A Hotlist on Beautiful Bats

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Hotlist on Beautiful Bats
An Internet Hotlist on Beautiful Bats

created by Robbin Neiman
E.J. King School

Introduction

Many children have negative feelings about bats. Bats are usually portrayed as frightening creatures that are tied to the following: Halloween, Vampires, dark places, and sickness. This unit will help children learn many interesting facts about ats and the place they have in our enviroment.

Introductory Activity:

We will do a KWL chart to set learning goals for the class. The children are then asked what they know about bats. They will also be asked if they like or dislike bats. We will then ask the children to create a bar graph to illustrate their attitudes toward bats. Later, after the unit is finished, we will ask the same questions to reaveal any attitude changes toward bats.

The story Stellaluna will then be read aloud to the students.

Activity #1

You will be working in groups of four. Each group will choose one of the four topics and then visit web sites. Each group will report to the class on what they learned about their topic.

1. Name and describe the different types of bats.

2. Describe what different types of bats eat.

3. What unique characteristics do bats have?

4. Why are bats important to the world?

Bats 4 Kids - A great site that contains important facts about bats. It also includes bat books, a bat quiz, and even a visit to a bat cave.
Bats Thematic Unit A wonderful site that includes all aspects of bats such as literature, science, art, sports, conservation, and literature.
BatQuest: In Search of Stellaluna - Great information about bats. Also includes a process, evaluation, and conclusion activities
Bats are Beaut - This site has many activities about bats such as things to make, word searches, and a picture gallery

Activity #2

Now that you know a little more about bats, let's put that knowledge to good use. Draw a habitat for a specific kind of bat that you have just learned about. Be sure to include the things they ear and what their habitat looks like.

The Bat Cave - Learn about the bat habitat in Jamaica in the St. Claire caves.
About Bats - Learn about different kinds of bats. This site also includes an excellent photo gallery.
Batbox - Learn about bats and their habitats from all around the world
All about bats - This site can answer all of your questions about bats.

Activity #3

What would you do to help bats be successful in your neighborhood? How would you convince people to make bats houses and encourage bats to live there?

1. Create a brochure that shows the benefits of bats.
2. Build a bat box or bat house.

Use materials provided for your group to build you own bat house.

Questions: The students will use the answers to the questions to complete their brochure and bat house.

1. How do bats contribute positively and negatively to the enviroment?

2. What are the basic steps for building a bat box?

3. What factors may have to be considered when building and installing the bat box?

Teaching the World about the benefits of bats - Build a bat house for the backyard
Batbox - Learn to build bat houses for bats all around the world.
Bat House Basics - Learn about Bat House design and mounting

Concluding Activity:

Have a debate. Divide the class into two groups. One argues the positive aspects of bats and the other argues the negative. At the end of the debate, they have to decide if bats contribute negatively or positively to the enviorment. Poll the students. Creat a bar graph using the results. Compare this graph to their first graph done at the beginning of the unit.

Evaluation:

Classroom Participation and use of the internet for the class unit.

4- Student stays on task, checks out each site that is listed under each activity.

3- Student is able to access some web sites to find information. Stays on task some of the time.

2- Unable to utilize the computer to access web sites.

1- Unable to utilize the computer to access web sites.

0- No work accomplished with the use of the computer.

Evaluation of the Brochure:

4- A completed brochure explains how bats are beneficial to the enviroment or neighborhood, is well planned, illustrated, and has no spelling or puncutation errors.

3- The brochure explains most benefits of bats, has no spelling or punctuation errors, and is neatly illustrated.

2- The brochure does not completely explain the benefits of bats, has a few spelling and punctuation errors, and is partially illustrated.

1- The brochure submitted is poorly planned, lacks illustration, and spelling and punctuation errors are present.

0- No brochure is submitted.

Content by Robbin Neiman, speechsasebo@yahoo.com
http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/fil/pages/listbeautifuro.html
Last revised Mon Apr 23 16:07:51 US/Pacific 2001