Lesson 15: What Helps Plants and Animals Live in Places?

WHAT HELPS PLANTS AND UNIT 7: Your Environment ANIMALS LIVE IN PLACES? Lesson 15 — Grades K-1 INSTRUCTIONS REACH Overview In this lesson students will learn about animals using camouflage as an adaptation to hide.

Objectives On successful completion of this unit, students will be able to: • explain camouflage; and • describe how humans use camouflage by writing about and/or labeling drawings.

Alaska Standards Alaska Science Standards [A] A student should understand and be able to apply the processes and applications of scientific inquiry. A student who meets the content standard should: [A.1] develop an understanding of the processes of science used to investigate problems, design and conduct repeatable scientific investigations, and defend scientific arguments. [C] A student should understand and be able to apply the concepts, models, theories, facts, evidence, systems, and processes of life science. A student who meets the content standard should: [C.1] develop an understanding of how science explains changes in life forms over time, including genetics, heredity, the process of natural selection, and biological evolution.

Alaska English / Language Arts Standards W.K.8 With guidance and support from adults, recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question. SL.2.2 Confirm understanding of a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media by asking and answering questions about key details and requesting clarification if something is not understood.

REACH ©2015 K-12 Outreach, UA 1 WHAT HELPS PLANTS AND UNIT 7: Your Environment ANIMALS LIVE IN PLACES? Lesson 15 — Grades K-1 INSTRUCTIONS REACH Alaska Cultural Standards [E] Culturally knowledgeable students demonstrate an awareness and appreciation of the relationships and processes of interaction of all elements in the world around them. Students who meet this cultural standard are able to: [E.1] recognize and build upon the interrelationships that exist among the spiritual, natural, and human realms in the world around them, as reflected in their own cultural traditions and beliefs as well as those of others. [E.2] understand the ecology and geography of the bioregion they inhabit.

Bering Strait School District Scope & Sequence 1st Grade Sequence #6 Environment for Living Things B. Understands plant and animal adaptation. D. Use scientific processes to directly support the concepts of the environment for living things.

Materials • Tray (large plastic fast food tray, blue) • Counters (200 total, 50 of each color: blue, red, yellow, green) • Chart paper • Paper Moths (Appendix - make enough for each student to have one moth) • Crayons • Tape • Student Worksheet: How Do Animals Hide? • Polar Animal Adaptations by Lisa J. Amstutz Optional: • Large bag of M & Ms • Bag of candy corn

Multimedia REACH Multimedia K-3: “Watch the Balance of Nature” REACH Multimedia 4-6: “How do Animals and Plants Adapt?” Available at: www.k12reach.org

REACH ©2015 K-12 Outreach, UA 2 WHAT HELPS PLANTS AND UNIT 7: Your Environment ANIMALS LIVE IN PLACES? Lesson 15 — Grades K-1 INSTRUCTIONS REACH Additional Resources What Color is Camouflage? by Carolyn B. Otto and Megan Lloyd Fake Out! Animals that Play Tricks by Ginjer L.Clark Survival at 40 Below by Debbie Miller Amazing Arctic Animals by Jackie Glassman How to Hide a Meadow Frog and other Amphibians by Ruth Heller How to Hide a Butterfly’by Ruth Heller I See a Kookaburra! by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page Biggest, Fastest, Strongest by Steve Jenkins What Do You Do When Something Wants to Eat You? by Steve Jenkins What Do You Do With a Tail Like This? by Steve Jenkins

Activity Preparations 1. Read through the entire lesson, including the Whole Picture section for background information. 2. Prepare a tray with the counters spread out evenly (or bags of candy mixed together in a single layer). 3. Prepare a 2-column chart that has all the colors of the counters (or colors of the M&M’s) in one column and space to write numbers in the second column. 4. Copy moth template page and cut one out for each student. 5. Ask an adult (principal, parent, another teacher, secretary, custodian, etc.) to be the Big Hungry Bird.

