Keep Calm and Save the Bats!
Keep Calm and Save the Bats!
Unit Title: Keep Calm and Save the Bats! | Abstract: In this series of activities, students build their background knowledge about bats through a variety of media and texts (Activity 1), play games to learn more about how bats interact with their prey and how they use their bodies, and choose an action(s) to help make the world a better place for bats, and therefore, humans (Activity 2). My students decided to create educational posters convincing people to help bats, plant a bat garden, build a bat house, and adopt-a-bat. They also wrote persuasive letters to hang the bat house on our school, which they presented to the administration (and the project was approved - in addition to which the principal asked us to create additional educational materials to teach the school community - teachers, students, other staff - and families about the benefits of bats). |
Grade Level: 6-7 Years Old, First Grade (Easily Adaptable to Other Grades) | Lesson author(s): Kristin Halverson, kahalverson@uwalumni.com |
Instructional Materials Needed (if applicable): Activity 1: - Bat Response Sheets - Writing Materials (for Bat Response Sheet) - Texts you choose to use such as National Geographic Reader: Bats(2010) by Elizabeth Carney, National Geographic Young Explorer: Bats! (magazine) - Globe/World Map - Real bat specimens (if possible), local bat acoustic survey data maps Activity 2: - Poster Option - poster paper, markers, pencils, crayons - Letter Writing Option - letter writing paper, pencils - Bat House Option - (You choose how much you want to do with your students, I had everything cut, holes pre-drilled in advance and just assembled the house with the students); 1⁄2 sheet (4' x 4') 1⁄2" AC, BC or T1-11 (outdoor grade) plywood; 1 1⁄2 sheet (4' x 4') 3⁄8" AC or BC (outdoor grade) plywood; Two pieces 1" x 6" (3⁄4" x 5 1⁄2" finished) x 8' pine or cedar; One lb. coated deck or exterior-grade screws, 1 5⁄8" 20 to 25 coated deck or exterior-grade screws, 1 1⁄4" 20 to 25 exterior-grade screws, 1"; One quart dark, water-based stain - exterior grade; One quart water-based primer - exterior grade; Two quarts flat water-based paint or stain - exterior grade; One tube paintable latex caulk; Black asphalt shingles or galvanized metal, 12 to 20 roofing nails - 7⁄8"; Directions for How To Build a Bat House, and other pertinent reading on building a bat house OR a Bat Con approved bat house kit; Recommended tools: Table saw or circular saw; Paintbrushes; Variable-speed reversing drill; Hammer (optional); Screwdriver bit for drill; Tin snips (optional); Tape measure or yardstick; Bar clamp (optional); Caulking gun; Sander (optional); 1 1⁄2" hole saw or spade bit; Pole/Building (to mount house on) - Bat Garden Option - Consult with a Master Gardener in your area, but get a start with this information on: Bat Week’s Gardening for Bats, Planting a bat garden, or How to garden for bats - Bat Echolocation Game: blindfolds - Bat Anatomy Activity: Sandwich sized Ziploc bags, bath towels | |
Wisconsin Standards for English Language Arts Addressed (ELA Full Document or Literacy in All Subject Areas Full Document): READING: - CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.1.1: Ask and answer questions about key details in a text. - CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.1.2: Identify the main topic and retell key details of a text. - CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.1.3: Describe the connection between two individuals, events, ideas, or pieces of information in a text. WRITING: - CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.1.1: Write opinion pieces in which they introduce the topic or name the book they are writing about, state an opinion, supply a reason for the opinion, and provide some sense of closure. SPEAKING & LISTENING: - CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.1.2: Ask and answer questions about key details in a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media. | |
Wisconsin Standards for Environmental Literacy and Sustainability Standards Addressed (Full Document or searchable spreadsheet): ENVIRONMENTAL LITERACY & SUSTAINABILITY: - ELS.C1: Students develop and connect with their sense of place and well-being through observation, exploration, and questioning. - ELS.EX3. Students assess how diversity influences health and resilience of natural and cultural systems. - ELS.EN6: Students analyze the dynamic balance between natural and cultural systems. - ELS.EN7: Students engage in experiences to develop stewardship for the sustainability of natural and cultural systems. SCIENCE STANDARDS: - SCI.CC4: Students use science and engineering practices, disciplinary core ideas, and an understanding of systems and models to make sense of phenomena and solve problems. - SCI.CC4.K-2 Students understand objects and organisms can be