Getting Started with
At Home in a Habitat

1. Read the Background for Teachers essay. It contains more in-depth information that will help you answer questions and guide students’ exploration.
2. Familiarize yourself with the Student Adventures content for “At Home in a Habitat.”
3. Review the Teacher-Led Activities and choose the ones suited to your curricular needs and classroom circumstances.
4. Introduce the topic with a discussion. Here are some suggested discussion starters:
• What do you think habitat is? What things do animals need in their habitat in order to survive? What do plants need?
• What kinds of things do people need in their “habitats” in order to be healthy and happy?
• What are some kinds of habitats? Can you name any plants and animals you might see in them?
• What habitats have you visited? Can you name any plants and animals that you saw in these habitats?
• What kinds of things can happen to habitats to make them unsuitable as places to live?
• How can people fix up habitats that have been damaged?
5. Review these vocabulary words or have students define them as they discover them in context in the “At Home in a Habitat” student magazine:
   
   “green” fuel
   carbon dioxide
   climate change
   compost
   cycle
   grassland
   habitat
   
   

   landfill
   mammal
   migrate
   native
   nonnative
   oxygen
   pollutant
   
   

   pollute
   pore
   preserve
   recycle
   refuge
   swamp
   wildlife
   
   
   Definitions for all vocabulary words can be found in the online Naturalist’s Glossary.
6. With the whole class or in small groups, review the Audubon Adventures student magazine, “At Home in a Habitat,” and other student content that you’ve incorporated into your teaching or that students have explored on their own.
7. Do the hands-on activities you’ve selected, and follow up with review and discussion.
8. Download the Assessment questions and answer key for “At Home in a Habitat” to use as a tool for evaluating students’ learning experiences with Audubon Adventures.
9. Extend learning with print, online, and video resources found in the Naturalist’s Bibliography.

   Photo: Larry Lynch/Audubon Photography Awards. Illustration: Sherrie York.