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The
GBOP
Bear Trunk
"It's
the best education kit I've seen"
Kendall Elementary School Teacher
A
ready-to-use curriculum for K-5 teachers
Click
here for a Foothills Gazette article about the GBOP Bear Trunk (300kb pdf).
The
North Cascades Grizzly Bear Outreach Project (GBOP) has created a ready to
use, hands on science unit about the bears of the world, with a special
focus on grizzly bears, black bears and their
habitat. The trunk is currently being used by teachers in Kendall Elementary School in Washington
State (Mount Baker Highway) following it's launch there on March 20th, 2006. The lessons are easy
to follow, student-centered, directly linked to state EALRS and GLE’s,
and connected to a variety of content areas.
 The motivational curriculum
has been designed by elementary school teachers and environmental educators and is
intended to provide fun ways for young students living in or adjacent to the
North Cascades Ecosystem to learn accurate information about bears in the
context of bears globally. The curriculum allows students to
participate in the exploration of bear ecology, behavior, recovery and human
values toward grizzly bears and their habitat.
The
trunk contains:
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Developmentally
appropriate resources for both primary and intermediate students.
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Dynamic
visuals such as photographs, slides, posters, and maps.
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Exciting
manipulatives including a grizzly bear hide, skull, claws, teeth, puppets,
track casts, bear resistant food container, food cache kit etc.
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DVDs, brochures,
PowerPoint presentations, books (x29!), and suggested web sites to broaden background knowledge.
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Hands-on,
field-based experiences and recommended field trip activities.
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Click
here for full trunk inventory (80kb pdf)
The
bear trunk and curriculum help students explore ‘big ideas’ of science
such as ecosystem connectivity, natural resources, and the importance of habitat
in ways that both novice and experienced teachers will find inspirational and
practical.
What's
next?
Once
the “Bear Trunk” has been fully piloted at Kendall Elementary during 2006,
we hope to make more trunks
available for use in other school districts of the North Cascades.
Thank
you
Our
sincere thanks to Defenders of Wildlife for sponsoring this GBOP product.
Many
thanks also to:
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Kelly
Morgan, Kari Anderson (Environmental Endowment Commission
Fellowship 2003-2005), and Erin Divine for developing the
curriculum guide and trunk contents
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Counter
Assault for donating a bear resistant food container ('Bear
Keg')
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John
Hechtel for donating the grizzly bear skull
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Jim
Holmes, Karen Blejwas and Alaska
Department of Fish and Game for donating the grizzly bear hide
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The
staff and students of Kendall Elementary School
If
your organization is interested in sponsoring a trunk for the North Cascades ($2000), please email chrismorgan@insightwildlife.com
or call 360 734 6060. We can also develop trunks for other bear ecosystems -
please contact us for more information.
 
Useful
Bear Trunk contacts:
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