Operation Everglades Rescue: Investigating Florida’s
Plants and Animals & Their Habitats
Fourth Grade Florida Studies
Science Mini-Unit
Providing Extension Activities for:
The Last Egret
By Harvey E. Oyer III
Correlated to:
Florida’s Next Generation Sunshine State Standards
Division of Mathematics and Science
Miami-Dade County Public Schools
Teacher’s Name:
Date:
Science Mini - Unit: The Last Egret
Fourth Grade
1. Title: Operation Everglades Rescue: Investigating Florida’s Plants and Animals & Their
Habitats
2. Lesson Objectives:
Standards – Next Generation Sunshine State Standards for Science
Fourth Grade NGSSS
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
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
SC.4.L.16.2 Explain that although characteristics of plants and animals are
inherited, some characteristics can be affected by the environment.
SC.4.L.16.3 Recognize that animal behaviors may be shaped by heredity and
learning.
SC.4.L.17.2 Explain that animals, including humans, cannot make their own food
and that when animals eat plants or other animals, the energy stored in the food
source is passed on to them.
SC.4.L.17.4 Recognize ways plants and animals, including humans, can impact
the environment.
3. Investigations
Investigation One: South Florida Water: Supply and Demand
Investigation Two: Observing Florida’s Ecosystems: Habitat Sweet Habitat
Investigation Three: Pass the Energy Please!
Investigation Four: Endangered Species “Wanted – Alive”
4. Steps to Deliver the Lesson
Introduction:
After reading and discussing the book The Adventures of Charlie Pierce: The Last Egret by
Harvey E. Oyer III, have students read, discuss and respond to the Introduction for the
Science Mini-Unit: The Last Egret handout.
 Materials needed for Introduction:

Student Sheet: Introduction to Mini-unit: The Last Egret
Investigation One: South Florida Water: Supply and Demand
Adapted from http://www.nps.gov/ever/forteachers/index.htm
 Materials needed for Investigation:

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One or more pieces of limestone
Map of South Florida (Appendix 1.1)
Student Sheet (Appendix 1.2) can be copied back to back with Appendix 1.1
Two large identical sponges (preferably 8-10” long and 2” thick)
Container of water
Paper Towels for clean up
Two pans to hold water, pan 1 labeled “Historic Everglades” and pan 2 labeled
“Everglades Today” (Appendix 1.3)
Two ID cards labeled “Historic Everglades” and “Everglades Today” (Appendix A
1.3)
Four ID cards labeled: “Farmer,” “Developer,” “Population of South Florida,” and
“Everglades.” (Appendix 1.3)
Two additional containers to hold water
Masking Tape
 Lesson Objective:
 Students will investigate that freshwater in the Everglades of South Florida is not
unlimited.

Students will understand that the water South Floridians use in all aspects of
their lives comes from the Everglades.

Students will recognize ways humans impact the environment and identify the
problems that humans are creating due to the misuse of water.
 Background Information for Teachers:

