Sunny Weekend Alert
The Zoo anticipates high attendance on sunny weekends. Parking is limited, so arrive early, carpool, and check our site / social pages often for more updates!
North America Wildlife Conservation
Overview: At the North Carolina Zoo, we are committed to protecting wildlife and other natural resources. Through the Regional Conservation portion of our Living With Nature Live! events, our goal is to show middle and high school students the many ways we work to conserve.
The post-event activities for this event are focused on collaborative practices with groups or classes. Much like the Zoo aims to collaborate with others across our state, we hope that through this event, we can encourage collaboration between students, schools, districts and counties.
Date of Event: September 18, 2019
Designed For: Middle School and High Schools Students (see NC Standard Course of Study alignments below)
Objectives
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The student will be able to identify and describe regional practices as offered by the North Carolina Zoo and in his/her own community/region.
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The student will be able to create plans for regional conservation projects in his/her own community
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The student will be able to craft persuasive and argumentative texts in reference to regional conservation.
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The student will participate in a collaborative group to complete projects related to regional conservation.
Teacher Information (All Grades):
Our North America Conservation portion of our Live will be broadcast via Zoom on Wednesday, September 18 at 10 am. It will last approximately 1 hour.
In order to set the foundation for the material we will cover when live, we encourage you to use the pre-event activities. This will help prime the learning pump for students. These activities are optional but will allow your students to begin considering what they may be able to do to support regional conservation.
You can use the Regional Conservation site as well as last year's regional conservation event to inform yourself of what is already happening at the North Carolina Zoo. This will give you good background knowledge prior to the event.
Please note: While there will be plenty of opportunity for interaction with our live event hosts, we ask that you work with your students before and after the event to keep the learning and exploration going!
Suggested Activities Prior to Live Event
The following activities are offered as suggestions to engage students’ prior knowledge and prepare them for their virtual trip to the North Carolina Zoo to learn about North America Conservation. After their trip, classes or groups will be encouraged to work on their own Regional Conservation project. See the Post-Event suggestions for details.
Prior to Event
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How (and what) does your school, town, city, state conserve? Do some research to discover and list out their steps, goals, etc. Be sure to record source information!
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At the North Carolina Zoo, the following conservation practices occur. Choose the one that interests you most and research the process by which these practices take place:
- North Carolina’s Frogs - Pine Barrens Treefrog and Gopher Frogs
- Prescribed Burning at Nichols Preserve
- Rare Plant Studies
- Hellbender Habitats and Breeding
- Red Wolf Packs
For more information: Conservation at the Zoo or read the North Carolina Zoo Conservation Report
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Consider a conservation practice that you would like to put in to practice in your own community. List out your major questions about this practice as well as plans for how you could affect change in your own area.
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Planning to start a conservation project? Submit your class or school name to schoolprograms@nczoo.org to be added to the NC Conservation Map. Then, create your plan to implement up to and after the live broadcast.
During Event
Watch the live stream (or recording if necessary). Use the participation guides to keep students engaged, encourage questions, and offer reflection time.
- Teacher Guide
- Word Scramble - During the event participate in our word scramble. See if you can decode the message. Let us know if you do! Answer for the Word Scramble was emailed out to all registered attendees. If you did not receive it please contact us.
Post Event
- Create a pollination station at your school or in your community. Make sure you research appropriate native plants and design it for a variety of pollinators. Then get the materials and put it in.
- Host a red wolf awareness day or event at your school or in your community. Help spread the word about why they are special to NC and important for their ecosystems.
- Have an i-Naturalist challenge. As an individual or class compete to see how many species you can identify. When you are ready come to the Zoo and take on Leslie.
- As a class (or team, or grade level, etc.), decide on a conservation practice that you could implement in your community or continue the project that you started. Then, create and submit a digital poster to the Zoo to advertise what your group plans to do to conserve. When creating, think about using a format similar to what you see here.
For submissions questions or further information email schoolprograms@nczoo.org.
6th Grade
6th Grade
Science
6.L.1 Understand the structures, processes and behaviors of plants that enable them to survive and reproduce.
6.L.1.1 Summarize the basic structures and functions of flowering plants required for survival, reproduction and defense.
6.L.1.2 Explain the significance of the processes of photosynthesis, respiration, and transpiration to the survival of green plants and other organisms.
6.L.2 Understand the flow of energy through ecosystems and the responses of populations to the
6.L.2.1 Summarize how energy derived from the sun is used by plants to produce sugars (photosynthesis) and is transferred within food chains and food webs (terrestrial and aquatic) from producers to consumers to decomposers. North Carolina Essential Standards 6-8 Science Essential Standard Clarifying Objectives biotic and abiotic factors in their environment.
6.L.2.2 Explain how plants respond to external stimuli (including dormancy and forms of tropism) to enhance survival in an environment.
6.L.2.3 Summarize how the abiotic factors (such as temperature, water, sunlight, and soil quality) of biomes (freshwater, marine, forest, grasslands, desert, Tundra) affect the ability of organisms to grow, survive and/or create their own food through photosynthesis.
ELA
W.6.1. Write claims about topics or text. a. Write a claim about a topic or text. b. Write one or more reasons to support a claim about a topic or text
W.6.2 Write to share information supported by details. a. Introduce a topic and write to convey ideas and information about it including visual, tactual, or multimedia information as appropriate. b. Provide facts, details, or other information related to the topic.
