WILD School / Learning About Wildlife

Lesson Guide | Communities for Wildlife | Habitat Projects and Resources | Registration and Funding | Featured School | News | Contact Us | NWW Partners

What's in This Online Learning Unit?

Curriculum Fit

Teacher's Tips

What's in This Online Learning Unit?

This package includes:

A set of easy-to-use, ready-made learning activities. Our Lesson Guide will help you focus student learning on the relationship between natural and human communities and how youth can make a real difference for wildlife in their own communities.

Tools to meet mandated science learning outcomes. Our guide supports, and is cross-referenced with, the following science curriculum expectations:

• nurturing a sense of stewardship;
• investigating the concepts of habitat and community;
• identifying one's own and one's family's impact on natural resources;
• developing a sense of responsibility for the welfare of living things and the environment;
• recognizing the need for balance between human needs and a sustainable environment;
• discovering how personal actions help conserve natural resources;
• changing behaviour to protect the environment; and
• contributing to the sustainability of one's community through individual actions.

A complement to Communities for Wildlife. Our lesson guide sets the stage for learning about the delicate balance in which wildlife and humans live in communities, whether or not your students decide to tackle a wildlife habitat project. The associated Communities for Wildlife Web site is brimming with guidelines for habitat projects, advice on how to get into action, how to take part in initiatives already under way in your community, where to get even more project ideas, what funding sources are available, and much more.

Top

Curriculum Fit

WILD Education addresses the following learning outcomes within the science curriculum:

• needs and characteristics of living things;
• animal growth and changes;
• plant growth and changes;
• habitat and communities;
• diversity of life;
• space science;
• interactions within ecosystems;
• water systems on Earth;
• sustainability of ecosystems; and
• interactions among living things

Teacher's Tips

• Urge students to pursue conservation objectives by becoming knowledgeable about the habitat requirements of wildlife and by devising an action plan.

• Before undertaking habitat projects, obtain permission from local landowners or your municipality and consult with a by-laws officer.

• At project sites, post weatherproof signs to inform passers-by of your objectives.

• Use only plants, trees, and shrubs native to your ecological area.

• Ensure the longevity of your projects by involving several grades and collaborating with community groups.

• Consult with experts, such as conservation officers and wildlife biologists, to give your project a strong foundation.

• For safety's sake, always work in small groups and recruit older students, parents, community volunteers, or other helpers.

• Take extra care when working near water or in wooded areas.

• Bring along a first-aid kit, Epipen, sunscreen, and insect repellent.

• Make sure students wear suitable clothing and footwear.