described in terms of their parts and that systems in the natural and designed world have parts that work together. - SCI.SEP7: Students engage in argument from evidence, in conjunction with using crosscutting concepts and disciplinary core ideas, to make sense of phenomena and solve problems. - SCI.SEP8: Students will obtain, evaluate and communicate information, in conjunction with using crosscutting concepts and disciplinary core ideas, to make sense of phenomena and solve problems. - SCI.LS1: Students use science and engineering practices, crosscutting concepts, and an understanding of structures and processes (on a scale from molecules to organisms) to make sense of phenomena and solve problems. - SCI.LS1.A.1 All organisms have external parts that they use to perform daily functions. - SCI.LS2: Students use science and engineering practices, crosscutting concepts, and an understanding of the interactions, energy, and dynamics within ecosystems to make sense of phenomena and solve problems. - SCI.LS2.A.2 Plants depend on water and light to grow. Plants depend on animals for pollination or to move their seeds around. - SCI.ESS3: Students use science and engineering practices, crosscutting concepts, and an understanding of the Earth and human activity to make sense of phenomena and solve problems. - SCI.ESS3.C.K Things people do can affect the environment but they can make choices to reduce their impacts. SOCIAL STUDIES STANDARDS: - SS.Inq1: Wisconsin students will construct meaningful questions that initiate an inquiry. - SS.Inq2: Wisconsin students will gather and evaluate sources. - SS.Inq3: Wisconsin students will develop claims using evidence to support reasoning. - SS.Inq4: Wisconsin students will communicate and critique conclusions. - SS.Inq5: Wisconsin students will be civically engaged. - SS.PS2: Wisconsin students will examine and interpret rights, privileges, and responsibilities in society. | |
Evidence of Need: | Evidence of Success: Student learning is assessed informally for activity 1 through the ability to both ask and answer questions from the selected materials and more formally through their answers on the ‘Bat Response Sheet.’ Student learning for activity 1 is further formally assessed in activity 2 through the creation of a persuasive poster on the topic of why people should help bats, build a bat garden, adopt-a-bat, or build a bat house. Objectives: By the end of this series, students will be able to: 1. Ask and answer questions related to an inquiry centered around the importance of bats using paper text, digital text, videos and/or other media. 2. Identify that different people have different perspectives when it comes to bats and what some of those perspectives might be. 3. Share at least 5 facts about bats that are not common knowledge for a first-grade student. 4. Identify different causes for bat population declines (at least one). 5. Participate in games and activities to increase their knowledge of bat bodies, physical structures and how those structures help the bats survive, and determine facts or myths about bats. 6. Identify how the human and natural world are interconnected where bats are concerned. 7. Identify at least two solutions to bat population declines that they could take. 8. Take action to help solve the problem of bat population decline. Choose and participate in an action(s) to make a positive impact on the environment to help bats including: create a persuasive poster to convince people to help bats, build a bat house, plant a bat garden, or adopt-a-bat. |
Inquiry Experience 1 *These Activities are highly teacher choice driven and easily responsive to your students’ abilities. Activity 1 Start with Bat Response Sheet. Completing top portion only, write on your paper how you feel about bats -smiley face/thumbs up -like them, straight face -not sure how you feel, thermometer -they’re gross, sad face -don’t like them. Share by standing by like group members. Discuss our classroom perspectives of bats. Present inquiry question: Do bats matter? Are they important? Create modified KWL chart. Chart what we think we know about bats. Chart -what questions do you have? What are you wondering? Select from the following resources/activities that best fit your students and time allocated: - Read National Geographic Reader: Bats (2010)by Elizabeth Carney. Have students listen for answers as we read. Chart answers with questions if they are answered. - Read National Geographic Young Explorer: Bats! (magazine). Have students listen for answers as you read. Chart answers with questions if they are answered. - Watch National Geographic Cool Facts About Bats | Things You Wanna Know Video. Have students listen for answers as they view. Chart answers with questions if they are answered. - Watch National Geographic Wild Detectives: Hanging out with Bats Video. Have students listen for answers as they