FUR, FINS, FANGS AND FEATHERS CHAPTER INTRODUCTION

RELATED LESSON PLAN
Inquiry Project: Young Naturalists at Work! (in printable PDF format)

RELATED CONFLICT RESOLUTION EXERCISE
Animals (in printable PDF format)

New York City is a city of animals. Starting with city pets, for example, which outnumber all human city residents. Or the variety of wild animals such as raccoons, skunks and muskrats that you can run into when walking in the city parks, marshes and open fields. And not to mention the million rats that live among us!

Fur, Fins, Fangs and Feathers contains fun and relevant information about New York City animals that can easily be integrated into inquiry classroom projects. Students can research, for example, the history of horses in the city and why houses have stoops (see Go Wild in New York City, page 61). They can conduct a field trip to their local park in order to find animal tracks (see page 58) or engage in bird watching (see page 65). And they can also investigate what they can do to protect city fishes and their aquatic environments or join in a program to grow and study fishes in school (see page 63).

Bringing students’ resources into the science classroom
It is not difficult to connect the topic of animals to students’ daily lives, as many children usually own pets and take care of them at home. And we are not only speaking of cats or dogs, as some students may have less common pets such as iguanas, turtles or tropical fishes which other students might be interested to learn about. Moreover, students frequently have knowledge about pets’ lives and habits based on their readings or on their own observations, which can be brought to the classroom by asking students to prepare a presentation for their peers and become “animal experts.” Finally, students who own the same kind of pet can engage in an informed debate (based not only on their own experience but on their research on the topic) about their pets’ characteristics and the best way to take care of them.

Besides pets, in most New York City parks it is possible to observe several other animals such as snapping turtles, squirrels or various types of birds. Students can thus engage in field observation of the animals that live in the parks close to their homes and bring to school the questions they have about them. Then, students’ questions can become the starting point for inquiry science projects that seek to respond them (see the project “Young Naturalists at Work!” for more details).

RELATED LESSON PLAN
Inquiry Project: Young Naturalists at Work! (in printable PDF format)

RELATED CONFLICT RESOLUTION EXERCISE
Animals (in printable PDF format)