The Everglades depends on water from rainfall and drainage from the Kissimmee
River Basin and Lake Okeechobee. Before people settled in South Florida, the
water that spilled over the lake’s southern edge flowed southward through the
Everglades. In the late 1800’s, people began to build canals and levees to control
this water flow for human needs. Now the Everglades compete with humans for
water. In times of drought, it does not receive enough water through the flood
gates. In times of extreme moisture, it receives the excess. Also, the water the
Everglades receive has been altered (polluted) before it gets here.
 Suggested Procedure:
1. The day before the activity, explain to your students how the Everglades are
supplied with water. Remind students that limestone is the porous, sedimentary rock
you see in the Everglades and can be found in our own “backyards”. These rocks
are made of calcium and contain fossils of sea life, evidence of ancient seas that
once covered the area. The limestone aquifer under the Everglades acts as the
principal water recharge area for all of South Florida. Take students out to the
schoolyard to find a piece of limestone and/or ask them to find one at home. Display
the piece of limestone for student observation, while explaining its water-bearing
capabilities. You may use the informational text “Geology” from The South Florida
National Parks Activity Guide for Teachers to enhance students’ understanding
regarding the natural water flow of the Everglades and the role of limestone. Just
click on the following link: Geology, Hydrology, Habitats, Fire, Hurricanes & Native
Peoples or see the technology link below.
2. Use the map of South Florida (Appendix 1.1) to review the concept of the original
water flow from the Kissimmee River basin, to Lake Okeechobee, through the
Everglades, into the Gulf of Mexico, and on to the coral reefs or the Dry Tortugas.
Compare this to the altered water flow due to humans. Students complete #1 and #2
of the student worksheet.
3. Appoint four volunteers to represent “the Everglades,” “farming interests,”
“developers,” and “the human population of South Florida.” Identify each volunteer
with a name tag using the already made ID labels (Appendix1.2)
4. Pour water into an extra container. Completely saturate one sponge with water and
place it into the pan you have labeled “Historic Everglades.” This sponge represents
the original, unaltered Everglades during the summer wet season. It has received an
uninterrupted flow of water. Ask the students where the water originates.
5. Ask the “Everglades” volunteer to squeeze the sponge over the pan to show how
much water the Everglades can hold. Put the sponge back in the water.
6. Immerse the second sponge in the extra container of water until it is saturated.
7. Ask the students how the water flow has been changed by people and for what
purposes is the water diverted away from the Everglades. Tell students that they are
going to take water from the Everglades, just as people do.
8. Let the farmer give one squeeze to the sponge from pan 2 (“Everglades Today”),
allowing some of the water to squeeze out into another container. Pass the sponge
to the developer to let him/her squeeze. What do they do with the water? (They
divert it, or drain it into the ocean to make the land dry enough for planting and
building.) Students complete #3 of the student worksheet.
9. Pass the sponge to the “population of South Florida” for a squeeze into the sink. Ask:
What do people use the water for? Students complete #4 of the student worksheet.
10. Explain that some of the water that these groups use is only “borrowed.” However,
when they return it to the hydrologic system, it is not always in the same condition
that it was when they removed it. It may also be put back in a different place than
where it originated. Ask the students if they can think of some specific examples of
how the water is affected and/or diverted (nutrients or fertilizers added by farmers,
from residential areas and flushed into the ocean to prevent flooding, run off from
roads, and lawns treated with pesticides and fertilizers). Students complete #5 from
the student worksheet.
11. Let the “Everglades” get the last squeeze from the sponge from pan 2 (“Everglades
Today”). The remaining water squeezed from the sponge into the second empty
pan represents the water left for the Everglades after humans have diverted much of
the water for their own use.
12. Go back to the first pan labeled “Historic Everglades” and squeeze the sponge
again in its own pan. Now squeeze the sponge in the pan labeled “Everglades
Today.” Compare the two. What is left for the Everglades?
 Technology Integration:

Natural History Background Information:
Geology, Hydrology, Habitats, Fire, Hurricanes & Native Peoples
 Suggested Student Evaluations:

Ask the students: What effect does reduced water use have on the Everglades’
plants and animals?

Ask the students to list where the Everglades gets its water, name three other
competitors for that water, list three ways to conserve water, and explain how
water coming into the Everglades has been changed.
Investigation Two: Observing Florida’s Ecosystems: Habitat Sweet Habitat (Three Days)
Adapted from http://www.nps.gov/ever/forteachers/index.htm
 Materials needed for Investigation:
 Investigation Two lesson plan opened electronically on a computer with internet
access so that web sites and hyperlinks can be accessed and shown on a digital
projector to the class.

Student notebook or journal

South Florida/Everglades plant and animal picture cards
 Lesson Objectives:

The student will research at least four Everglades/South Florida habitats and be
able to identify two animals and one plant that live in each habitat.

The student will recognize how each habitat provides the necessary resources
(food, water, shelter, and personal space) so that its plants and animals can
survive.

The student will compare and contrast the differences between the habitat types
and the different organisms that live in each.
 Background Information for Teachers:

