Last week, Lodi Unified School District teacher Nikki Parks and her students learned about bats in the Mokelumne River Watershed and how they are affected by humans. Here’s what she had to say:
In the “Geography of Where We Live” EEI unit, student learn about the human impact on their local region. During the lessons we talk about how changes to our local region can harm and be helpful to humans and other living things. This week was also bat week. We read the story “Bat Loves the Night,” as part of our district adopted curriculum. We discussed the impact humans have on bats. We watched video clips from our local area about the bat population and how construction disrupted a bat roost sending the bats searching for a new home. They ended up building a roost underneath a local interstate. We connected this with our ELA reading and the human impact of construction on animals from our EEI unit. The kids also loved observing live bat cameras in roosts. Very engaging for them during distance learning.
If you missed Bat Week, don’t worry – it’s never the wrong time to learn about the furry flying mammals and their role in our local ecosystems. Visit BatWeek.org for bat facts, more videos and other educational resources.