STEM

This document contains four activities that promote knowledge and awareness of the animals living on the border of the United States and Mexico. Through making the Sonoran desert animals and participating in a related class discussion, students will begin to understand how the border may affect the animals living there and their habitats.

Explore the book "Love to Mama: A Tribute to Mothers" by Pat Mora with this teacher's guide. Students will learn vocabulary and can use book to grow their knowledge in language arts, social studies or science.

Students in teams invent an animal that is specifically adapted to the rain forest environment, focusing on the Amazon Rain forest. They create a tear-art picture of the creature and present it in class. Students will first list adaptions animals have, then discuss different animals in the rain forest, then create their creatures and later describe adaptations of their specific creature to other students in class. This is a fun way to get students thinking about their surrounding environment including brainstorming adaptions that creatures who live in the rain forest can have.

This lesson plan provides an overall introduction to the country of Guatemala, which is borders the southern part of Mexico. Guatemala is a par of Central America and this lesson plan provides lessons in mathematics, social studies and more.

This unit includes a thorough background on the Galapagos Islands including where they are, how they were formed and what kind of life resides there. The background notes are followed by a detailed list of lessons which should last about a week. Students will be learning about, investigating and discussing endemic species of the Galapagos Island, challenging students to think about the natural world around them.

In this lesson plan, students will be asked to investigate the topography and climate of Costa Rica, a Central American country known for its rich and colorful rain forest. Students will view a work of art from Costa Rica depicting an animal, prompting them to research animals like the one depicted in the artwork and identify layers of vegetation within the rain forest.

Students are asked to explain why so many finches died during the drought of 1977 in the Galapagos and what enabled the remaining finches to survive. This investigation is preceded by several lab experiences that build understanding about environmental stress, trait variation, acquired characteristics, generational change and bird beak form and function.