Sharing the Planet

Download This Lesson: Sharing the Planet

Brief Description: Students will be able to identify some of the important roles insects play on the earth as well as identify insects that are harmful and helpful to the environment. Students will be able to graph the different types of insects and play games using a bingo board.

Focus Areas: Pest Management; Biodiversity, Science

Focus Skills:  understanding cause and effect, critical thinking, observing, forming hypotheses

Objective

To understand that humans are caretakers of the Earth, not merely rulers of the planet.

Essential Questions

• What do we need to do to take care of the Earth? 
• How does IPM help to protect the Earth?

Essential Understanding

•  People share the Earth with all living things.
•  People need to protect the Earth’s resources and environment.
•  Integrated Pest Management strategies help to protect the Earth’s environment.

Background

The survival of every species is affected by many environmental factors. The human population on Earth uses and destroys more than their fair share of the planet’s resources. People must recognize their role as caretakers of the Earth. We must become preservers rather than merely users. In the story, three frogs spend the day arguing over who owns the Earth, the water, and the air. When a storm comes, they realize that all creatures on Earth are connected.

Vocabulary:

competition – the act of competing for scarce resources and food

endangered – threatened with extinction

environment – the natural conditions in which an organism lives

extinct – a species no longer existing or living

habitat – the area or environment where an organism or ecological community lives

hypothesis – a tentative explanation for an observation, phenomenon, or scientific problem that can be tested by further investigation

poison – something that hurts a plant or animal, especially by chemical means

pollution – material (liquid, gas, or solid) that contaminates and damages the natural environment

smog – clouds of smoke and exhaust; pollution

territory – an area or region of land

Logistics

Time:  30 minutes
Group size:  2 to 25 participants
Space:  a classroom

 Materials

• It’s Mine, by Leo Lionni *
• patterns for cooperative puzzles *
• Izzy puppet *

* single copy provided

Preparations

Obtain the book It’s Mine.
Make copies of cooperative puzzles on tag board and cut them in sections.

Note: Each puzzle has five pieces, so some of the children will have duplicate pieces.

Activity

Introduction

Read the book It’s Mine.

Questions for discussion:

Frogs are not insects. They belong to a class of animals called amphibians.

1. How are amphibians different from insects? How are they alike?

Differences:
– can live on water and on land
– don’t have 6 legs
– don’t have three body parts: head, thorax, and abdomen

Similarities:
– need air, food, water, and shelter
– can move and reproduce
– have similar body parts (eyes, legs, etc.)

2. What were the clues that a storm was coming? (List these in sequence.)

3. What kinds of storms happen where we live? How can they be dangerous? What kind of damage can they cause?

4. What valuable lesson did the frogs learn? (All living things share the planet Earth and must work together to survive.)

Involvement

1. Discuss how school would be different if we didn’t share the resources in the classroom. What would happen in our classroom if one person were in control of the water fountain, the sink, the reading books, the pencils, and the pencil sharpener? What would happen if someone refused to share? Why is it important that we share?

2. Pass out the puzzle pieces and have the children color their piece.

3. Tell the children that they must create a complete picture in five minutes by finding four other children with pieces that fit and make a picture. Allow time for the children to interact and share the puzzle pieces to create a complete picture.

4. Discuss how the children created their picture. How important was sharing?

Follow Up

1. Introduce Izzy, who explains that IPM is a plan that many people use to make the Earth a better place for all living things.

2. Izzy tells the children that he wants to teach them an IPM poem.  Izzy recites each line and the children repeat. Then, together they recite the stanza.

There’s just one world
That we all share
With plants and creatures
Everywhere.

Water from lakes and rivers
Soil of forest and farm
Even the air that’s around us
We must never harm.

Mother Earth provides us all
With everything we need
Plants and animals together
Sharing is our creed.

People need to do their part
On this planet we just share
I-P-M provides us
With ways to show we care.

A green earth free of poison
A good home for you and me
Plants, birds, fish, and insects
Living in harmony!

3. Focus IPM:What can we do to help keep our environment healthy?

Don’t use chemical sprays or powders on gardens and pets
Don’t drive when we can bike or walk
Don’t waste water:

• take shorter showers
• turn water on only to rinse when brushing our teeth
• turn faucets off completely when not in use
• do laundry only when dirty clothes create a full load

4. Recite the following pledge with the children each morning or afternoon for several days minimum:

I pledge allegiance to the Earth which I love and depend on
And to all life on land and sea which is part of the Earth, just like me.

Correlations to State of Maine Learning Results: Parameters for Essential Instruction

ELA = English Language Arts,   HE/PE = Health Education and Physical Education,    MA = Mathematics,    SCI = Science,   SS = Social Studies,   VPA = Visual and Performing Arts

** Alignment possible only if lesson extension is done