W.6.5 Conduct short research projects to answer a question.
7th Grade
7th Grade
Science
7.L.1 Understand the processes, structures and functions of living organisms that enable them to survive, reproduce and carry out the basic functions of life.
7.L.1.1 Compare the structures and life functions of single-celled organisms that carry out all of the basic functions of life including: • Euglena • Amoeba • Paramecium • Volvox
7.L.1.2 Compare the structures and functions of plant and animal cells, including major organelles (cell membrane, cell wall, nucleus, chloroplasts, mitochondria, and vacuoles).
7.L.1.3 Summarize the hierarchical organization of multi-cellular organisms from cells to tissues to organs to systems to organisms.
7.L.2 Understand the relationship of the mechanisms of cellular reproduction, patterns of inheritance and external factors to potential variation among offspring.
7.L.2.3 Explain the impact of the environment and lifestyle choices on biological inheritance (to include common genetic diseases) and survival.
ELA
W.7.1 Write claims about topics or texts. a. Introduce a topic or text and write one claim about it. b. Write one or more reasons to support a claim about a topic or text. c. Use temporal words (first, next, also) to create connections.
W.7.2 Write to share information supported by details. a. Introduce a topic and write to convey ideas and information about it including visual, tactual, or multimedia information as appropriate. b. Provide facts, details, or other information related to the topic. c. Select domain-specific vocabulary to use in writing about the topic.
W.7.5 Conduct research to answer a question based on multiple sources of information.
8th Grade
8th Grade
Science
8.L.3 Understand how organisms interact with and respond to the biotic and abiotic components of their environment.
8.L.3.1 Explain how factors such as food, water, shelter and space affect populations in an ecosystem.
8.L.3.2 Summarize the relationships among producers, consumers, and decomposers including the positive and negative consequences of such interactions including: • Coexistence and cooperation • Competition (predator/prey) • Parasitism • Mutualism
8.L.3.3 Explain how the flow of energy within food webs is interconnected with the cycling of matter (including water, nitrogen, carbon dioxide and oxygen).
ELA
W.8.1 Write claims about topics or texts. a. State the claim and provide reasons or pieces of evidence to support it. b. Write reasons to support a claim about a topic or text. c. Use temporal words (first, next, also) to create connections.
W.8.2 Write to share information supported by details. a. Introduce a topic clearly and write to convey ideas and information about it including visual, tactual, or multimedia information as appropriate. b. Write one or more facts or details related to the topic. c. Write complete thoughts as appropriate. d. Use domain specific vocabulary related to the topic. e. Provide a closing.
W.8.5 Conduct short research projects to answer and pose questions based on multiple sources of information.
Earth/Environmental Science (High School)
Earth/Environmental Science (High School)
EEn.2.8 Evaluate human behaviors in terms of how likely they are to ensure the ability to live sustainably on Earth.
EEn.2.8.3 Explain the effects of uncontrolled population growth on the Earth’s resources
Biology (High School)
Biology (High School)
Bio.2.1 Analyze the interdependence of living organisms within their environments.
Bio.2.1.2 Analyze the survival and reproductive success of organisms in terms of behavioral, structural, and reproductive adaptations.
Bio.2.1.3 Explain various ways organisms interact with each other (including predation, competition, parasitism, mutualism) and with their environments resulting in stability within ecosystems.
Bio.2.1.4 Explain why ecosystems can be relatively stable over hundreds or thousands of years, even though populations may fluctuate (emphasizing availability of food, availability of shelter, number of predators and disease).
Bio.2.2 Understand the impact of human activities on the environment (one generation affects the next).
Bio.2.2.1 Infer how human activities (including population growth, pollution, global warming, burning of fossil fuels, habitat destruction and introduction of nonnative species) may impact the environment.
Bio.2.2.2 Explain how the use, protection and conservation of natural resources by humans impact the environment from one generation to the next.
ELA (High School)
ELA (High School)
9-10
W.9-10.1 Write claims about topics or texts. a. Introduce a topic or text and write one claim and one counterclaim about it
W.9-10.2 Write to share information supported by details. a. Introduce a topic clearly and use a clear organization to write about it including visual, tactual, or multimedia information as appropriate. b. Develop the topic with facts or details. c. Use complete, simple sentences as appropriate. d. Use domain specific vocabulary when writing claims related to a topic of study or text. e. Providing a closing or concluding statement.
W.9-10.5 Conduct research projects to answer questions posed by self and others using multiple sources of information.
11-12
W.11-12.1 Write arguments to support claims. a. Write an argument to support a claim that results from studying a topic or reading a text. b. Support claims with reasons and evidence drawn from text. c. Provide a closing or concluding statement.
W.11-12.2 Write to share information supported by details. a. Introduce a topic clearly and write an informative or explanatory text that conveys ideas, concepts, and information including visual, tactual, or multimedia information as appropriate. b. Develop the topic with relevant facts, details, or quotes. c. Use complete, simple sentences, as well as compound and other complex sentences as appropriate. d. Use domain specific vocabulary when writing claims related to a topic of study or text. e. Provide a closing or concluding statement.
W.11-12.5 Conduct research projects to answer questions posed by self and others using multiple sources of information.