Who Register User Manatee Bads

current events

Lesson of the Day: '2021 Has Been a Bad Twelvemonth for Manatees'

In this accessible lesson, students will learn near Florida manatees and the dangers they face up. Then, students volition make posters to inform others how they can assist these gentle giants.

Credit... Ruby Huber/Orlando Sentinel, via Associated Press

Nov. 12, 2021

This lesson is a part of our new Accessible Activities feature, which aims to welcome a wider diversity of learners to our site and to The Times. Larn more than and tell u.s.a. what you lot call up here .

Lesson Overview

Featured Article: " 2021 Has Been a Bad Twelvemonth for Manatees " by Johnny Diaz

What practise you know about the gentle and beautiful, only odd-looking, manatee, sometimes known equally the sea cow? Have you ever seen one?

Sadly, in Florida, manatees are dying at an alarming rate. In the by yr, the land has lost nigh 10 percent of its population.

In this lesson, you lot will learn near the manatee and the dangers the species faces. In a Going Further activity, you lot will make a poster to inform others how they tin assist these gentle giants.

Warm-Up

Role i: Requite your hot takes on animals.

Before reading the article, tell us your opinions on the animal kingdom using the following prompts:

I think the almost beautiful animal is _________.
I think the coolest animal is _________.
I think the scariest creature is _________.
I think the funniest animal is _________.
I think the strangest animate being is _________.
I think the cutest creature is _________.
My favorite animate being is _________.

Share your list with a partner. Then, reflect together: Did yous accept any animals in common? Did either of y'all include the slow-moving but lovable manatee on your lists?

Office 2: Larn nearly the manatee.

Lookout the iii-infinitesimal video below, "Manatees Are the 'Sea Cows' of the Coasts," by Nat Geo Wild. And so, answer the following questions in writing or in a give-and-take with a partner:

What are two facts y'all learned about manatees?
What is one question y'all accept most them?
The video calls manatees "gentle giants." Exercise you hold with this clarification? What describing word would yous use to describe the manatee?

Vocabulary:

Hither are 12 words you'll find in this article that y'all may not know:

one. alarming 2. worrisome 3. turn down 4. startling 5. estuary 6. graze 7. lagoon 8. sewage 9. septic x. algae 11. malnutrition 12. collision

Which words are you familiar with? Which are new to you lot?

Go to Vocabulary.com to acquire what each give-and-take means and to exercise using them.

Questions for Writing and Discussion

2021 Has Been a Bad Year for Manatees

Johnny Diaz Reporting from South Florida 🌴

2021 Has Been a Bad Year for Manatees

Johnny Diaz Reporting from South Florida 🌴

Red Huber/Orlando Picket, via Associated Printing

Florida manatees are dying at an alarming rate. The country lost most 10 percent of its population in just a year, the Heart for Biological Diversity said.

Hither are some reasons for the worrisome decline →

Click through and read the article in a higher place as a slide show, or read it hither as a PDF . If you lot want to learn more near the dangers facing manatees, you tin can read a longer version of the commodity hither . Then, answer the following questions:

1. Wait at the photos in the article: What exercise they tell you about manatees and how they live?

2. What is ane new fact you learned nearly manatees from the article? What is one new question y'all have about them?

3. How many manatees in Florida have died so far in 2021? How does that number compare with past years?

4. What are two reasons for the manatees' deaths?

5. The article does not specify how to protect the lives of manatees in Florida. But based on what you learned about the reasons for their deaths, what is one possible solution you would recommend?

6. Describe or describe a manatee for someone who has never seen one. How would you capture the animal's unique shape, size, motion and personality?

Going Further

Selection 1: Make a affiche to inform the public about the plight of manatees.

How can you inform others virtually what you lot have learned from the article?

You might use information from the article or your own research to create a poster. You tin can draw your poster or utilise Canva or another graphic pattern plan to produce your designs. Then, share what yous made via social media or with peers at your school.

Who would be your target audience — teenagers, adults or the general public? What bulletin do yous desire to communicate? What do you want your audition to know about the dangers facing manatees? What kind of language, images and graphics will grab their attention?

For your poster, include:

A drawing or movie of a manatee
One statistic from the article
Ane reason for their recent deaths
One possible fashion that nosotros tin all help protect this creature
A tagline or message

Option ii: Learn virtually more than endangered and threatened animals.

Manatees are federally protected under the Endangered Species Human action and the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

Visit the World Wildlife Fund for Nature to learn more about which animals around the world are endangered and threatened. What practice you notice about the list of endangered animals? Are whatever of the animals from the listing you created in the warm-up activity endangered or threatened?

So, select i endangered or threatened beast to research.

Notice out at to the lowest degree two facts about the fauna you chose to inquiry, one reason for their decline, and one possible style we can better protect them. Share what you learned with your grade.

Want more Lessons of the Day? You can discover them all here.