These illustrated cards give information about over 60 plants and animals that live in the Great Lakes region, including where they live, what they eat, how big they are, and some unique characteristics.
Students will learn about the physical characteristics of the species, whether they are endangered or invasive, details about their habitat, and where they fit in the food web.
Teaching Tips
Positives
The first two slides provide useful definitions and a breakdown of the card's structure.
The illustrations are colorful and well-crafted.
Additional Prerequisites
Students need to know what a food web and ecosystem is.
The cards can be used as projections in class or printed off, cut out, and used for memory games or other projects.
Differentiation
These slides could supplement a lesson on how climate change is causing the endangerment of species worldwide.
These slides could enhance a classroom discussion on how invasive species end up in the wrong ecosystem.
These slides could support a lesson about different animal classes and their distinct characteristics.
These slides could augment a classroom discussion on how humans could lessen their impact on biodiversity and ecosystems around the world.
Scientist Notes
This resource is a PDF with information about plants and animals that are found along the Great Lakes. Information is organized into separate cards that can be printed and cut out, leaving one card for each plant or animal. Each card describes the organism and give a brief description of its characteristics, habitat, and description. Cards also include detailed illustrations of each organism. This resource is recommended for teaching.
Standards
Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
LS2: Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics
MS-LS2-1 Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence for the effects of resource availability on organisms and populations of organisms in an ecosystem.
5-LS2-1 Develop a model to describe the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment.
HS-LS2-6 Evaluate the claims, evidence, and reasoning that the complex interactions in ecosystems maintain relatively consistent numbers and types of organisms in stable conditions, but changing conditions may result in a new ecosystem.
Common Core English Language Arts Standards (CCSS.ELA)
Reading: Informational Text (K-12)
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.3.5 Use text features and search tools (e.g., key words, sidebars, hyperlinks) to locate information relevant to a given topic efficiently.