South Florida/Everglades ecosystem is a collection of habitat types. The random
formation of the limestone foundation in the Everglades determines where a
certain habitat is found. Therefore pockets and islands of different habitats are
scattered throughout. The water level and water availability determine the
vegetation of a particular habitat, and this in turn determines the wildlife found
there. For more teacher background information on the specific habitats see the
following site:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_and_ecology_of_the_Everglades
 Suggested Procedure:
1.
Pass out the student sheet Habitat Sweet Habitat. Ask students to study the
“habitat sweet habitat” house illustration and share what they see. Ask them to
compare this house to their home and explain how they are alike.
2. Say every living thing needs a habitat.
Then ask: what is a habitat and have
students define it. (A habitat is a home for plants and animals.) Discuss what they
and all living things need to stay alive. Then ask what resource a habitat needs to
provide. (These four resources: food, water, shelter, and space are the traits of a
successful and healthy habitat for the plants and animals.)
3. Show a video about the Everglades. Have students watch the video to identify
different habitats in the Everglades and the plants and animals living in them.
Students can take notes. See the technology Integration resource choices below. If
you are a Title one school you have access to the Discovery video. If not, try the
other choices. Discuss what the students saw in the video. Say the Everglades has
many habitats. We’ll focus on these four: Sawgrass Marsh, Freshwater Slough, Pine
Rocklands, and Hardwood Hammocks.
4. Each of the habitats listed below are hyperlinks that will take you to kid friendly
reading passages that present information and photographs describing the each
habitat. Just click on the hyperlinked habitat’s name. Have students take notes
identifying the characteristics that make each habitat different from the others.
Students should also include plants and animals that live in each habitat.
Sawgrass Prairie/Marsh
•
Wet Habitat
•
Sawgrass, not grass, but a sedge
•
Named for tiny sharp saw-like teeth attached to the leaf blade.
•
Water is about two feet deep in wet season
•
During dry season small pools of water trap thousands of fish that provide
food for birds
•
birds: ibis, anhinga, heron, wood stork,
•
periphyton, a blue-green algae provides a microhabitat for insects, and tiny
fish
Freshwater Slough
•
Slow moving river
•
Holds deepest water all year - two to four feet deep
•
Animal population increases during the Everglades Dry Season
(November-May)
•
Plants: Water lilies, giant reed, pond apple tree
•
Wading birds: Anhinga, Wood stork, ibis
•
Fish: gambusia, Florida gar, bass
•
Reptiles: alligator, turtles
•
Invertebrates: Apple snails
Pine Rocklands
•
Driest habitat
•
Above sea level elevations
•
Porous oolite limestone bedrock
•
Slash pine has thick bark, high branches & needle like leaves
•
Thick bark = microhabitat for beetles, scorpions
•
Fire is essential for the survival of the pine rocklands
•
Fire removes competing plants/trees that are shading the new pine seedlings
•
Fire tolerant plants: cabbage palms, saw palmettos
•
Animals: scorpions, mice, rabbits, raccoons, panthers, deer, foxes,
•
woodpeckers, owls, and songbirds
Hardwood Hammock
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Broad- leafed hardwood tree forest
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highest elevated land
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Dark, shady, moist habitat
•
Soft and spongy ground cover from fallen leaves home to many decomposers
•
Trees: Royal Palm, Gumbo Limbo, Live Oak, Strangler Fig, & Lysiloma or “
tree snail tree”
•
Animals: Zebra butterfly, tree snails, panthers, raccoons, mice, rabbits,
lizards, snakes, song birds
•
Symbiotic relationships:
- Commensalism: hardwood trees & air plants or epiphytes
- Mutualism: lichens - algae & fungus relationship
•
Sensitive to pollution
5. Have students help make the South Florida/Everglades plant and animal cards.
Students can color and cut up the Supplementary South Florida animal and plant
pictures found in the technology link. In addition students draw their own and/or find
pictures to print from online.
6. Identify four centers in the classroom that will represent the four habitats studied.
You can use bulletin board/wall space, or containers (boxes or bags) to represent
the habitats. Each center should be clearly marked and decorated with its habitats’
characteristics. (Students can help.)
7. Divide the class into two groups to play the game Habitat Sweet Habitat. Line up
each group in a single file. The lines should be next to each other with the leader of
each facing the habitat centers. (relay race style) Each group’s stack of cards can
be marked to identify each group’s accuracy.
8. Between the students and centers, place a stack of (or scatter) the habitat cards.
9. The first student in each line will, upon signal, run to the cards, pick one up, and
place it in its appropriate habitat (center). The student then runs back to his/her line
and tags the next person who will run and select another card. This continues until
all the cards have been placed.
10. Once the groups have finished review the contents of each habitat center. Students
can use their notes.
11. Discuss why certain organisms cannot survive in a particular habitat (wrongly placed
cards).
Technology Integration:
 Everglades video from Discovery:
http://app.discoveryeducation.com/player/?assetGuid=75fb5e6f-d12f-4a1590e9cae97954eec8&fromMyDe=0&isPrinterFriendly=0&provider=&isLessonF
romHealth=0&productcode=US&isAssigned=false&includeHeader=YES

