females. The baby turtles are able to break through the eggshell and hatch by chipping away at the shell with a structure called an egg tooth, a temporary hard protuberance on their beaks. After hatching, the tiny one-ounce turtles take a number of days to dig their way out of their nest. Emerging from the nest must be a group effort as one hatching would not be able to escape by itself. Working together, the hatchings scrape away the roof of the nest until they reach about an inch away from the surface of the beach. The hatchlings nearest to the surface stop their digging if the sand feels hot, indicating that it may be daytime. They wait to resume digging until the sand feels cool, indicating that it is night, and safer to emerge by avoiding the harsh rays of the sun and possibly, predatory birds. Once out of the nest, the hatchlings find their way to the ocean, by heading towards the brightest horizon. Thus, artificial lights on nesting beaches can mean death to the young turtles as they may confuse them and cause them to lose their way. When they find their way to the ocean, the hatchlings must swim continuously for the next day and a half to two days. The young turtles remain at sea and do not come inshore until at least one year later. The method by which the turtles return to Ascension Island is not quite understood, and is considered one of the most amazing navigational feats in the animal kingdom.

Loggerhead Turtles

Loggerhead turtles migrate in enormous circles in both the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. The Pacific route takes them from Japan to Mexico and back again. That’s a 30,000km round trip, and one of the longest migrations recorded. (It is longer than the 20,000-km roundtrip of gray whales on their annual voyage between Mexico and the Arctic!) A third of Japan’s loggerhead turtles nest on Yakushima Island. One of them, which had spent a year at the Okinawa aquarium before being tagged and released in 1988, was recaptured six years later…. in Mexico!

Zebras, Gazelles, and Wildebeests

Wildebeest

Migration of the Wildebeest! wildebeest migration

gazelle 1.jpg gazelle

gazelle

Hartmanns Zebra web ma_Aug_20052099-08-03_14-02-03.jpg zebra

Wildebeests, Gazelle, and Zebra

Every year, around the end of the wet season in April, Africa’s Serengeti Plain is the site of the greatest wildlife show on Earth, as some 200,000 Zebra, 500,000 Gazelle, and 1.5 million Wildebeests follow the rains and cross some of the continent’s most spectacular landscapes. The main migration starts in the African country of Tanzania in its Ngorongoro Conservation Area and the southern Serengeti, where the animals calve between January and mid-March. The migration then heads north into the Serengeti’s western corridor, almost as far as Lake Victoria. When the grass supply has been exhausted, usually at the end of May, the herds move farther north to the Kenyan border before returning to their breeding grounds. By the time they arrive, the grounds are once again green and lush. In the end, the animals will have covered thousands of kilometers – that’s if they successfully avoid the multitudes of lions, leopards, cheetahs, crocodiles, wild dogs, and hyenas, who must see the great migration as a super-value meal!

Vocabulary – First Grade Level

animal – Any living creature that can breathe and move about

appearance – outward look in which a person or object appears.

basic needs – The things that living things need to stay alive. (food, air, water, shelter)

change – To become different or make different.

chronology – the order in which events happen

coast – The land that is next to the sea.

continents – One of the seven large land masses of the earth.

desert – Dry area, where few plants will grow.

essential question(s) – Questions that probe for deeper meaning and set
the stage for further questioning

geography – the study of the earth, including its people, resources, climate, and

physical features.

hypothesis – an educated guess

investigate – To find out as much as possible about something.

kilometer - a unit of length, the common measure of distances equal to 1000 meters, and equivalent to 3280.8 feet or 0.621 mile. Abbreviation: km

landforms – features that make up the earth's surface, such as a plain, mountain, or valley.

life science – any science that deals with living organisms.

migration – the seasonal mass movements of animals or people

motion – movement

mountains – a very high piece of land

navigation – finding the way from one place to another.

oceans – One of four main parts of the entire body of salt water that covers

about 71% of the earth’s surface.

pattern – A repeated set of actions or characteristics.

plain – A large, flat area of land.

plateau – An area of high, flat land.

