Unit Title: Nechako White Sturgeon- our local prehistoric giant
Subject: Science Grade(s): Intermediate
Number of Lessons: 7 Time: 2-3 weeks
Rationale/Overview: The purpose of this unit is for the students to gain a deeper awareness of
the endangered Nechako white sturgeon and the many challenges the species currently face.
Students need to be aware of local issues in order to connect to the Nechako watershed.
Background and Teacher Preparation Required: It would be beneficial if the students have
already learnt about the Nechako river (see the Nechako Watershed unit plan). The teacher
touches base with local expert(s), such as Cory Williamson or Brian Frenkel of the Nechako
white sturgeon Recovery Initiative (www.nechakowhitesturgeon.org).
Cross-Curricular Connections: Math, Fine Arts, Language Arts, Social Studies, P.E.
Extensions and Adaptations: We recommend that this unit is followed by the Riparian Zone
lesson or unit plan. That way, students develop a more thorough insight into the complexity of
the Nechako watershed and their role in it.
Resources:
Bulletin board for art projects; art materials/dress-up clothes; bulletin board; support sheets (included in
curriculum package); Nature Guide of the Nechako Valley; White Sturgeon Power Point Presentations included
in curriculum package; model of a sturgeon; Tale of a Great White Fish by Maggie de Vries; Sturgeon life cycle
poster (available at Avison Management); computers; science journals, SMARTboard, whiteboard, markers,
maps of the Nechako, Fraser, Columbia and Sacramento watersheds; guests/local experts; outdoor clothing;
cameras/phones; the Nature Guide; Upper Columbia White Sturgeon Elementary Resource Kit, Hatchery Staff
in Class Presentation (Kootney Haterchery); websites:
www.nechakowhitesturgeon.org (The Recovery Plan and more)
www.uppercolumbiasturgeon.org
http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca
http://www.wildbc.org/publications-resources/waterstewardship/guide.pdf
http://www.deepspacesparkle.com
http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/wld/fishhabitats/sturgeon/index.html
http://annerosegeorgeson.com/index.php?option=com_easygallery&act=photos&cid=108&Itemid=36
PLOs:
Grade 4 LS (Life Science):
Grade 5 ESS (Earth and
Space Science):
Grade 6 (LS):
Grade 7 (LS):
Compare the structures and behaviours of local animals and plants in different habitats and
communities.
Analyse simple food chains
Determine how personal choices and actions have environmental consequences.
Describe potential environmental impacts of using BC’s living and non-living resources
Analyse how different organisms adapt to their environment
Analyse the roles of organisms as part of interconnected food webs, populations, communities,
and ecosystems
Assess survival needs and interactions between organisms and the environment
Assess the requirements for sustaining healthy local ecosystems
Evaluate human impacts on local ecosystems
Overview of Lessons:
Lesson #,
Name, and
time:
1.
Introduction
Instructional
Objectives:
Teaching Strategies:
Student Activities:
Assessment
Materials
StudentI can
participate in a
discussion about the
Nechako white
sturgeon and explain
what an endangered
status means.
Invite students to brainstorm what
they know about the Nechako
white sturgeon
Brainstorm prior knowledge
Observation
SMARTBoard
Participate in discussion
Discuss the concept
“endangered”. What does it
mean? What caused the sturgeon
to be endangered? Who decides
on an Endangered status for
species? What is Canada’s
Species at Risk Act (SARA)?
(background information found on
sheet Endangered Species…)
Listen to story and respond
throughout the read aloud.
Ticket Out the Door
“What does
endangered mean?”
Large visual/model of
the White Sturgeon or
Powerpoint
Presentation: Why is the
White Sturgeon Special?
Read the book out loud and invite
students to respond to the story
and new knowledge on chart
paper. Talk about sturgeon being
endangered, due to:

hydroelectric dam
construction: reduced
eliminate spring flooding,
block access to spawning
sites, trap nutrients on
which salmon depend,
Art activity “Pre-historic fish” (view
local artist Annerose Georgeson’s
website for inspiration!)
