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Lesson
Class #: Grasslands or Prairie intro Course Social 4
Title/Focus

PROGRAM OF STUDY OUTCOMES

 GLO: Students will demonstrate an understanding and appreciation of how elements of physical
geography, climate, geology and paleontology are integral to the landscapes and environment of
Alberta.
 SLO: 4.1.2.2 What are the major geographical and natural vegetation regions, landforms and
bodies of water in Alberta.
 SLO: 4.1.2.3 What are the factors that determine climate in the diverse regions of Alberta (e.g.,
latitude, mountains).
 SLO: 4.3.1.6 Value and respect their relationships with the environment

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
At the end of the lesson students will be able to:
1. Identify landforms, animals, and the climate of the grassland region.
2. Understand and identify the significance of the buffalo and the historical site Writing on Stone
to the Blackfoot people.
MATERIALS AND EQUIPMENT
 Artifacts (skulls, snakeskin)
 Nearpod
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WfG_Snovdg
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpR44O3uEp4
PROCEDURE
Introduction Time
1. Show students coyote skull, rattle snake skin, and antelope skull, whitetail deer
and mule deer sheds.
2. Series of questions:
- What are each of the animal types?
5 min
- What region of Alberta do these animals live in? (Grasslands or prairie)
- What adaptions do these animals have? (Rattle snake, warn predators to stay
away).
3. Show slides of coyote, rattle snake, antelope, and whitetail deer.
Body Time
Powerpoint Animals 10 min
1. Series of question:
- What are some other types of animals found in the
grasslands region?
- What adaptations do these animals have?
2. Show more slides of different animals (badger, gopher or
prairie dog, mule deer, fox, porcupine)
3. Question: Can anyone think of any animals that we don’t
see on the grasslands anymore?
4. Show picture of bison or buffalo.
5. Question: What happened to the plains bison?
- They were hunted almost to extinction
- There used to be almost 30 million bison in north
America before contact.
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- By the 1880s the fur traders had hunted them almost to
extinction, they wanted them for their furs to sell.
- There were only 116 left in the 1880s and almost all
the bison alive today are descendants of those bison.
6. Priming: I want to watch an interesting video with you
guys so you can see what is being done to help the bison
return to Alberta. Pay attention to the things they have
done to help the buffalo get back into the ecosystem.
7. Watch Vid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=NpR44O3uEp4
8. Question: What did they do to help the buffalo return to
Banff? (Fed them the local plants, helped them go up hills
ex.)How long had it been since they had been there? (140
years!!) Why was this such a important moment?
9. The buffalo or bison is a very important animal to
indigenous people in Canada especially the Blackfoot
people (right close to us).
10. Show pics of different things the Blackfoot people used
the buffalo for, and how they used every single part of the
buffalo for different things.
11. Quiz allow 4-5 mins

ENDED HERE TODAY GOING TO START WHERE I

LEFT OFF

Hook:

1. Allow students 5 mins to get computers out.

2. Show the kids a cactus!
3. Series of Questions: 10 min
- What is this?
- Where could this type of plant be found?
- Did you know that we have cactuses right in the
prairies?
- Why do you think that cactuses have spikes?
4. Dialogue:
- We have a region of the grasslands often called the
badlands where it is very dry and we have a lot of
cactus there.
- They can be a defense mechanism to discourage
herbivores - animals that eat plants - from eating the
cactus.
- When you're covered in spines, as the sun moves
across the sky, those spines are casting shadows on the
body of the cactus. They're little shade umbrellas.
- All cactuses are native to desert environments, and
some live in places where it never rains at all.
- Early in the morning, there will be fog that comes off
the water. Those spines provide a place for the water
to condense, form little droplets of water that run down
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the spine, to the body of the plant, down to the ground
and to the roots.

Landforms and vegetation

12. Question: What do the prairies look like? What plants

would we find there?
13. Show slides of Plant life.
14. Question: What are the landforms that exist in the
prairies?
15. Show slides of landforms (coulees, rolling hills, flat fields,
rivers, hoodoos).
16. Series of questions:
- Does anyone know what one of these are called? (On
hoodoo slide)
- Does anyone know how a hoodoo is formed? Why
does it look like that?
- (Show slide about hoodoo erosion. Erosion- when rock
is gradually shaped by winds and water)
- (hoodoos are made of sandstone, often the top is
harder and the columns below are made of softer
sandstone and get worn away fast leaving this unique
shape)
- Has anyone been to writing on stone? Why is it an
important place?
17. Priming: I want you to watch this video pay attention to
what they say about why this is an important place to the
Blackfoot people.
18. Vid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WfG_Snovdg
19. Series of questions:
- Why is this place so special to the Blackfoot people?
( the carvings on the rocks are from their ancestors, it
is of great historical and spiritual importance)
- Why would people have painted or carved on the
rocks? (To record events, daily life, cultural things
such as art and beliefs)
20. Quiz allow 4-7 min

Climate and water

21. Series of questions:

- How long do you think you could last without water?
(About 3 days) can you imagine even going without
water for one whole day?
- Our climate in the grasslands is very dry we actually
only get about 30 to 40 cm of rain per year!
- Has anyone seen the floods that have happened in BC?
( in one day over there lately it has rained 17 cm, that
is half of what we get in one year).
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- Because we have a very dry climate how are we able
to grow so many crops? (Irrigation).
22. Review:
- Remember when we talked about reservoirs and dams?
- Why are they important in the grasslands? (They help
keep reserves of water for when we need it)
- What would happen if we didn’t have dams and
reservoirs in Alberta? (We might run out of water!)
23. Quiz allow 4-7 min

Conclusion Time
1. Next class we will explore a very unique part of the grasslands. (Give hint the
word jurassic)
2. Give 15 mins of free time at the end of the lesson to help students catch up with 2-3 min
some of assignments. (For students who have finished allow them to come look a
and touch the antlers, skull, and snakeskin from yesterday).
Assessment
 Nearpod quiz

Additional Notes: