My number one passion as a trained science and art teacher, is to instill in my students a love and respect for the animals on our amazing planet. A key part of this is teaching them the importance of each animal in an ecosystem, how it's loss would not only affect the food chain/web but would also take us one more step away from earth's beautiful diversity of plants and animals. From the lowly bees to massive giants such as the soon to be extinct Northern White Rhino, every animal is important!
To kick off this year's endangered animals unit, my third through fifth graders walked into my art room to find a table covered with delicate Oaxacan wood carvings of rain forest animals from Mexico. I have a treasured collection of these beautiful sculptures which really are quite amazing. Next, we looked at a Power point showing more examples of this unique art carved by the artisans of Oaxaca in the mountains of Mexico. They carve wood from the soft copal tree. Interestingly, even small children help with the basic carving and painting - though men typically do the carving and women do the intricate, detailed painting.
Then students picked out an endangered animal and delved into Internet research to learn more about what is driving their animal toward extinction. Building on this knowledge, they came up with their own ideas to save it. Week two, students carefully formed their creatures out of clay and I fired them in our kiln, followed by the colorful painting of patterns and designs. I will post photos when these sculptures are finished. Visit this website for more information on specific animals, their habitat and what threatens their survival: https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals/
Below is an excellent example of the Endangered Animal reports our students wrote.
By: Jake V
Eastern gorillas are critically endangered and the largest living primate. Their habitat is the rainforest. Their adaptations for living in the rainforest are they need to be able to eat and digest the food around them so they have flat teeth that allow them to be able to grind the plants they eat. The reasons why the eastern gorilla is endangered are partly because gorillas live in a very restricted area. Another reason is habitat loss - the eastern gorillas habitats have been cleared into chunks. To keep the eastern gorillas from extinction, have the community make their habitat safer with restricted limits on use, since the reason they’re endangered is habitat loss. The eastern gorilla’s diet is 67% fruit, 17% leaves, seeds, and stems, and 3% is termites and caterpillars. They live in the forests of central and western Africa in Equatorial Guinea, Angola, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Congo, Gaboon, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Some interesting and unusual facts are gorillas have unique nose prints, much like human fingertips, which can be used to identify individuals. Gorillas are the world's largest primates. Gorillas are mostly herbivores, they spend most of their day foraging for bamboo, fruit and leafy plants. There are two species of gorillas. They both live in central Africa. As roaming herbivores, gorillas play a vital role in seed dispersal. Many large fruit trees depend upon these animals to survive.