view. Chart answers with questions if they are answered. - Watch National Geographic World’s Weirdest: Vampire Bats Video. Have students listen for answers as they view. Chart answers with questions if they are answered. - Watch National Geographic Meet the World’s Biggest Bat Video. Have students listen for answers as they view. Chart answers with questions if they are answered. - Read National Geographic Five Reasons Why Bats are the Best. Have students listen for answers as you read/view. Chart answers with questions if they are answered. - Read National Geographic Meet Some Bonkers Bats. Have students listen for answers as you read/view. Chart answers with questions if they are answered. - Game using National Geographic Kids Bat Myths Busted!→ Play ‘Is this myth true or false?’ by having the students move from one side (true) to the other side (false) of the room/carpet/area. Then discuss each as you play. - Read The Forest of Beatrice, the Little Brown Bat. Have students listen for answers as you read/view. Chart answers with questions if they are answered. - Read Bats and Wind Turbines and Bat Deaths and Wind Turbines. Chart what you learned. - Watch National Geographic Explorer Classroom: Kristen Lear, Bat Conservationist Video. (Highly recommended resource to give students the background needed to help take action on the problem) - WI DNR Website about white-nose syndrome. Chart any new knowledge. - Use Bat Con International Site Why Bats Are Important. Chart any newknowledge. - Use Bat Mural(Teachers Guide Here) -what do you see that shows a way that bats are important? Any new ways? Color as we discuss each way. - Use globe or world map to locate where bats of particular interest to your class live (Mine were obsessed with vampire bats who live in Central and South America), locate all the areas of the world where bats live, and demonstrate what migration might look like for bats from Wisconsin (or wherever you live, if bats migrate from/to that location). Optional if you are able: Show the kids the real bat specimens. Chart any new knowledge. Look at Acoustic Bat Survey Data (example). What do you notice? What kind of bats live where you live? Discuss: What is your perspective now? Did it change? Use videos (short) from Save Lucy Campaign. What about the perspectives of: - Homeowner with a bat in their house - Farmer - Outdoor enthusiast - Gardener - Pest Removal Specialist Discuss: So... What’s the problem? What can we do? Relate to Zones of Regulation: Our actions affect how those around us feel and act... How do our actions affect bats? What role do bats play in the environment? How do bats benefit people? What if there were no bats? Discuss. Pass out bat response sheet again. This time fill out the bottom half. | |
Inquiry Experience 2 Learn More: - Play Bat Echolocation Games (How Bats Fly at Night) - Play Going Batty -Scholastic Game(Bat Anatomy) - Take Action: *The following are all options – you can do one or all of them! - Create persuasive posters for why people should help bats - Build a bat house - Adopt-a-bat - Plant a bat garden - Write persuasive letters to the people in charge (ex: school board, principal, director of building and grounds)to let the class put up a bat house(s) near your school or on the school building - Build Bat House(s) - Plan and plant a bat garden - Plan and complete fundraising to adopt-a-bat (Bat Conservation International Adopt-A-Bat or Bat World Sanctuary Adopt-A-Bat) | |
Opportunities for Modifications and Extensions: - This lesson has opportunities for differentiation within –using whatever sources of information on bats will best fit your students and time allocations - Persuasive posters could easily turn into a letter to the editor if your students wanted a larger audience - If you wanted to take the learning deeper, find a bat expert in your area and invite them into the classroom - Students could visit other classrooms in the school and share their information why bats are important to try to convince others to help bats - If students are able, they could do their own online research or reading about bats to garner the information necessary to build their knowledge about bats - If students are able, they could delve more into the area of white-nose syndrome - Check out a Wisconsin Bat Trunk (K-6) - Anything from Project EduBat(there are a wealth of resources and activities provided here!) - Bat Masks: Resources for making bat masks -both North American Bats (one and two-two separate files) and Worldwide Bats and teaching about these bats - Math Extensions: How do I Compare to a Bat?; Measurement with Bats and non-standard measurement tools - Other Resources and Activities: Labeled Diagram of Bat; Bat Life Cycle; Little Brown Bat -Information and Coloring Page; Bat Comic Strip -B/W, Bat Comic Strip -Full Color; Bats Live Videos; The Bat Squad -EduBat! Service Learning | |