Wildlife-Friendly Farming

Grade Level:
3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

Time Required:
50 Minutes

Objectives/Goals:
1. Students will be able to identify the four basic requirements for life.
2. Students will understand the differences between "clean" farms and "wildlife-friendly" farms.
3. All students will be able to analyze habitat pictures and identify if the habitat is suitable for wildlife.
4. Students will be able to record observations and share findings in group situations.

Curricular Areas:
listening, writing, researching, speaking, comparing and contrasting, mapping, visual arts, photography, literature, economics

Overview:
1. A teacher lecture will introduce the concepts and vocabulary.
2. Students will begin exploring the four basic life requirements by writing down how they obtain their own life requirements.
3. Students will work in groups to determine whether assigned animals can acquire life requirements on a "clean farm" and a "wildlife-friendly" farm.
4. A group/class discussion will incorporate comparing/contrasting and categorizing.

Lesson Concepts:
1. The four basic requirements for life are food, water, shelter, and space.
2. "Clean" farming is a common method of farming but it offers limited values for wildlife.
3. "Wildlife-friendly" farms incorporate wild habitats on the farm and provide food, water, shelter and space for wild animals.
4. Farmers can benefit from the wild animals that live on their farm.

Materials Needed:

• 1 copy of each farm picture for each group
• 1 copy of the animal requirements table for each group
• 3 sheets of paper for each student
• pencils

Preparation:
1. Make copies of the animal requirements table and the farm pictures for each group.

Procedure:
1. Provide an introductory lecture on "clean" versus "wildlife-friendly" farming using the information from the teacher lecture.
2. Inform the students about the four basic requirements for life. Discuss clean farming versus wildlife-friendly farming.
3. Break students into groups of three or four and assign each group an animal from the table provided.
4. Pass out a copy of each farm picture to each group and give each group a copy of their animal's specific food, water, shelter, and space requirements. For older students you can assign them the task of researching their animal's life requirements.
5. Hand out three pieces of paper to each student. Have the students make four columns on each sheet of paper, and label the columns FOOD, WATER, SHELTER, and SPACE. Have students title one sheet "Me," another sheet "Clean Farm," and the third sheet "Wildlife-Friendly Farm." Demonstrate on the board if necessary.
6. Ask the students to think about where humans get each of the four basic requirements for life. On the sheet titled "Me," have them write their answers in each column (FOOD: grocery store, refrigerator, farm, etc; WATER: kitchen faucet, well, bottled water; SHELTER: house, apartment, etc.; SPACE: my bedroom, my neighborhood, my classroom, etc.). Have students share their answers with the class and create a list on the board or on a large piece of paper on the wall.
7. Next have each student examine the Clean Farm habitat picture and look for elements in the habitat that provide for their animal's basic life requirements. Assume that the space requirements are met in this habitat. On the sheet titled "Clean Farm" have the students write down how each of the basic requirements for their animal might be met in the Clean Farm picture, and briefly explain how it was provided (FOOD: fish, in the stream). If a specific life requirement cannot be met, write "none" in that column. If all of an animal's basic life requirements can be met, then the animal can live in the Clean Farm habitat.
8. Have the students share their findings, and create a list of all the animals that can live on the Clean Farm.
9. Repeat the exercise using the Wildlife-Friendly Farm picture.
10. Ask students to compare the list of animals that can live on the Clean Farm with those that can live on the Wildlife-Friendly Farm. Discuss the habitat differences between the two farms, and make a list of the elements that make a farm "wildlife-friendly."

Assessment:
1. A quiz may be developed for checking that students understand the vocabulary and/or the concept of life requirements and "clean" versus "wildlife-friendly" farming.

(sample question)
A. What are the four basic life requirements that all living things need to survive?
1. water, food, soil, plants 3. shelter, food, sun, oxygen
2. food, water, shelter, space 4. food, water, shelter, sun

2. A portion of the grade may also be given for listening, participating, following directions, and cooperative work.

3. For students creating research posters as an extension activity (see below), use the Poster Assessment for scoring.

4. For students making an oral presentation as an extension activity (see below), use the Oral Presentation Assessment for scoring.

Follow-up/Extensions:
1. Have each student research a wetland animal and create a poster. Research the animal's food and habitat requirements, regions where it lives, unique behaviors, etc. Students can use the poster to give an oral presentation to the class. When the presentations are done display the posters in the classroom.
2. Contact a local wildlife-friendly farmer and ask for a class tour of the farm. Contact your local farm bureau and find out if there are farmers who will do classroom presentations. For a list of county farm bureaus visit http://www.cfbf.com/counties/. Visit http://www.cfaitc.org/County/Activites.php for information on agricultural programs and activities happening in your county.