Book The Great White
Fish by Maggie DeVries
Sheet Endangered
Species Handout
Prehistoric art lesson
found at
http://www.deepspaces
parkle.com/2011/02/18/
pre-historic-fish-artlesson/
Art materials: textured
paper
http://annerosegeorges
on.com/index.php?opti






reduce down stream
turbidity so that juveniles
are more visible
overfishing
introduction of exotic
species
dikes and drainage
projects
industrial and municipal
pollution
Pesticides and agricultural
activities
Poor riparian zone
management
on=com_easygallery&a
ct=photos&cid=108&Ite
mid=36
Bulletin board
Hands-on art activity: draw and
colour your interpretation of the
Nechako white sturgeon. (Check
Annerose’s website!) Cut out
image. The images will be placed
on to bulletin board on the right
hand side (more images will later
be added to complete the display)
2.
External
Anatomy
Student can identify
5-10 external parts of
the Nechako White
Sturgeon.
Use large visual of sturgeon and
distribute Worksheet.
Observe the visual and think of
the purpose of each feature.
Present the external parts and their
functions (discuss with students).
Identify external parts while
teacher presents and record on
the worksheet.
After a class discussion, provide
students with art material and ask
them to recreate a White Sturgeon
with at least 5 features that they
can explain the functions of to
someone.
Participate in discussion.
Recreate a sturgeon that has at
least five features that the
students can explain the function
of.
Create a model of a
sturgeon where 5-10
features are apparent.
Be able to explain what
and why they are by
presenting it to a
partner, small group or
the class.
SMARTboard or visual
PowerPoint Presentation:
Parts of the Nechako
White Sturgeon &
Sturgeon PPT Cora M.
Image: White Sturgeon
Anatomy Image
Worksheet Student
Handout Part A: White
Sturgeon Anatomy
Sheet External Anatomy
(answer key)
Clay or paper and
water for paper mache
or other art material
3.
Survival
Student can reflect
how adaptations
have either helped
the sturgeon survive.
OR sturgeon adapt
and evolve slowly,
which is helping them
go extinct
Briefly review last lesson.
Recall what they learnt last time.
Brainstorm the word “adaptation”
and relate to human experience:
how do you adapt to the cold?
The heat?
Participate in brainstorming and
class discussion.
Using the knowledge from last
lesson, think about how the
external features help the sturgeon
adapt to their environment?
Whiteboard
Observation and work
sheet.
Markers
DFO document:
Backgrounder White
sturgeon in BC
The class compares sturgeon to
other fish.
Students answer questions with
partner on Adaptations sheet
Worksheet: Adaptations
Map of the Nechako
Watershed
Compare sturgeon to any other fish
that you know:
-small eyes, large barbels,
heterocercal tail, body shape,
shape of mouth, scutes, colour
above and below the sturgeon
(teacher can write/draw on the
board)
Hand out Adaptations sheet for
students to answer (in partners).
4.
Circle of
Life
Student can illustrate
the life cycle of the
Nechako White
Sturgeon.
Invite local expert to share
information about life cycle and
habitat (if possible).
Brainstorming/Check Prior
Knowledge about what students
know about the life cycle of the
Participate in discussion
Participate in group work (expert
groups).
“Research” (by looking at
Ticket out the door:
show me what you
know of the life cycle of
the sturgeon.
Guest: local expert
Material for stations
(display for gallery walk):
Paper, pens, markers,
Nechako white sturgeon.
Local expert presents or teacher
uses posters or PowerPoint display
and support sheets while
introducing activity
School with First Nations students
may want to watch the video
Every Sturgeon Counts: how to live
release sturgeon from a gill net
available on UTube or from NWSRI.
available information and ask
teacher and local expert) a
particular stage of the life cycle
and present/teach it to the rest
of the class. Each group is the
expert of their assigned/chosen
stage.
clay
Life cycle poster
available at Avison’s
Management in
Vanderhoof
PowerPoint display Life
cycles of a Sturgeon
Students create images of their
stage of the life cycle.
