Science and Technology/Engineering
18 Grade 2
Lauren Weiss and Margaret Krone
Wholes and Parts
As students grow in their ability to speak, read, write, and reason mathematically, they also grow in their ability to grapple with larger systems and the parts that make them up. In grade 2, students start to look beyond the structures of individual plants and animals to looking at the environment in which the plants and animals live as a provider of the food, water, and shelter that the organisms need. They learn that water is found everywhere on Earth and takes different forms and shapes. They map landforms and bodies of water and observe that flowing water and wind shapes these landforms. Grade 2 students use their observation skills gained in earlier grades to classify materials based on similar properties and functions. They gain experience testing different materials to collect and then analyze data for the purpose of determining which materials are the best for a specific function. They construct large objects from smaller pieces and, conversely, learn that when materials are cut into the smallest possible pieces, they still exist as the same material that has weight. These investigations of how parts relate to the whole provide a key basis for understanding systems in later grades.[1] [2]
LS2. Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics
- 2-LS2-3(MA). Develop and use models to compare how plants and animals depend on their surroundings and other living things to meet their needs in places they live.
Falcon Curriculum Core Categories
Geography
Animal Behavior
Falcon Curriculum Essential Question
How do falcons depend on their surroundings and other living things to meet their needs in places they live?
Materials
| For Instructors | For Students |
|---|---|
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Sample Plan
Watch the Falcon Curriculum: Habitat and Prey and Hunting videos. Talk about what falcons need to meet their needs.
Have students make shoebox dioramas of a falcon habitat, either on a cliff or in an urban area. Have them include sources of food, shelter, etc. Have them provide a written description (1-2 paragraphs) of their diorama.
Falcon Curriculum Core Categories
Geography
Animal Behavior
Falcon Curriculum Essential Question
What are the similarities and differences between different types of falcons?
Materials
| For Instructors | For Students |
|---|---|
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Sample Plan
Watch the Falcon Curriculum: Habitat videos. Talk about how peregrine falcons are found all over the world except Antarctica.
Talk about how peregrine falcons are only 1 type of bird that scientists classify as a falcon. Many times, various types of falcons live in the same areas.
Put students into pairs. Have them make a large Venn diagram with 3 circles: 1 for the peregrine falcon, 1 for another, local type of falcon, and 1 for a falcon that lives in a completely different part of the world. One student in the pair will research a local type of falcon, and the other will research the falcon from a different part of the world.
Here is a general chart of various types of falcons.[3]
| Image | Common name | Scientific name | Distribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Malagasy kestrel | Falco newtoni | Madagascar, Mayotte, and the Comores. | |
| Seychelles kestrel | Falco araeus | Seychelles Islands | |
| Mauritius kestrel | Falco punctatus | Mauritius | |
| Spotted kestrel | Falco moluccensis | Wallacea and Java | |
| Nankeen kestrel or Australian kestrel | Falco cenchroides | Australia and New Guinea | |
| Common kestrel | Falco tinnunculus | widespread in Europe, Asia, and Africa, as well as occasionally reaching the east coast of North America. | |
| Rock kestrel | Falco rupicolus | northwestern Angola and southern Democratic Republic of Congo to southern Tanzania, and south to South Africa | |
| Greater kestrel | Falco rupicoloides | Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, parts of Angola and Zambia and in much of South Africa | |
| Fox kestrel | Falco alopex | south of the Sahara from Mali eastwards as far as Ethiopia and north-west Kenya. It occasionally wanders west to Senegal, the Gambia and Guinea and south to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. | |
| Lesser kestrel | Falco naumanni | Afghanistan and Central Asia, to China and Mongolia. | |
| Grey kestrel | Falco ardosiaceus | Ethiopia and western parts of Kenya and Tanzania | |
| Dickinson’s kestrel | Falco dickinsoni | Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi along with north-eastern South Africa | |
| Banded kestrel | Falco zoniventris | Madagascar | |
| Red-necked falcon | Falco chicquera | Africa, India | |
| Red-footed falcon | Falco vespertinus | southern Russia and Ukraine | |
| Amur falcon | Falco amurensis | south-eastern Siberia and Northern China | |
| Eleonora’s falcon | Falco eleonorae | Greece,Cyprus, the Canary Islands, Ibiza and off Spain, Italy, Croatia, Morocco and Algeria. | |
| Sooty falcon | Falco concolor | northeastern Africa to the southern Persian Gulf region | |
| American kestrel or “sparrow hawk” | Falco sparverius | central and western Alaska across northern Canada to Nova Scotia, and south throughout North America, into central Mexico and the Caribbean. | |
| Aplomado falcon | Falco femoralis | northern Mexico and Trinidad locally to southern South America | |
| Merlin or “pigeon hawk” | Falco columbarius | Eurasia, North Africa, North America | |
| Bat falcon | Falco rufigularis | tropical Mexico, Central and South America, and Trinidad | |
| Orange-breasted falcon | Falco deiroleucus | southern Mexico to northern Argentina. | |
| Eurasian hobby | Falco subbuteo | Africa, Europe and Asia. | |
| African hobby | Falco cuvierii | Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast,Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. | |
| Oriental hobby | Falco severus | eastern Himalayas and ranges southwards through Indochina to Australasia | |
| Australian hobby or little falcon | Falco longipennis | Australia | |
| New Zealand falcon or Ngarangi or kārearea | Falco novaeseelandiae | New Zealand | |
| Brown falcon | Falco berigora | Australia and New Guinea. | |
| Grey falcon | Falco hypoleucos | Australia | |
| Black falcon | Falco subniger | Australia. | |
| Lanner falcon | Falco biarmicus | Africa, southeast Europe and just into Asia | |
| Laggar falcon | Falco jugger | southeastern Iran, southeastern Afghanistan, Pakistan, through India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and northwestern Myanmar. | |
| Saker falcon | Falco cherrug | Ethiopia, the Arabian peninsula, northern Pakistan and western China | |
| Gyrfalcon | Falco rusticolus | eastern and western Greenland, Canada, Alaska, and Norway. | |
| Prairie falcon | Falco mexicanus | western North America. | |
| Peregrine falcon | Falco peregrinus | Cosmopolitan | |
| Taita falcon | Falco fasciinucha | Kenya |
- Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (2022). SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY / ENGINEERING Grades Pre-Kindergarten to 12 Massachusetts Curriculum Framework. https://www.doe.mass.edu/frameworks/current.html ↵
- Falcon Curriculum Common Core Standards mapping by Margaret Krone. Falcon Curriculum Lesson Plans by Lauren Weiss. © 2022 CC BY 4.0 ↵
- Wikipedia. "Falcon." Reference: White, Clayton M.; Olsen, Penny D. & Kiff, Lloyd F. (1994): Family Falconidae. In: del Hoyo, Josep; Elliott, Andrew & Sargatal, Jordi (editors): Handbook of Birds of the World, Volume 2 (New World Vultures to Guineafowl): 216–75, plates 24–28. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. ISBN 84-87334-15-6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falcon#Species. CC BY-SA 3.0 ↵