Everglades Royal Field Trip video:
http://ka.uvuvideo.org/_Untold-Stories-Everglades-NationalPark/video/632519/86294.html

Everglades Conservation video:
http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/environment/going-greenenvironment/conservation-in-action/everglades
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Direct link to habitat descriptions:
http://www.nps.gov/ever/forkids/habitats.htm

South Florida/Everglades plant and animal picture cards pgs 197-213:
http://www.nps.gov/ever/forteachers/upload/SFNP%20Supplementary%20Ma
terials.pdf
 Suggested Student Evaluation: Discuss the following questions with the students:

What makes habitats different (i.e. water levels and availability, elevation, types
of plants, types of animals, etc.)?

Do some animals depend on more than one habitat?
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Are all different habitats necessary?
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Why do certain plants and animals need a particular habitat?
 Suggested Extension: Take the class on a schoolyard habitat observation walk. Have
students keep a list of plants and animals they encounter. Students can draw
illustrations and/or take pictures. Students compare plants and animals found in the
schoolyard to those found in the Everglades habitats studied.
Investigation Three: Pass the Energy Please!
 Materials needed for Investigation:
 small paper plate – represent the sun
 yarn- connect the organisms
 tape
 scissors
 crayons/markers
 Florida animal and plant pictures (Appendix 4.1)
 Lesson Objective:

Students will describe and/or explain how energy is transferred through a food
chain by creating a model of a Florida Everglades food chain.
 Background Information for Teachers:
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A food chain is the path by which energy passes from one living thing to another.
Producers make their own food.
Consumers cannot make their own food. They eat other organisms to get energy.
There are three types of consumers: herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores
 Suggested Procedure:
1. Place each of the common Florida food chain cards and a paper plate representing
the sun (Appendices 3.1-3.6) on blue trays to create the Florida Animal & Plant
Pictures Stations. These stations/ trays will rotate round the classroom, not the
students.
2. Ask the students to cut and arrange the plants and animals in order of an
Everglades Food Chain. In their journals, the students will diagram each of the
different Florida Everglades food chains.
3. On the final rotation the students will, in addition to diagramming in the journal, use
materials listed (small paper plate – represent the sun, yarn- connect the
organisms, tape, scissors, crayons/markers, Florida animal and plant pictures) to
create a food chain model. The food chain should begin with the sun and continue
with the producers and consumers. They should be linked with the yarn.
4. Upon completing the food chain, each group will present to the class their food chain
and explain each organism’s role.
5. As a follow up assignment the students can complete the What’s My Role worksheet
(Appendix 3.7). Students will classify Florida animals and plants into the following
categories: producers and consumers (herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores).
 Technology Integration:
 http://studyjams.scholastic.com/studyjams/jams/science/ecosystems/foodchains.
htm
 http://www.biology4kids.com/files/plants_main.html
 http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/content/animals/kidscorner/gamesforkids.htm
 Suggested Student Evaluations:
 Journal Entries
 Final food Chain
 What’s My Role (See attachment.)
Investigation Four: Endangered Species “Wanted – Alive”
Adapted from http://www.nps.gov/ever/forteachers/index.htm
 Materials Needed for Investigation:
 Class set of Reference Sheet
 Computers with Internet access or
 Books or other sources of information
 Paper and pencil/pen
 Poster sized paper
 Crayons, pencils, markers
 Lesson Objectives:




Students will become knowledgeable about the endangered animal and plant
species in South Florida.
Students will identify ways in which plants and /or animals (including humans)
can impact the environment.
Students will understand how interaction of organisms in ecosystem can impact
the environment.
Students will identify animals’ energy sources.
 Background Information for Teachers:

In 1973, the Endangered Species Act was passed by the United States Congress
to classify plants or animals species that should be considered “endangered” or
“threatened”. Students should be able to answer the following questions:

What does it mean when a plant or animal is classified as endangered?
Plants or animals species are considered endangered if they are in danger of
becoming extinct throughout all or most of its range. Extinction is considered a
natural process. However, today’s extinction rates of plants and animals are
accelerating at a rate that is faster than a natural process. Factors that are
contributing to this include: loss of habitat, alteration of water flow, drainage of
wetlands, introduction of non-native organisms, direct killing (over-harvesting and
poisoning)