Support sheets in
curriculum package
Students add images to bulletin
board.
Divide students into expert groups.
Each group chooses a stage in the
life cycle of which they become
experts and then share with others
(or do a gallery walk in the
classroom).
Art supplies
Bulletin board
TV for video
Hands-on art activity: Each group
creates images of their stage of the
life cycle to add on to bulletin
board.
5.
A
Sturgeon’s
Habitat
Student can explain
how the habitat of
the Nechako White
Sturgeon has
changed from
functional to
dysfunctional.
Discuss what we know about a
functional habitat. (Habitat meets
the needs of the organism)
Ask the students: How come the
sturgeon has been able to adapt
to its environment for millions of
years, but in the last 100 years it has
become an endangered species?
What made its habitat
dysfunctional? (See support sheet)
Students share ideas regarding
what they know about habitat.
Reflect upon what has
happened in the last 100 years
that made the Nechako white
sturgeon’s habitat dysfunctional.
Students create a
skit/dramatization.
Students create objects essential
Presentation of a
newsflash about the
“sensation” of the
decline of the Nechako
white sturgeon.
SMARTboard
PowerPoint Presentation:
Saving the Nechako
white sturgeon
PowerPoint Nechako
White Sturgeon
Sheet Sturgeon Habitat
a
What is being done? (Local
restoration projects)
in functional habitat (i.e. rocks,
gravel, bubbles, bugs, salmon) to
add to bulletin board.
Computers
Support sheet for
teacher (background
knowledge): Salmon
Habitat
With a partner, create a newsflash
where the issue of the Nechako
White Sturgeon’s changing habitat
is “the big news.”
Dress-up clothes?
Hands-on art activity: Create
objects for sturgeon habitat on
bulletin board.
Bulletin board
Art supplies
6.
Nature Hike
to
spawning/
feeding/
wintering
site
Students record
observations during
the nature hike
activity.
Vanderhoof: spawning
grounds
Murray creek
Ft St James: Feeding,
wintering
Ft Fraser: Feeding
Fraser Lake: feeding and
wintering
Burns Lake: potential to go
on a field trip to visit different
sites that the Nechako white
sturgeon are found
The teacher takes the students on
a hike to the
spawning/feeding/wintering site in
the Nechako River (Riverside Park)
or another suitable location in the
Nechako watershed.
Meet up with local sturgeon expert.
Local expert and the teacher
encourages discussions about the
sturgeon; history, anatomy, life
cycle, habitat, and what the
students remember most from
learning about this. Also emphasize
the changes to the river and
adjacent sloughs or riparian zone.
Hand out Sturgeon Habitat Study
sheet for students to complete.
Students go on a hike,
participate in discussions about
what it is like for the sturgeon in its
changed habitat.
Students fill out the Sturgeon
Habitat Sheet (encourage
complete sentences and details).
Recording observations.
Guest: Local Expert
Good footwear and
appropriate clothing.
Nature Guide
Cameras/phones
and/or science journals?
Pencils
Hand-outs: Sturgeon
Habitat Sheet
Jars to collect sturgeon
foods
Thermometer for water
temperature
7.
What Do
YOU think?
Student can share
what Nechako White
sturgeon means to
them.
Facilitate a discussion about the
main highlights and discoveries
about the Nechako white
sturgeon.
The teacher asks the students to
share what value the Nechako
White Sturgeon has in the students’
personal lives and what it would
mean to them if the Nechako
White sturgeon becomes extinct?
Future:
Release of
a Sturgeon
Students can
participate in
sturgeon release
event.
The teacher brings students to the
Vanderhoof Recovery Facility and
hatchery, where the students get
the opportunity to participate in a
sturgeon release.
Students review what they have
learnt and share new insights with
the class.
Journal write
Science journals
Share orally (either in
class or in small groups)
Pencils
Students think and write about
what value the Nechako white
sturgeon holds for them and
what it would mean to them if it
becomes extinct.
The students participate in
sturgeon release.
Erasers
Participation in sturgeon
release.
Appropriate outdoor
clothing.
Data recording skills
practiced.