research – To study to find out about something, usually to learn new facts or to solve a problem.

shelter – A place to keep covered in bad weather, or stay safe and protected from danger.

survival – staying alive; continuing to live or exist

topographical features – shows graphically the physical features of a

place/region

valley – an area of low ground between two high land areas

Alternate Follow-up/Enrichment Lesson:

Migration and Georgia’s Threatened, Endangered, and Rare Animals

How many of Georgia’s threatened, endangered, and/or rare animals are migratory? Research one of the Georgia animals below and trace its migration pattern. Prepare an oral presentation with visuals. Your visual must include a map showing the migration pattern of your animal. Essential question(s): Why is this animal threatened, endangered, or rare? What human-made or naturally occurring factors impact its survival? What is the migration route of this animal? Is the migration route of the animal threatened my human or natural forces?

Georgia’s Threatened, Endangered, and Rare Animals

391-4-10-.09 Protected Species of Plants and Animals. Amended.

(1) Mammals:

(a) Corynorhinus rafinesquii: Rafinesque's Big-eared Bat (rare)

(b) Eubalaena glacialis: North Atlantic Right Whale (endangered)

(d) Megaptera novaeangliae: Humpback Whale (endangered)

(e) Myotis grisescens: Gray Bat (endangered)

(f) Myotis sodalis: Indiana Bat (endangered)

(g) Neofiber alleni: Round-tailed Muskrat (threatened)

(h) Puma concolor coryi: Florida Panther (endangered)

(i) Sylvilagus obscurus: Appalachian Cottontail (rare)

(j) Trichechus manatus: West Indian Manatee (endangered)

(2) Birds:

(a) Aimophila aestivalis: Bachman's Sparrow (rare)

(b) Ammodramus henslowii: Henslow's Sparrow (rare)

(d) Campephilus principalis: Ivory-billed Woodpecker (endangered)

(e) Charadrius melodus: Piping Plover (threatened)

(f) Charadrius wilsonia: Wilson's Plover (threatened)

(g) Corvus corax: Common Raven (rare)

(h) Dendroica cerulea: Cerulean Warbler (rare)

(i) Dendroica kirtlandii: Kirtland's Warbler (endangered)

(j) Elanoides forficatus: Swallow-tailed Kite (rare)

(k) Falco peregrinus: Peregrine Falcon (rare)

(l) Falco sparverius paulus: Southeastern Kestrel (rare)

(m) Haematopus palliatus: American Oystercatcher (rare)

(n) Haliaeetus leucocephalus: Bald Eagle (threatened)

(o) Mycteria americana: Wood Stork (endangered)

(p) Picoides borealis: Red-cockaded Woodpecker (endangered)

(q) Rynchops niger: Black Skimmer (rare)

(r) Sterna antillarum: Least Tern (rare)

(s) Sterna nilotica: Gull-billed Tern (threatened)

(t) Vermivora chrysoptera: Golden-winged Warbler (endangered)

(3) Reptiles:

(a) Caretta caretta: Loggerhead Sea Turtle (endangered)

(b) Chelonia mydas: Green Sea Turtle (threatened)

(d) Dermochelys coriacea: Leatherback Sea Turtle (endangered)

(e) Drymarchon couperi: Eastern Indigo Snake (threatened)

(f) Eretmochelys imbricata: Hawksbill Sea Turtle (endangered)

(g) Glyptemys muhlenbergii: Bog Turtle (endangered)

(h) Gopherus polyphemus: Gopher Tortoise (threatened)

(i) Graptemys barbouri: Barbour's Map Turtle (threatened)

(j) Graptemys geographica: Common Map Turtle (rare)

(k) Graptemys pulchra: Alabama Map Turtle (rare)

(l) Heterodon simus: Southern Hognose Snake (threatened)

(m) Lepidochelys kempii: Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle (endangered)

(n) Macrochelys temminckii: Alligator Snapping Turtle (threatened)

(o) Malaclemys terrapin: Diamondback Terrapin (unusual)