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Teacher Resources: Squirrel Tales Three kinds of tree squirrels - gray, red and flying squirrels - occupy our forests, often competing for the same foods and shelters. Each kind has a special niche – particular habits and habitat preferences – which helps these squirrels live side by side. All are hoarders of food, hiding a supply for the winter, though each uses a different technique. Looking for signs of squirrel activity outside gives us a window into the lives of these busy animals. UNIT VOCABULARY Predator Prey Adaptation Nocturnal Niche Herbivore Carnivore Opportunist Deciduous Coniferous Cache Drey Midden Larder-hoarder Scatter-hoarder!

!OUTSIDE YOU GO Winter is a great time of year to feed songbirds. Set up a class bird feeding station outside. Filling the bird feeders can be one of your class chores. As a class or in small groups, spend some time each week observing the birds and other animals (like squirrels!) that frequent the feeders. Keep track of the different kinds of birds, the numbers of birds there at one time, the kinds of squirrels (if any) that visit, etc.

FOLLOW UP IDEAS Morning Meeting: Review this unit with a hide and seek game. Show students an acorn and a pile of cones from an evergreen tree. Tell them that you have hidden single acorns and cone piles around the room, and they’re going to take turns trying to find them. Give each student a turn with finding her food. Once she finds it, she will say either, “I’m a Gray Squirrel. I’m a scatter-hoarder,” or “I’m a Red Squirrel. I’m a larder-hoarder.” (Gray Squirrels find single acorns, and Red Squirrels find piles of cones.) Math: Pair students up, and give each pair a cone from an evergreen tree. Ask students to carefully remove the scales from their cones counting them as they go. Older students can multiply the number of scales by 2 to determine the number of seeds in a cone, as each scale houses two small seeds. Younger students can use a clock to tell how much time it takes for the whole class to take apart one cone. Language Arts: Read some squirrel-related books during read-aloud time, and ask students to answer questions and/or describe key ideas and details. Younger children will enjoy Nuts to You by, Lois Ehlert. The Adventures of Chatterer the Red Squirrel or The Adventures of Happy Jack, both written by Thorton W. Burgess are wonderful books for older listeners. !!

BOOKS FOR KIDS Welcome to the World of Squirrels, by Diane Swanson, Walrus Books, 2001. (Informational; Age

4-7; Grade K and up) The Adventures of Chatterer the Red Squirrel, by Thornton W. Burgess, Dover Publications, 1992.

(Fiction; Age 8-11; Grade 3-6) The Adventures of Happy Jack, by Thornton W. Burgess, Dover Publications, 2004. (Fiction; Age

8-11; Grade 3-6) Squirrels and Their Nests, by Martha Rustad, Pebble Plus Publishers, 2004. (Informational; Age 4-

8; Grade K-1; Lexile 520L) Nuts to You, by Lois Ehlert, HMH Books for Young Readers, 2004. (Fiction; Age 4-8; Grade K-3)

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NATURE JOURNALS Ask children to picture their favorite squirrel in its habitat. In their journals, draw a picture or write a short narrative about a squirrel doing one of its typical behaviors (e.g. gliding from tree to tree, burying acorns), without saying what kind it is. In small groups, have the children show their drawings or read their entries, and the others can guess the kind of squirrel.

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SQUIRREL TALES ALIGNMENT WITH NEXT GENERATION SCIENCE STANDARDS

Grades K-2 • Core Ideas LS1A: Different animals use their body parts in different ways to see, hear, grasp objects, protect themselves, move from place to place, and seek, find and take

in food, water and air. p.144 • Core Idea LS1C: All animals need food in order to live and grow. They obtain their food from plants or from other animals. p.147 • Core Idea LS1D: Animals have body parts that capture and convey different kinds of information needed for growth and survival – for example, eyes for light, ears for

sounds, and skin for temperature or touch. Animals respond to these inputs with behaviors that help them survive (e.g. find food, run from a predator). p.149 • Core Ideas LS2A: Animals depend on their surroundings to get what they need, including food, water, shelter, and a favorable temperature. Animals depend on plants or

other animals for food. They use their senses to find food and water and their body parts to gather, catch, eat, and chew the food. Animals can move around but plants cannot, and they often depend on animals for pollination or to move their seeds around. p.151

• Core Idea LS2B: Organisms obtain the materials they need to grow and survive from the environment. p.153 • Core Idea LS3A: Organisms have characteristics that can be similar or different. Young animals are very much, but not exactly, like their parents and also resemble other

animals of the same kind. p.158

Grades 3-5 • Core Ideas LS1A: Plants and animals have both internal and external structures that serve various functions in growth, survival, behavior and reproduction. p.144 • Core Idea LS1C: Animals and plants alike generally need to take in air and water, animals must take in food. p.148 • Core Idea LS2A: Organisms can survive only in environments in which their particular needs are met. A healthy ecosystem is one in which multiple species of different

types are each able to meet their needs in a relatively stable web of life. p.151-152 • Core Idea LS2B: Organisms obtain gases, water, and minerals from the environment and release waste matter (gas, liquid, or solid) back into the environment. p.153 • Core Idea LS3A: Many characteristics of organisms are inherited from their parents. Other characteristics result from individuals’ interactions with the environment, which

can range from diet to learning. Many characteristics involve both inheritance and environment. p.158

Grades 6-8 • Core Idea LS1B: Animals engage in characteristic behaviors that increase the odds of reproduction. p.146 • Core Idea LS1C: Animals obtain food from eating plants or eating other animals. p.148 • Core Ideas LS2A: Organisms and populations of organisms are dependent on their environmental interactions both with other living things and with nonliving factors.

Growth of organisms and population increases are limited by access to resources. In any ecosystem, organisms and populations with similar requirements for food, water, oxygen, or other resources may compete with each other for limited resources, access to which consequently constrains their growth and reproduction. p.152

Note: The Disciplinary Core Ideas listed above are taken from Grade Band Endpoints in A Framework for K-12 Science Education. Additionally, our activities give children opportunities to engage in many of the Science and Engineering Practices and reflect on the Crosscutting Concepts as identified in the Next Generation Science Standards. SQUIRREL TALES ALIGNMENT WITH COMMON CORE STANDARDS

Grades K-2 • Common Core Mathematics Standard K.CC: Count to 100 by ones and tens. Understand the relationship between numbers and quantities; connect counting to

cardinality. Count to answer “how many?” questions about as many as 20 things. • Common Core Mathematics Standard 2.OA: Use addition and subtraction within 100 to solve one- and two-step word problems.

Grades 6-8 • Common Core Mathematics Standard 6.RP: Understand ratio concepts and use ratio reasoning to solve problems. Find a percent of a quantity as a rate per 100.

Note: The Common Core Standards listed here are in addition to the ones that our activities typically address, as listed in the Four Winds document, The Nature Program: Alignment with Learning Standards.

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