Anytime Lesson Plan: A Day in the Life of a San Francisco Native Animal

In this activity, students will learn some key information about a San Francisco native animal and then write a first-hand account of their experience from the perspective of that animal in the time before the explorers came to San Francisco.  A series of prompts are provided to help guide their narrative.

In this activity, students will:

1. learn about the landscape of San Francisco before the explorers arrived.
2. learn some key information about a San Francisco native animal.
3. write a first-hand narrative from the perspective of that animal.

• blank “Day in the Life” journal pages (one for each student)
• copies of the San Francisco native animal cards (one for each student/pair/group)
• historic photographs of San Francisco (attached to lesson plan)
• pencils

• adaptation:  a change in the structure or behavior of an organism or any of its parts as a result of the evolutionary mechanism of natural selection.
• biome: a region of land with a certain climate and certain forms of vegetation.
• chaparral: biome with a hot, dry climate, characterized by areas of low, shrubby plant growth; typically near marine coasts.  Found on the west coast of the United States and South America, South Africa, the western tip of Australia and the Mediterranean coast.
• Mediterranean climate: long-term pattern of weather which includes wet winters and extremely dry summers.  Wildfires occur frequently.
• wetlands: areas where water covers the soil, or is at or near the surface at all times.  Examples are saltwater, freshwater, or brackish (mixture of fresh and saltwater) marshes, swamps, or bogs.

Preparation

1. Read through the teacher background information and photos provided.
2. Print out/make copies of the blank “Day in the Life” journal pages
3. Print out/make copies of the San Francisco native animal information cards.  Make sure there are enough for each student, pair, or small group, depending on how you want to split up the class.

Introduction

1. Ask students what they know about the land in and around San Francisco before European exploration.
2. Share some of the background information about San Francisco’s natural history with the class.
3. Share the photographs provided by showing students the print out or making a transparency.
4. Discuss how many things have changed in San Francisco’s ecosystem since the 1700’s.

Procedure

1. Pass out the individual animal information cards to each student (or pairs/small groups).
2. Give the students time to read through the facts about their animal.  Answer any questions that come up about the cards or animals.
3. Distribute the blank “Day in the Life” Journal pages and explain that for this activity they will be imagining that they are the animal depicted on their card.
4. Explain that by using the information provided and their own creativity, they will make journal entries from the point of view of their animal following the prompts on the page and filling in the blanks.
5. Encourage them to think about the specific adaptations each animal has and try to mention them in their writing.
6. If they have extra time, they can draw pictures to coincide with their writing on the back of the page.        

Wrap Up

Depending on time constraints, consider going through each part of the journal page and having a few students read what they wrote.  Be sure they tell their classmates which animal they are representing.

• Consider having a discussion about how each of these animals was specially adapted to living successfully in the San Francisco area over 300 years ago.  Which animals do they know remain here?  Why were they able to stay amid the building of the city? 

• California Department of Fish and Game. (n.d.). Life History Accounts and Range Maps- California Wildlife Habitat Relationships System. Retrieved July 15, 2009, from CA.gov Department of Fish and Game: http://www.dfg.ca.gov/biogeodata/cwhr/cawildlife.aspx
• Gilliam, H. (1967). The Natural World of San Francisco. Garden City, NY: Doubleday.
• Holloran, P. (n.d.). The Pre-European Landscape. Retrieved July 15, 2009, from Shaping San Francisco: Ecology: http://www.shapingsf.org/ezine/ecology/sandframe.html
• Marin County Open Space District. (n.d.). Nature. Retrieved July 15, 2009, from Marin County Open Space District: http://www.co.marin.ca.us/depts/PK/Main/mcosd/os_nature.asp
• National Park Service. (n.d.). Animals. Retrieved July 15, 2009, from Presidio of San Francisco: http://www.nps.gov/prsf/naturescience/animals.htm
• Williams, J. &. (1970). The Natural History of the San Francisco Bay Area. Berkeley: McCutchan.

Grade Four

English-Language Arts

• 1.1 Select a focus, an organizational structure, and a point of view based upon purpose, audience, length, and format requirements.
• 1.7 Use various reference materials (e.g., dictionary, thesaurus, card catalog, encyclopedia, online information) as an aid to writing.
• 2.1 Write narratives: a. Relate ideas, observations, or recollections of an event or experience. b. Provide a context to enable the reader to imagine the world of the event or experience. c. Use concrete sensory details. d. Provide insight into why the selected event or experience is memorable.

Life Sciences

• 3a. Students know ecosystems can be characterized by their living and nonliving components.
• 3b. Students know that in any particular environment, some kinds of plants and animals survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all.
• 3c. Students know many plants depend on animals for pollination and seed dispersal, and animals depend on plants for food and shelter.

History and Social Science

• 4.1 Students demonstrate an understanding of the physical and human geographic features that define places and regions in California.

What we now call San Francisco was a very different place before the arrival of European explorers and settlers.  Even just 250 years ago, only the Native American Ohlone people lived in the land around San Francisco Bay.  In its natural state, San Francisco is a chaparral environment.  Taken from the Spanish “chaparro”, or scrub oak tree, chaparral describes areas of low, shrubby growth near marine coasts.  The soil is typically shallow and rocky without much leaf litter.  When the first explorers came to the area, they encountered extensive coastal sand dunes and very few tall trees.  In 1776, Father Pedro Font noted that “firewood was abundant”, but there was a “lack of timber”.  Some of the dunes in the present-day Sunset district stood up to 75 feet high!  Sand blew eastward from a seemingly endless supply deposited on Ocean Beach.  There were also numerous rocky hills or outcroppings rising out of the sand and vast wetlands (marshes and swamps) to the north and east on the edges of the Bay.

The San Francisco area experiences a Mediterranean climate, which includes short, cool, and wet winters.  The summers are dry with higher temperatures which lead to excessive evaporation from the soil and vegetation.  As a result, most plants in the biome have thick, dry leaves and small flowers.  Their stems tend to be woody and gnarled, and they are highly prone to wildfires.  The most common native plants include scrub oak, coast live oak, hoary Manzanita, buck-brush, toyon, poison oak, and coyote bush.  Native animals in the region also have special adaptations to survive under the conditions found in this biome.  For instance, many small mammals like moles and gophers have specialized feet that allow them to burrow or dig through sand and loose soil.  Other animals, like water birds, have developed long legs and long bills that help them find food under the water or in the mud.

Before San Francisco became the urban area it is today, many different wild animals thrived here.  They included the grizzly bear, mule deer, tule elk, coyote, gray fox, broad-footed mole, valley pocket gopher, long-tailed weasel, striped skunk, bobcat, western fence lizard, pacific gopher snake, California quail, western toad, great blue heron, brush rabbit, western gull, California king snake, California garter snake, Steller sea lion, and sea otter.  Many of these species currently remain in the region, however some (like the grizzly bear and tule elk) have moved away to less populated areas.  Moreover, with the arrival of thousands of people during the Gold Rush and beyond, new animals have been introduced or drawn into the region.