Crafty Corridors

Grade Levels:
Part One: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Part Two: 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

Time Required:
45 minutes per day for two to three days to complete Parts One and Two.

Objectives/Goals:
Part One:
1. Students can identify several causes of habitat loss and habitat improvement.
2. Students will understand the concepts of habitat fragmentation and habitat corridors.

Part Two:
1. Students will be able to create a map for community/land planning.
2. Students will calculate carrying capacities.
3. Students will learn to evaluate a project and present results.

Curricular Areas:
Listening, following oral instructions, mapping, interpreting, mathematical reasoning, problem-solving, and making oral presentations.

Overview:
1. A teacher lecture introduces the concepts of community growth and development, the impacts on wildlife habitats, and the wildlife values of agricultural lands.
2. In Part One, students play a game to understand changes in wildlife habitat.
3. In Part Two, students plan and evaluate hypothetical communities.

Lesson's Concepts:
1. As the human population grows, the habitat available to wildlife is affected.
2. As habitat disappears, it is important to provide corridors to connect isolated areas.
3. Agricultural lands can help fill the loss of habitat for wildlife.
4. A community requires many elements to be self-sustaining.

Part One: Playing Musical Habitat
Materials Needed:

• music tape or CD and a player
• green placemats for each player, or use 1' x 1' squares of green butcher paper
• 5 long pieces of green butcher paper (1' x 4')

Preparation:
1. Cut butcher paper to the correct sizes for the activity.
2. Set up the music player to be easily switched on and off for five or more rounds of the game.
3. Place all the green mats or paper squares on the floor, two to three feet apart from each other.

Procedure:
1. Introduce the topic using the information provided in the lecture section.
2. Review the objectives and vocabulary for the activity. You may also write them on the board.
3. Tell the students they are animals that must migrate between habitats. Similar to playing musical chairs, students begin by standing on a green mat that represents a block of habitat (one person per mat). Start the music and have students hop or step between habitats (more than one person per mat is okay now). Those who step off the habitat blocks are out. When the music stops, each player must be standing alone on a green mat, or they are out.
4. Take away five habitat blocks (people will have to temporarily share with someone else). Explain that mats were removed due to habitat losses such as an early harvest or a new housing development. Play another round. Have students participate in a discussion about what happened.
5. Remove all but eight blocks of habitat. These remaining habitats should be far apart from each other. This spacing will isolate some students because they will be unable to jump to other habitats. Discuss how even though habitat is still available, "fragmentation" made some migration impossible. Play another round.
6. Add a long piece of butcher paper as a corridor to connect two pieces of isolated habitat. Explain that corridors allow wildlife to move between habitat blocks, and a farmer made this corridor by planting habitat along an irrigation canal. Bring back a couple of students because of improved habitat. Play another round. Each corridor can support an additional three players.
7. Add a piece of removed habitat. Explain that a farmer decided to flood his fields after his crop was harvested, which provided food and resting areas. Continue playing, changing habitat blocks/corridors, and bringing students in and out of the game until everyone understands the concept of wildlife-friendly habitats and corridors.
8. Students return to their seats.

Part Two: Planning for the Future
Materials Needed:

• copies of "Making a Plan" page for each student or group
• 7 colors of construction paper (black, red, purple, brown, yellow, blue, green)
• scissors
• glue
• pencils

Preparation:
1. Make copies of the "Making a Plan" page for each student. Alternatively, the handout may be enlarged, and 2 to 3 partners can work together.
2. Precut construction paper into half-inch squares. For 30 students, cut approximately 150 of each color.
3. Put construction paper, scissors, and glue in the center of project tables.
4. Review the 2000 U.S. Census Information table to prepare for a discussion on the size of your community and nearby ones. Look up additional city populations at http://www.census.gov/. Click on "fact sheet" and search by city and state.

