Going Home
The mystery of migration greeted me on my morning walk this week. As the sun was rising, and the air warming, more than 200 Turkey Vultures swooped and soared over my head. With the change of the seasons animals are on the move all over the world.
Migration is a powerful compulsion, sometimes taking animals over long distances, facing many obstacles. Why do they do it? How do they succeed?
You’ll get answers to these questions and more in the book Going Home: The Mystery of Animal Migration.
The ten featured species offer a broad representation of migration: Loggerhead Turtles, Monarch Butterflies, Manatees, Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, Pacific Salmon, Canada Geese, California Gray Whales, Caribou, Arctic Tern, and Emperor Penguin.
LESSON PLAN: The Mystery of Migration
This lesson will capture your students interest in the phenomena of migration as they learn about the species featured in the book, as well as species in your local area.
Suggested Grade Level: K-4
Materials
- Going Home: The Mystery of Animal Migration by Marianne Berkes
- Pictures of local animals
- Bookmarks of the 10 animals featured in the book, 1 set for each small group of 3-4 students
- World Map, 1 map for each pair of students
Procedure
Download a detailed migration lesson, Going Home Lesson Plan, published by the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) and created by Emily Morgan and Karen Ansberry. This plan will take your students through the five stages of a science inquiry lesson. A brief synopsis of each stage of the lesson is below:
- Engage—Students use animal bookmarks to guess the animal being described in the read aloud.
- Explore—Students use information from the book to draw migration routes. Then compare distances.
- Explain—Students sort the animal bookmarks in several ways: their reason for migrating, how they travel, and a category of their own choosing.
- Elaborate—Students research the animals in their area that migrate and those that don’t migrate.
- Evaluate—Students to listen the information in the back of the book read aloud and discuss the reason the author calls migration a mystery. They also discuss the migration mysteries that scientists are still learning about.
Extension: Additional lessons for Going Home are available under “Downloadable Activities” at www.dawnpub.com, scroll down to the book title
Common Core Standards (ELA K-4)
- ELA Writing: Research to Build and Support Knowledge K.7, 1.7, 2.7 3.7, 4.7
- ELA Reading Information Text: Key Ideas and Details (K.1, K.2, K.3, 1.1,1.2, 1.3, 2.1, 2.2,2.3, 3.1, 3.2 3.3, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3); Integration and Knowledge of Ideas (K.7, 1.7, 2.7, 3.7, 4.7)
Next Generation Science Standards (K-3)
- LS1.A: Structure and Function
- LS1.B: Growth and Development of Organisms
- LS2.A: Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems.
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