Our National Parks

Content Objectives

Students will:

• Learn about national parks.
• Access prior knowledge and build background about the significance of national parks.
• Explore and apply the concept of national parks and how to take care of them.

Language Objectives

Students will:

• Demonstrate an understanding of national parks.
• Orally use words that describe the purpose of national parks.
• Extend oral vocabulary by speaking about how a national park is different from a regular park.
• Use key concept words [preserve, protect, national park; habitat, ecosystem].

Other

Explain

• Use the slideshow to review the key concept words.
• Explain that students are going to learn about national parks:
• What is a national park.
• What is found in a national park.
• The purpose of a national park.
• What we can learn from national parks.
• What we can do to preserve national parks.

Model

• After the host introduces the slideshow, point to the photo on screen. Ask students: What do you see in this photo? (rocks, water, trees, grass, plants, mountains). Does this look like a regular park? (No).
• Ask students: What do you do when you go to the park? (answers will vary).
• Say: National parks are different from local parks. National parks allow us to learn about history and to protect animal habitats and ecosystems. It is important to take care of national parks. What happens if we don't take care of national parks? (animals will die, we won't know about the past, plants won't grow).

Guided Practice

• Guide students through the next four slides, showing them what a national park is by asking them what is found in a national park. Always have the students describe the purpose of national parks.

Apply

• Play the games that follow. Have them discuss with their partner the different topics that appear during the Talk About It feature.
• After the first game, ask students to talk about the problems facing national parks. After the second game, have them discuss why new species are brought into an ecosystem.

Close

• Ask students: What ecosystem would you like to live in? Explain why.
• Summarize for students that natural parks preserve and protect nature and history. It is important to learn from the past so that we can be better in the future. Encourage them to think about how they could fix the problems facing national parks.