Whole Picture All living things require basic needs to survive. Animals need food, water, shelter, and space. In addition to these things, plants also need light, to make their own food through photosynthesis. At the same time, individual plants and animals have unique needs — making them particularly adapted to specific areas. For example, a polar bear’s hollow fur and dark skin give it an edge in extremely cold climates, but these would make it ill-suited for a more moderate climate — the bear would get too hot and likely would not survive! Similarly, tundra plants are uniquely adapted to high winds and cold temperatures. If you tried to relocate plants from the forest to the tundra, they would not be equipped to fulfill their needs.

The needs of many Arctic and sub-arctic plants and animals are being disrupted as the

REACH ©2015 K-12 Outreach, UA 3 WHAT HELPS PLANTS AND UNIT 7: Your Environment ANIMALS LIVE IN PLACES? Lesson 15 — Grades K-1 INSTRUCTIONS REACH climate changes. A major challenge for many species here is the ability to find adequate food and shelter. One such example is caribou. These animals have highly specialized hooves; they are designed to dig through snow in winter in order to find nutritionally rich lichen. However, warmer winters have brought freezing rains to the tundra, encasing the lichen in ice and making it impossible for the caribou to access (Divoky and Rosa, 2015). In the spring, the caribou face yet another difficulty. Like other migratory species, caribou migrate in time with the light, or photoperiod, which has historically been timed with the nutritional peak of tundra grasses, sedges, and other low-lying plants that the caribou eat. Due to climate change, many of these plants are beginning to reach their peak nutritional value much earlier — when the caribou have not yet arrived to eat them. As a result, many caribou — especially calves — are going hungry (Divoky and Rosa, 2015).

Another example of a subsistence animal with specific needs include sea birds. They require a nearby, reliable source of fish and safe shelter for their chicks. Sea ice provides critical habitat for fish species, like Arctic cod, that sea birds depend on. As it melts and moves farther off shore, the waters become warmer and less hospitable for the fish, which in turn move farther away and into deeper, colder water — where sea birds cannot access them. Similarly, finding adequate shelter has become a problem. Not only is the coastline eroding, causing a loss of habitat for nesting sea birds (Kingeekuk, 2010), but spring precipitation has turned from snow to rain. While the downy chick feathers are ideal protection against wind and snow, they provide little protection against the rain, which turns to a coat of ice in the wind (Divoky and Rosa, 2015). Consequently, sea bird populations are diminishing as chick survival rates plummet.

The term trophic phenological mismatch refers to when timing of the usual activities of plants and animals, or predators and prey, do not coincide as they did previously. For example, snowshoe hares are more vulnerable to predation in a changing climate. The change in their pelage from white to brown is triggered by photoperiod, but when the snow melts earlier than usual in the spring, snowshoe hares are left without their camouflage.

Alaska Native elders have also noted the phenological mismatch. Elders agree with scientists that climate changes are affecting subsistence plants and animals. They also teach that the reasons for this have to do with spiritual imbalance. They say that the spirits of plants and animals respond directly to how they are treated by the people who harvest them. Elders advise that subsistence plants and animals show and give themselves when they want to be harvested (Garibaldi, 1999). When they are absent from the landscape, it is believed that the plant and animal spirits of previously harvested species were offended by the way the people acted or treated them, and told

REACH ©2015 K-12 Outreach, UA 4 WHAT HELPS PLANTS AND UNIT 7: Your Environment ANIMALS LIVE IN PLACES? Lesson 15 — Grades K-1 INSTRUCTIONS REACH others of their kind not to return (Charles, 2002; Fienup-Riordan and Rearden, 2012).

Alaska Native elders and culture bearers teach that all things are connected. All life needs basic elements to survive and thrive: food, shelter, air, water, and space. When the system becomes unbalanced, these needs fail to be met and life falters. Due to climate change, some plants and animals that have lived in the Arctic for thousands of years are facing just such difficulties.