What are the endangered species found in the Everglades?
Animal species that are classified as endangered are:
Insects: Schauss Swallowtail
Mammals: Florida Panther, West Indian Manatee, Key Largo Wood Rate, Key
Largo Cotton Mouse
Birds: Snail (everglades) Kite, Arctic Peregrine Falcon, Cape Sable Sea Side
Sparrow, Wood Stork
Reptiles: Kemp’s Ridley Turtle, Green Turtle, Hawksbill Turtle, Leatherback
Turtle, American Crocodile

Why should these species be saved?
There are many benefits of naturally functioning ecosystems: oxygen production,
soil generation and maintenance, ground water recharge, water purification, and
flood protection. Biological diversity benefits humans. Plants and animals provide
humans with food, clothing, energy, medicines, and structural materials. As such,
effort should be continued to preserve endangered species. Some species may
play a critical role in an ecosystem, and we may not even know about it. We don’t
want to find out when it’s too late.
Extinction is indeed forever. Once a species becomes extinct, a hole is left in the
ecosystem and that species’ role, or niche, is left unoccupied. The loss of a
single species can affect many other plants and animals.
 Suggested Procedure:
1. Assign or have students choose one of the endangered species plant or animal to
research and prepare a poster for the class. Make sure that each species will be
covered. Each poster should include:




A physical description and picture
Type of habitat required
Predator/Prey relationship (what do they eat/what eats them)
What role does the species fill in its environment (niche)
2. Students will present their posters to the class.
 Suggested Evaluation:

After students’ presentations, discuss the following questions:
Why should these species be saved?
What are the endangered species found in the Everglades?
Why should these species be saved?
What can students do to help save endangered species?
3. Posters can be graded using the attached rubric.(see student sheet)
 Technology Integration:
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/southflorida/everglades.html
http://www.cotf.edu/ete/modules/everglades/FEeverglades1.html
http://www.miamisci.org/ecolinks/everglades/animals.html
http://www.everglades.org/habitats/
http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/76/
Introduction to Mini-Unit: The Last Egret
Student’s Name: _________________________
Date________________
To understand the Everglades today, you must first understand what it was like in
the past - before man’s harmful impact on it. As you learned from reading the
adventures of young Charlie Pierce, all of South Florida was once a slow-moving
river full of saw grass that flowed slowly toward the ocean and the gulf. It was a vast
area with different habitats that included marshes, sloughs, hardwood hammocks,
pinelands, and cypress that were inhabited by a wide variety of plants and animals.
Charlie and his Seminole friend, Tiger traveled down along South Florida’s coastal
mangroves to Shark River on their great plume bird expedition moving into what we
today call the Everglades, but which they called a wild jungle. Here the water spread
over the different elevations of limestone rock creating a variety of habitats filled with
beautiful and fascinating wading birds, mammals, fishes, reptiles, amphibians, air
plants and trees. Charlie and Tiger relied on many of these animals as a source of
food just as many of the Seminole and Miccosukee people did who first lived in the
Everglades. Through Charlie’s travels, friends he encountered, and animals he observed he learned
firsthand that not only can plants and animals have an effect on the environments but humans can
play an even greater role.
1. From the book, The Last Egret, what message did Charlie finally understand regarding his role in
the environment?
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
2. What impact would Charlie and his friends have had if they continued their hunting of plumes?
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
3. How did the Audubon Society play a role in conserving the environment?
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
4. As you complete this unit of study, list ways you would protect your home, the South Florida
Everglades. Also think of ways you take for granted the plants and animals in your environment.
Think of ways you can spread the word for protection of the Everglades. Keep a page in your
journal to keep track of your thoughts and actions.
Investigation One: South Florida Water: Supply and Demand
Appendix 1.1 Map of South Florida
Source: http://www.nps.gov/ever/forteachers/index.htm
Student’s Name: __________________________
Date: __________________________
Investigation One: South Florida Water: Supply and Demand
Water is the most critical issue facing Everglades National Park and
Big Cypress National Preserve. It enters the park directly in the form
of rainfall, or indirectly by flowing down from the north. Historically,
the rain that fell on the Kissimmee River Basin eventually made its
way south into Lake Okeechobee and then the Everglades. Today,
much of the water is diverted for other uses before it reaches the
park; hence, little is available to evaporate back into the atmosphere.
Everyone recognizes that water is essential for our survival, even for
our very own existence. We use water in many ways. People aren’t
the only ones who depend on clean water. Many different kinds of
plants and animals that live in the Everglades/South Florida depend on water, too! Sharing the
resource means working together to protect our lakes, rivers, canals, and wetlands!
As we explore and observe:
1. Describe the original water flow to the Everglades?
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
2. How do you think water flow has been changed by people?
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
3. How do farmers and developers use the water?
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
4. How does the “population of South Florida” use the water?
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
5. Think of some specific examples of how the water is affected and/or diverted?
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
Investigation One: South Florida Water: Supply and Demand
Appendix 1.2
ID cards
Historic Everglades
Everglades Today
Historic Everglades
Everglades Today
Farmer
Developer
Population of South Florida
Everglades
Name _________________________
Date_____________________
Habitat Sweet Habitat
Every living thing needs a home or a habitat!
1. What is a habitat?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
2. What are the four things that a habitat needs to provide so that its plants and animals can
survive?

