Wild Side Camp Research Paper

Step-by-Step Instructions for Instructors

INTRODUCTION

Welcome back to Unleash Your Wild Side Camp! Today your safari heads into the dead of night to explore the nocturnal life of the world around you. Make sure to pack a flashlight! Before heading off into the moonlight, lead campers in a short group discussion:

Start by turning off the lights in the room and closing the blinds. Make it as dark as possible. Ask campers what they see. Then, turn the lights on. Now what do the campers see? When were they able to see more? Why? (It was lighter.)
Most people and animals are active mostly during the day, which makes us diurnal. Why do you think people would have a hard time being active during the night and sleeping during the day? (Hard to see in the dark, hard to sleep when the sun is shining.)
Most animals don’t carry flashlights. How do nocturnal animals see? Find food? Communicate with each other? (Accept any plausible answer and fill in any gaps with facts from the Background Information.)

WHAT TIME IS IT, MR. FOX? (Whole group)

Now that campers eyes have adjusted to the darkness of a nocturnal life, head
into today’s first activity.

In a large, open space, designate a boundaries that include a start line, end line and sidelines.
Choose one camper to start as the fox. The fox stands at the end of the playing area. The fox can stand facing the campers or away from them. Both variations are fun.
All other campers are mice. They stand behind the start line and try to be as quiet as possible as they move towards the fox.
In unison, students call call out “what time is it, Mr. Fox.” If the fox is a girl, Ms. Fox is appropriate.
The fox responds with a time. Time needs to be in hours. For example, “10:00.”
The campers take 10 steps forward.
This continues until the fox senses that the campers are close. At this time, the fox responds with “midnight.”
The fox chases the mice back to the starting line. Any campers that are tagged become part of the skulk, or fox group.
The last mouse to be tagged is the new Mr. Fox.

NOCTURNAL ANIMAL DISCUSSION

What do you know about foxes? Where do they live? What type of habitat is that? (See Background Information.)
Why might a fox might want to know what time it is? What part of the day foxes are most active? (Foxes are usually most active during the night.)
What other animals are most active during the night? (Accept any plausible answer, then look to the facts in the Background Information.)

CREATURES OF THE NIGHT

Explore the life of a nocturnal creature with today’s art project!

Have campers gather all materials. (Black construction paper, white paper, dark brown construction paper, googly eyes, sticks, leftover scraps of paper, scissors, glue and Crayons.)
Use the sticks to create tree trunks and branches. Glue the sticks to the black construction paper. This can be done one of two ways. Place glue directly on the sticks and then press firmly onto the black construction paper. For younger campers, it may be easier to first smear the glue in a line on the black construction paper and then press the sticks into the glue area.
What animals are active during the night? Glue pairs of googly eyes onto the black construction paper.
Use scraps of construction paper or crayons to create a moon, grass, leaves, snow, rocks or dirt. Use the scissors to cut out landforms or tear pieces of construction paper and glue to the black construction paper. Crayons can also be used to make landforms and add detail.

{photo or illustration of final project: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B1rA4gPHA2nHVGh1RW41OUVNajg}

CLEAN UP AND WRAP UP

Gather leftover materials to use again later. Then, have campers write journal entries to record the day’s travels! Where did they travel? What kind of animals live in that ecosystem? How do those animals survive? Encourage campers to make it both a written and visual journal by including drawings along with their reflections! Check out the Journal Entry sentence starters in the Appendix if you think they might be useful for your campers.

CHECK FOR UNDERSTANDING

What does nocturnal mean? (Active at night.)
What are some ways that nocturnal animals are able to see and survive? (Large eyes, colorblind, bats use echolocation, great sense of smell and hearing, move quietly, communicate using sounds.)

EXTENSIONS

Echos

Stand in a small room without carpeting, at the end of a hallway or under a bridge.
Shout out a word, clap your hands or stomp your feet. Then, be silent and listen. Whatever sound you made reflects, or bounces, off the ceilings and walls, and then comes back to you. This is called an echo. Which types of spaces create the best echos? Which types of spaces absorb the sound, reducing or totally eliminating the echo. Scientists and engineers are constantly looking at ways to either increase or decrease an echo. What recommendations would you make to increase or decrease the echo at your school, at home or a stadium? Why do you think the echo noise should be increased or decreased? How else could the science and technology of echos be used? (Answer: Sound reflection, or echos, occur best on hard and flat surfaces. Soft and uneven surfaces absorb the
sound.)

English Language Arts

Who do those eyes belong to? Write a short story or description about the eyes in your pictures! The eyes can belong to real creatures, or fictional ones. They can be good or evil, or there could be even more eyes in the picture that you cannot see because they are blinking. Encourage creativity in each camper's’ story.

Googly Eye Vibrations

Fill a container about half full of water. Place at least two googly eyes face up in the container of water. When the water is still, drop an object into the water such as a coin or rock. It may be helpful to find a small object that sinks before beginning this activity. Observe what happens. Ask campers to describe what they see. When the object is dropped into the water, it creates waves, or ripples, that spread across the container. If you could see sound waves, or echoes, this is what is would look like. The waves continues to spread out unless they hit an obstacle, like the edge of the container or the googly eyes. The waves are either absorbed, transmitted through or reflected. What happens when the waves hit the side of the container? If the waves are strong enough, they are reflected off the sides and return back. Some of the waves are absorbed and do not return or return much weaker. When the waves hit googly eyes, the waves curve. This is true even for non-round obstacles. The googly eyes also absorb and transmit the waves, causing the googly eyes to move.