Overview
Lesson 1: Introduction to Relationships between Humans and the Environment
Lesson 2: Berries in the Ecosystem
Lesson 3: Traditional Ecological Knowledge
Lesson 4: Historic versus Contemporary Landscapes
Lesson 5: Responsibility of Society
Standards
ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS
- EL.03.WR.01—Find ideas for writing stories and descriptions through various sources, including conversations with others.
LIFE SCIENCE
- SC.03.LS.04—Describe a habitat and the organisms that live there.
CD Segments to Play
Background
Suggested Strategies
- You will need paper bags or paper plates for masks (1 for each child) also you will need string to tie the mask on if you use paper plates. You will also need to have string that will stretch out across the diameter of a circle your class is standing in; you will need one string for each child.
Activities
1. Discuss
Talk to the class about the Native American perspective on all things being related. Remind them of their belief that they must care for all living things and that all living things care for each other as well. To illustrate the relationship, play the Food Web Game.
2. Play a game
The Food Web Game
- Tell the students to imagine these five groups are all that exist: mouse, bear, berry bush, birds, and caterpillar.
- Divide the class into these five groups; have them make a mask they can wear.
- Tell the students who eats who:
a. The bears eat the berries and mice.
b. The birds eat the berries and the caterpillars.
c. The caterpillar eats the leaves on the berry bush.
d. The mice eat the berries and the caterpillars.
e. The berry bush converts the sun’s energy into useable energy.
- Have the class stand in a circle wearing their mask, each with a piece of string or yarn. Begin with any one of the students, have them walk over to something that they would eat, have them lay their string along the floor behind them as they walk to their food, so that the string begins where the student was standing and ends where they end up standing. Have the next student do the same thing, carefully placing their string on top of the previous one. When a student “eats” the character, emphasize that each character is equal to more than one food item! Continue until the whole class has had a chance to participate. For older students, have them repeat the process.
- Ask: Do you see how all of these things are related to each other?
- Have each student pick up their string, and all the berry bushes must sit down. Have the students play the game again; this time when they are eaten they must sit down.
- Ask: What is going to happen to all of you that are still standing? (They are of course going to starve to death.)
- Ask: Now, do you think the berries are important?