_______________________________________

_______________________________________

_______________________________________

_______________________________________
Notebook/Journal Activity:
As we explore the four habitats of the Everglades make an entry in your notebook for each of the four
habitats. Then describe each habitat, identifying what characteristics make it different from the other
habitats. Include three or more animals and one or more plants.
Everglades Habitat Match Up
Matching
Letter
Habitat
1. Fresh Water Slough
2. Hardwood Hammock
3. Pine Rocklands
4. Sawgrass Marsh
Main Characteristics
A. Fire tolerant plants grow in the driest and rockiest
habitat.
B. Sedge with saw-like teeth blades grow in this wet
habitat.
C. A slow moving river that holds the deepest water.
D. Broadleaved trees grow on highest elevated land.
Investigation Three: Pass the Energy!
Appendix 3.1
Investigation Three: Pass the Energy!
Appendix 3.2
Investigation Three: Pass the Energy!
Appendix 3.3
Investigation Three: Pass the Energy!
Appendix 3.4
Investigation Three: Pass the Energy!
Appendix 3.5
Investigation Three: Pass the Energy!
Appendix 3.6
Investigation Three: Pass the Energy!
Appendix 3.7
Source: http://www.nps.gov/ever/forteachers/index.htm
Name: _________________________
apple snail
raccoon
swamp lily
mosquito fish
kite
raccoon
Date:___________
What’s My Role?
deer
anole
alligator
egret
hawk
panther
blue heron
marsh rabbit
shrimp
fungus
grasshopper
bream
Producers
Consumers
Label the consumers:
H for herbivores
C for carnivores
O for omnivores
Investigation Three: Pass the Energy! Activity #2:
grass
snake
shrimp
earthworm
algae
eagle
Decomposers
Name: ____________________________
Date: ______________________
Endangered Species “Wanted-Alive”
Choose one of the endangered plant or animal species to research and create a poster.
Your poster must include:




A physical description and picture
Type of habitat required
Predator/Prey relationship(what do they eat/what eats them)
What role does the species fill in its environment (niche)
Poster Rubric
Illustration & Captions
1- illustration and
captions are
incomplete and
vague
2- illustration
and/or captions
are partially
complete
and/or vague
3- illustration
and captions
are complete
and clearly
written
4- illustration
and captions
are complete
and clearly well
written with
details
1- poor display
two attributes
are missing
2- average
quality- only one
attribute missing
with minor errors
and of fair quality
3- good
quality- all
attributes
present with
few if any
minor errors
4- superior
display – all
attributes
present and of
exemplary
quality
1-included few of
the required
sources with
incomplete and
vague
description
2- included some
of the required
sources with
incomplete
and/or vague
description
3- included
most of the
required
sources with
detailed
description
4- included all
of the required
sources with
well detailed
complete
descriptions
1-included
contributing
factor with
incomplete and
vague supporting
evidence
2- included
some
contributing
factors with
incomplete
and/or vague
supporting
evidence
3- included
most
contributing
factors with
some
supporting
evidence
4- included all
contributing
factors with
detailed
supporting
evidence
Display Attributes

Grammar/Spelling

Clear/Legible

Appearance
Type of Habitat Required
Include sources for :




Food
Water
Shelter
Personal space
Factors Contributing
to Plant or Animal
Being Endangered