Elakha. Phtot courtesy of the Elakha Alliance.
Overview
Lesson 1: Introduction to Relationships between Humans and the Environment
Lesson 2: Sea Otters and the Food Web
Lesson 3: Sea Otters, A Keystone Species
Lesson 4: Native Americans and the Sea Otter
Lesson 5: Dangers to Sea Otter and Responsibility of People
Extending the lessons/References
Standards
ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS
EL.03.RE.07—Listen to, read, and understand a wide variety of grade-level informational and narrative (story) text.
EL.03.RE.08—Demonstrate listening comprehension of more complex text through discussions.
EL.03.RE.32—Ask questions and support answers by connecting prior knowledge with literal information found in, and inferred from, the text.
EL.03.RE.34—Take part in creative response to text, such as dramatizations and oral presentations.
CD Segments to Play
For this topic, go to Sacred Landscape.
Background
Sea otters live in the ocean in an underwater forest called a Kelp Forest. A Kelp Forest looks like giant leaves, they grow from the bottom of the ocean all the way to the top. Kelp is actually giant seaweed which is algae. In a kelp forest live different kinds of algae (besides the giant kelp).
Inside of the kelp forest live fish, sea urchins and other sea life. Sea otters like to live by the kelp forests. They roll around in the kelp leaves so they don’t float away when they go to sleep!
Suggested Strategies
In preparation for this lesson, go to this site (if you don’t have computer access in the classroom) and tape record the various sounds the sea otters make: HYPERLINK “http://www.seaotters.org/Otters/index.cfm?DocID=63″http://www.seaotters.org/Otters/index.cfm?DocID=63.
Go to HYPERLINK “http://www.seaotters.org/Otters/index.cfm?FuseAction=Photos”http://www.seaotters.org/Otters/index.cfm?FuseAction=Photos and print out color photos of sea otters; go to HYPERLINK “http://www.mbayaq.org/lc/activities/pups_coloring_pages.asp”http://www.mbayaq.org/lc/activities/pups_coloring_pages.asp and print out color page of sea otter.
Activities
1. Listen
Listen to the Connie Graves segment.
2. Discuss
Following this short segment, ask the students questions to determine their exposure to sea otters and/or to Native Americans:
Do you know what sea otters are?
Do you know what a kelp forest is?
Have you ever heard of a keystone species?
Have you heard of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde (CTGR)?
Talk to the class about the way that Native American people view the world. Many tribes consider all things are related to each other. All things include fish, animals, plants, trees and everything else you can think of. The sea otter, though it no longer is found within the Oregon coastal areas, is still very important to the CTGR. Historically, as was heard in the Wisdom of the Elders segment, the sea otter was very important to the Tribes in Oregon.
3. Read
ASK CTGR FOR APPROPRIATE STORY ON SEA OTTERS.
4. Draw
ASK CTGR FOR APPROPRIATE COLOR PAGES ON TRIBAL LIFEWAYS. Pass out the color page and have the students color the sea otter eating a sea urchin.
