Chewelah Peak Learning Center

Animal Tracks in the Wilderness Unit

3rd – 5th grades - Elementary

Objective:

At the end of this lesson the students will be able to identify the tracks, habitat, and diet of the wildlife in a forest.

EALRS:

Science:

1.1  Properties: Understand how properties are used to identify, describe, and categorize substances, materials, and objects; and how characteristics are used to categorize living things.

Time: Tuesday: Step #1 Wednesday: Step #2 and #3

Materials:

“Who Pooped in the Park?” Tracks and Scat flip charts

– Gary D. Robson Journals

Pencils Plaster of Paris (quick drying)

Plastic gloves Water

Rulers Cottage cheese, whip cream bowls

Backpack or the like

Permanent markers Digital Camera

Reference: (Found in Chewelah Peak Educational Library)

  • “Animal Tracks of the Pacific Northwest” By: Karen and Chris Stall
  • “Living with the Wildlife” By: California Center for Wildlife

Suggestions of where to Visit:

  • Demonstration Forest
  • Borders of Chewelah Peak Learning Center - Local trails

Step #1:

  • Read the book “Who Pooped in the Park” By Gary D. Robson as a class to help familiarize students with these new vocabulary terms and some of the animals in the forest.
  • Introduce some of the specific animals of the Northwest: Deer, Elk, Moose, Bear, Coyote, Cougar, Wolf, Beaver, Otter, Squirrel, Fox, Raccoon, Porcupine, and more.
  • Introduce the following vocabulary terms:

-Tracks -Carnivore

-Habitat -Herbivore

-Omnivore -Scat

  • Play matching Game with type of eater, poop, or tracks with the animal. Rotate tables so that every one has a chance to play all game versions.
  • Go over rule and regulations of Forest behavior.

Step #2:

  • Review Rules and Regulations of Forest Behavior.
  • Students will record how many animal tracks, and/or types of scat they found. Have students answer discussion questions as best they can.
  • Encourage student to ask questions
  • Take the students out into the forest and begin looking for tracks. As you identify tracks explain each animal’s habitat and the diet. Identify things they consume in the area. (example: leaves, buffalo berries, dog grass etc) Take Pictures of habitat, scat and tracks found.
  • Find good tracks of animals and make a copy of the footprint by using Plaster of Paris. (follow the Making Tracks directions, can have responsible students do this)
  • After the good track has been copied, have students measure the dimensions of the tracks.
  • Have Grand Discussion:
  • How large is the animal? Can anyone identify it? Why would it be walking here? And more (example: the direction the animal is walking/where they are going, the length of stride, the possible size of the animal etc.)
  • For the poop or “scat” that is in the area. Talk about the size and shape of the scat and which animal it belongs too. Take samples, in picture format, for later assessment.
  • Differentiate browsers from grazers and the food they eat.

Step #3:

  • Discussion questions: (lead to higher level thinking)

1.  What did the scat and/or track sizes tell you about the animal?

2.  Was there something you learned in the book that helped you through the tracking process?

3.  How many kinds of animal tracks did we find?

4.  What was one of the most interesting things you learned/or did and why?

5.  What kinds of things did we learn about the habitat of each animal? Why do you think they live in this kind of habitat? Did an animal’s habitat have anything to do with its food preference?

  • Students will submit their discussion question answers.
  • After discussions take the samples you have collected and lay them on a table. Have students match the animal tracks copies with pictures of scat and animal. Teacher will assess correctness of matching.

Assessment:

CATEGORY / 4 / 3 / 2 / 1
Participation / Used time well and focused attention. / Used time pretty well. Stayed focused most of the time. / Did not appear very interested. Focus was lost on several occasions. / Participation was minimal OR student was hostile about participating.
Safety / Activity is carried out with full attention to relevant safety procedures. The set-up, experiment, and tear-down posed no safety threat to any individual. / Activity is generally carried out with attention to relevant safety procedures. No safety threat to any individual, but one safety procedure needs to be reviewed. / Activity is carried out with some attention to relevant safety procedures. No safety threat to any individual, but several safety procedures need to be reviewed. / Safety procedures were ignored and/or some aspect of the activity posed a threat to the safety of the student or others.
Matching / Was able to identify animals by tracks and scat by matching photos correctly, with one error. / Was able to identify animals by tracks and scat by matching photos correctly, with two or three errors / Was able to identify animals by tracks and scat by matching photos correctly, with four errors / More than 4 errors were made during matching of animal with tracks and scat.

Making Tracks

Take a cottage cheese or cool whip carton (with the bottom cut out) and place it around the track. Make sure it is large enough to encircle the print before continuing. Fill it with the plaster mix and fill it until it reaches about 1.5 inches up the carton. Let set until hard. (You may need to go back during break the next day). When dry you can pull the carton out of the ground. Before removal write location of track on back of copy with permanent marker.