Summer Homeschooling - Galapagos Islands Week

GALAPAGOS ISLANDS WEEK -

Monday: Welcome to the Galapagos Islands!

• Galapagos Islands Video
• What is there to do in the Galapagos Islands?
• Animals of the Galapagos Islands
• Galapagos Penguins - the only penguins who live along the Equator
• Marine Iguanas - the only iguanas who can swim and forage underwater
• Giant Tortoises - live longer than any other animal with a backbone, up to 152 years
• Sea Lions - super friendly and love to sunbathe
• Blue-Footed Boobies - blue feet come from the food they eat, kind of like flamingos
• What animal would you most want to see if you visited the Galapagos Islands? What activity would you most want to do while you were there?

Map of the Galapagos Islands with all the Animals!

Tuesday: Charles Darwin and Natural Selection

• Darwinism Video
• There weren't cameras or cell phones back in 1835, so to remember and document the plants and animals Darwin saw along his journey, he would sketch pictures. 
• Art: Sketch like Darwin - go outside and sketch a plant or a bug, or you can even sketch one of your pets. Make sure to pay special attention to their physical features. 
• Bonus Activity: Sketches are great, but paper is only two-dimensional. Darwin also needed samples of the species he encountered so that he could conduct further research on them, as well as explain his findings to other scientists when he got back home. You could preserve some flowers and/or plants on laminating paper. 
• Natural Selection says animals evolved because those with the traits best equipped for their survival survived, and they were able to breed with others. This extorted those traits and passed those traits onto their offspring, which changed the animal as a whole over time. 
• Brainstorm: How do you think your pets have changed over time?
• How are dog breeds different from each other? Even though they both came from wolves, what about their environment would have caused the traits they have evolved over time? Ears, feet, size, double coat, coat length, etc. 
• What is your favorite animal, and where would you live if you could live anywhere in the world? How would your animal adapt to live there? Sketch it out with its new traits.
• How do humans adapt to live in their environments? How would we adapt to live in Antarctica? 

Order your Marti book about a month in advance, so you can have it in hand when lessons begin!

Wednesday: Why are the Galapagos Islands so important?

• The Galapagos Islands are one the most unique and diverse ecosystems on Earth
• A Day In the Life of A Shark Scientist - Whale Shark Rescue
• Hammerhead Sharks - Marti the Hammerhead Shark
• Marti the Hammerhead Shark storybook (the PowerPoint version, in case you don't want to order the physical book)
• Tracking Sharks

Our own Marti board game!

Thursday: Protecting the Islands

• The conservation of flightless birds is extremely important: Galapagos Penguins and the Flightless Cormorant
• Why might a bird be flightless? 
• They didn't have large predators to flee, and they didn't have to leave to eat. They could just dive into the water, so evolution favored the traits of swimming as opposed to flying.
• Why might they need protection now?
• Now that humans have moved to the islands, they are easy targets for humans and other introduced animals, such as dogs. 
• Remember the Dodo bird - overharvesting of the birds by humans, combined with habitat loss and losing the competition with newly introduced animals, was just too much for the Dodo to survive. In 1681, they went extinct forever.
• Protect the islands against invasive species: What do we mean by invasive species? Well, when humans came to the islands, they brought goats with them, and goats eat the same food that tortoises do, so this took away the tortoises' food source. 
• Humans are invasive species too. We come in and cut down trees, clear land, build buildings and power lines (the monkeys), and bring pollution. Conventional farming and overfishing are huge issues for the Galapagos. 
• Work on living sustainably: Only take and grow what you need to survive; make eco-friendly energy, such as wind, solar, tidal, hydroelectrical dams, biofuel generators, and geothermal plants.

Our shark tagging comic strip after putting the actions in order!

Friday: Protecting the Ocean and its Ecosystems

• Sustainable Tourism - Leave No Trace
• How do we affect the environment through tourism? How can we leave no trace?
• The 5 R’s – Refuse, reduce, reuse, repurpose, and recycle!

1. How can you refuse? Don't use a straw, don't use a plastic bag at the grocery store when you can, etc.
2. How can you reduce? Only buy what you need, turn the lights and electronics off when you're not using them, and unplug things you are not using
3. How can you reuse? Don't buy single-use plastic, use a reusable water bottle, storage containers, and tubberware, fix items that are broken instead of buying a new one
4. How can you repurpose? Give the toys and clothes you don't use anymore to those less fortunate or even friends, and find new uses for objects that you don't use for their original purpose
5. How can you recycle? Many items that can be recycled will say on the packaging. Take the labels off before disposing of recyclables, rinse out items so that no food or liquid remains, and don't bag your recyclables

Saturday: Field Trip to the Beach or go camping in a National Park and Leave No Trace!