Mind your Mammals
From the lessons taught by real animals, to specimens, skulls, scat and track replicas, learn the characteristics that make mammals unique in the animal kingdom. Observe squirrels and chipmunks in action, simulate the walking and running gaits of predator and prey animals. Hunker down and stalk like a fox, follow vole tunnels through the grass or snow, and discover some of the unique and surprising escape techniques of mice and rabbits.
| (This program can be modified to suit any grade) |
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Curriculum Links & Expectations:
Grade 2 : Science and Technology
| Life Systems - Growth and Changes in Animals |
| 2s1 |
demonstrate an understanding of the similarities and differences among various types of animals and the ways in which animals adapt to different environmental conditions; |
| 2s2 |
investigate physical and behavioural characteristics and the process of growth of different types of animals; |
| 2s4 |
identify and describe the major physical characteristics of different types of animals (e.g., mammals, reptiles, insects); |
| 2s5 |
identify and describe behavioural characteristics that enable animals to survive (e.g., migration, dormancy, hibernation); |
| 2s6 |
classify a variety of animals using observable characteristics (e.g., size, body covering, teeth); |
| 2s7 |
compare ways in which animals eat their food (e.g., tear flesh, crack shells), move, and use their environment to meet their needs (e.g., gather grass and twigs to build nests); |
| 2s11 |
describe ways in which animals respond and adapt to their environment (e.g., weasels change colour for camouflage in summer and winter; mammals living in colder climates have longer fur); |
Grade 4 : Science and Technology
| Life Systems - Habitats and Communities |
| 4s2 |
investigate the dependency of plants and animals on their habitat and the interrelationships of the plants and animals living in a specific habitat; |
| 4s3 |
describe ways in which humans can change habitats and the effects of these changes on the plants and animals within the habitats. |
| 4s7 |
describe structural adaptations of plants and animals that demonstrate a response of the living things to their environment (e.g., the height of a plant depends on the amount of sunlight the plant gets; many animals that live in the Arctic have white fur); |
| 4s8 |
recognize that animals and plants live in specific habitats because they are dependent on those habitats and have adapted to them (e.g., ducks live in marshes because they need marsh plants for food and shelter and water for movement); |
| 4s16 |
describe ways in which humans can affect the natural world (e.g., urban development forces some species to go elsewhere and enables other species to multiply too rapidly; conservation areas can be established to protect specific habitats); |