Vocabulary camouflage – a color or pattern that helps an animal hide

Activity Procedure 1. For the first activity, you can choose to use plastic counters or candy. a. Plastic counters: Tell students that they will each quickly pick five counters from a tray when it comes to them. After all students have chosen five counters ask students to tell you the colors they have chosen. Tally the colors given on the prepared chart. After all students have reported, count how many of each color were chosen and write the total number next to the color. Ask students: Which color had the most? The least? Ask why those colors had the most and least. Accept any student response. Students may say it is because of camouflage; the blue counters blend in with the blue tray. If not, tell them the definition of camouflage and how it helps an animal to hide and be protected. b. Candy option: Tell students to quickly pick five M&M’s when the tray comes to them. Ask them to place the candy in front of them and to NOT eat it. In the camouflage discussion, discuss how the candy corn camouflages the orange and yellow M & M’s. 2. Tell students they are going to play The Big Hungry Bird game. Explain that a Big Hungry Bird will be visiting the classroom to hunt for food (a moth). They will be coloring a moth to hide in the classroom so it will not be eaten. 3. Have them look around the classroom to figure out where they want to tape their moth so it is hidden (camouflaged). The site must be visible and not be hidden behind anything. The surface must be easy to reach. 4. Give each student a moth and have them color the moth with markers or crayons to match the site they have chosen. Roll a piece of tape and place it on the back of the moth. Have each student tape it on the chosen surface. 5. Count how many moths are hidden and record the number. 6. Invite the Big Hungry Bird to come in and eat (grab) as many moths as possible in

REACH ©2015 K-12 Outreach, UA 5 WHAT HELPS PLANTS AND UNIT 7: Your Environment ANIMALS LIVE IN PLACES? Lesson 15 — Grades K-1 INSTRUCTIONS REACH one minute. Count how many moths were eaten. Let the Big Hungry Bird hunt for one more minute. Count how many moths were eaten. 7. Ask students: How many moths are still alive? Why did some of the moths get eaten while others did not? If your moth got eaten, how could you change it so it would not get eaten? 8. Ask students how humans use camouflage. Write their responses on chart paper. 9. Have students complete the worksheet How Do Animals Hide?

Extension Activities • Discuss other ways animals protect themselves (changing color, making sounds, matching a surrounding item, changing shape, being the same pattern as another animal or plant, moving quickly or slowly, etc). • Go outside and make observations of local habitats. Look for animals in a habitat that use camouflage. • Ask students how they protect themselves from danger. • Read aloud any of the listed resource books.

Answers Answers will vary on what students choose to write and draw about how a human uses camouflage to hide.

REACH ©2015 K-12 Outreach, UA 6 WHAT HELPS PLANTS AND UNIT 7: Your Environment ANIMALS LIVE IN PLACES? Lesson 15 — Grades K-1 STUDENT WORK REACH References AKSCI, “How Do You Hide?“(2011), Alaska Department of Education. Accessed from: http://aksci.org/lessons_database/search_results.php Charles, Walkie. 2002. “See Connections — All Things are Related” In Alaska Native Ways: What the Elders Have Taught Us. Roy Corral, Ed. Portland: Graphic Arts Center Publishing. Divoky, George, and Rosa, Cheryl. “Habitats Shift as Arctic Temps Creep Above Freezing” Science Friday. 20 February 2015. Accessed from: http://www.sciencefriday.com/segment/02/20/2015/habitats-shift-as-arctic- temps-creep-above-freezing.html Fienup-Riordan, Ann, and Alice Rearden. (2012) “Ellavut: Our Yup’ik World and Weather. Continuity and change on the Bering Sea Coast” Seattle and London: University of Washington Press. Garibaldi, Ann. (1999) “Medicinal Flora of the Alaska Natives: A Compilation of Knowledge from Literary Sources of Aleut, Alutiiq, Athabascan, Eyak, Haida, Inupiat, Tlingit, Tsimshian, and Yupik Traditional Healing Methods Using Plants” Anchorage: Alaska Natural Heritage Program. Kingeekuk, Kenneth. (2010). “Overview of Impacts from Savoonga” Stories About Adaptation and Subsistence: Native Voices from the Frontlines of Climate Change. Aksik. Accessed from: http://aksik.org/content/2010-overview-impacts

Name ______Draw how a human hides using camouflage when they are hunting. Label or write about what your picture is showing.