3. Create an outdoor wildlife-friendly classroom on your school campus. Transform an existing school garden into a haven for wildlife. Or, start from scratch and design and plant a new garden that provides for wildlife and also produces food for the school. School gardens provide learning opportunities in math, science, English, social studies, nutrition, and more. Visit http://www.nwf.org/schoolyardhabitats/ or http://www.kidsgardening.com/ for information on how to get started.

4. Design a wildlife-friendly farm. Combine three student groups from the activity into one large group. Have each large group map out a hypothetical farm that can provide the specific habitat needs for all three of their assigned animals, while farming on the land at the same time. Draw a square on a sheet of paper and label it cropland. Begin adding the appropriate elements that will provide the FOOD, WATER, SHELTER, and SPACE requirements for all three animals. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages to each design choice. Have each group share their farm design with the rest of the class.

5. Years of drought and poor agricultural practices led to severe soil erosion on the southern plains of the United States in the 1930s. John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath wonderfully depicts this period in American agricultural history. Steinbeck chronicles the struggles of the Joad family as they migrate and resettle in California after they are forced off their tenant farm in Oklahoma during the Dust Bowl. Assign each student one chapter of the book and have them do an oral book report for the class.

6. As a class, reflect on the experiences of migrant farm workers during the 1930s by studying documentary photographer Dorothea Lange's work entitled "Migrant Mother." Ms. Lange's black and white photographs vividly portray the despair experienced by migrant farmers during the Great Depression and Dust Bowl. Have students try to write a history for the woman and children in the photograph. For more information and to download a copy of the photograph visit http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/ (type Dorothea Lange in the Find dialog box, and search in Prints and Photographs) or http://www.museumca.org/global/art/collections_dorothea_lange.html.

Vocabulary:
barn owl boxes, bat boxes, clean farm, erosion, food, habitat, hedgerows, rice straw, shelter, space, topsoil, water, wildlife-friendly farm, predators

Teacher Lecture:
"Clean" farming, the most common way of farming since the 1950s, is when all available land is used for crops, and all the edges and canals are cleared of any plants to keep weeds from invading the fields. Clean farming is used in the intensive production process that characterizes California agriculture, where every acre of available land is farmed in order to make a profit. Clean farming requires a lot of maintenance, and very few wild animals can thrive because their food, water, shelter, and space needs cannot be met. Lack of wildlife habitat reduces beneficial insects and predators, and pest insects and rodents become more of a problem.

Some farmers are helping by managing their farmland to provide as much habitat as possible, especially along the "edges" of their land. Since farmers have to make money, it is very hard for them financially to take land out of production. Creating strips of vegetation, small ponds, and hedgerows or windbreaks along the "edges" of their property is compatible with normal farming practices, and allows wildlife to thrive. Farmers are installing bat and barn owl boxes, flooding their rice fields during winter, and replanting riparian areas. Farmers benefit, because bats help control mosquitoes, waterfowl trample and break down rice straw waste so it doesn't have to be burned, and hedgerows house wildlife and beneficial insects, protect topsoil, and more. Wildlife use the tree-lined creeks, streams, and rivers that wind through farmlands for nesting, resting, and escaping from predators. For farmers, trees and shrubs protect the banks from erosion, improve water quality, and help reduce the impacts of flooding.

The four basic requirements for life are FOOD, WATER, SHELTER, and SPACE. These are the four things that all organisms need in order to survive. Students should easily be able to understand food and water requirements, but shelter and space may require some additional discussion. Shelter is defined as something that provides protection or cover. Our home is our primary shelter. Ask the students what wild animals use for shelter. Examples include nests, holes in the ground, beehives, bushes, trees, crevices under rocks, etc. All organisms need space to grow and move around. Without enough space organisms cannot find the food, water, and shelter they need to survive. Discover how some farmers are helping wildlife by providing their four basic life requirements.

Handouts/Visual Aids:
1. Poster Assessment

2. Oral Presentation

Credit: The poster rubric was based on Julie Schmidt's Rubric for Posters located on her web page at http://courses.dsu.edu/eled320-360/Spring%202002/Schmidt/poster%20rubric.htm