Procedure:
1. Give each student or small group a "Making a Plan" page.
2. Have students sit at project tables in order to share materials.
3. Have the students glue the pieces of colored paper in the appropriate boxes on the left_hand side of the page to make a legend. Explain that the colors represent different parts of a community.
4. Discuss what makes up a city versus a suburban neighborhood (shopping and housing needs), a farm versus a ranch (food needs), a habitat corridor (pathway that keeps wildlife areas from being isolated) versus a wildlife refuge (land reserved for hunting, fishing, seeing wildlife). Remind students to consider where rivers and other water resources are located. Use the 2000 U.S. Census information to help with the concept of city size.
5. Explain the plan to glue squares of colored paper in various configurations to design each student's ideal community. Ask students to use at least one of each color to make a community that accommodates people, crops, and wildlife, which are all important for our future. It's a good idea to lay out pieces first and then glue them into place. Allow students to work about 30 minutes.
6. Evaluation Process: Ask students to calculate the "carrying capacity"of their community (the number of people and animals the community can support). Explain on the board when you ask each question, or create a worksheet with step-by-step problems to answer. They may work together to complete this part. Ask questions to help evaluate:
     a. How many people live in their community?
     b. Are there places for wildlife to survive?
     c. Are there corridors for wildlife to travel between wild areas?
     d. Are there places for people to enjoy the outdoors?
     e. What percentage of land is for people versus animals?
      f. What type of wildlife habitat did you choose?
     g. Is there space for growth?

7. If time allows, have students present (explain) to the class, describing why they organized their communities the way they did. Give them certain points to talk about and a time limit. This process may be saved for the next class period.

Assessment:
1. To evaluate the performance of students during this activity, use the Activity Assessment.
2. To evaluate the "Making a Plan" pages and any oral presentations, use the rubric provided.

Follow-up/Extensions:
1. Have students create a map of their homes. Make a legend using colors or symbols for food, water, shelter, and space. From the student's perspective, have them mark the various areas of the map to match the legend (food is in the kitchen cabinet and refrigerator; their bedroom provides shelter and a place to rest; etc.). On the map, have them indicate the "corridors" they travel to reach their food, water, shelter, and space. As an additional challenge, mark the map from the perspective of a family pet (food is in the garage; shelter is in the backyard, etc.).

2. Have students map their backyard or a section of school ground to determine available wildlife habitat. To certify your habitat, visit www.nwf.org/backyardwildlifehabitat/onemonthplan.cfm for a backyard project or www.nwf.org/schoolyardhabitats/ for a school project. The websites explain how to provide basic habitat elements.

3. Invite a local farmer to speak to the class about the types of wildlife his farm attracts and what he does to provide wildlife habitat. Have the students work together to prepare interview questions and see if they can identify a list of habitat corridors provided on the speaker's farm.

Vocabulary List:
census, community, corridor, fragmentation, habitat, harvest, irrigation, legend, wildlife-friendly

Teacher Lecture:
With the Earth's human population continuously expanding, our natural areas are being subdivided and lost to cities, suburbs, freeways, and other human facilities. The result is fewer habitats for wildlife. What can be done to accommodate wildlife and provide them with the food, water, shelter, and space they need to survive?

When blocks of habitat are connected, they can be more easily used by wildlife. To link blocks of habitat, landowners can make connecting pathways called corridors. Farms in particular provide many options for making corridors. A corridor can be as simple as a water_filled irrigation canal that has plants growing along its edges or as extensive as a large strip of farmland that is left unharvested. Other examples of corridors include rows of shrubs or trees (landowners use these as windbreaks); unmowed field edges; idle fields (or ones "set aside" for a year or two to rest and rejuvinate); and creeks lined with trees, shrubs, and leafy plants. The areas themselves provide shelter and food, and they offer a network of connections for traveling wildlife such as deer, raccoons, pheasants, and even newly hatched flightless ducklings.

Handouts/Visual Aids:
1. Click here for the "Making a Plan" copy page

2. 2000 Census Information table

3. Assessment Forms