Keep the Learning Going

5 Awe-Inspiring Resources About Wolves

April 16, 2018

The May 2018 issue of Scope features a gripping nonfiction article that will draw your students into the fascinating world of wolves in America. We hope your students will be captivated as they explore how these fearsome and important creatures are making a comeback in the wild and the threats they continue to face.

 

Five resources about wolves to keep your students’ learning going:

AP Photos/Seth Wenig

IDEA 1

To Explore: Learn more about wolves on the Wolf Conservation Center website. Be sure to check out our favorite feature: the live webcams in and around the den sites of “ambassador” wolves Atka, Alawa, Zephyr, and Nikai.

To Do: Have students visit the “Take Action” page and consider supporting wildlife and wild places by joining the center’s letter-writing campaigns. Then brainstorm other ways the class could raise its voice to help wolves.

 

Getty Images

IDEA 2

To Watch: View the TED Talk “For more wonder, rewild the world” about “rewilding”—that is, restoring the lost natural food chains that once surrounded us, as Yellowstone National Park is doing with wolves. Alternatively, watch “Rewilding Made Simple,” an animated guide.

To Discuss: Have students discuss what “rewilding” is. How did Monbiot’s talk add to their understanding of keystone species from the Scope article “Saving America’s Wolves”?

 

Getty Images

IDEA 3

To Watch: View the video “Photographing the wild wolves of Yellowstone,” to see photographer Ronan Donovan’s powerful work and listen to him describe the challenges and joys of documenting Yellowstone’s elusive and iconic wolves.

To Discuss: Donovan quotes the author Rudyard Kipling, saying, “For the strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack.” Ask students to consider what Kipling means. How is this idea supported in “Saving America’s Wolves”?

 

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IDEA 4

To Read: Journey: The Amazing Story of OR-7, the Oregon Wolf that Made History by Beckie Elgin and the novel Wolf Journal by Brian A. Connolly

To Discuss: Hold a class discussion about how these texts changed students’ understanding of wolves and how these texts help us understand humans’ relationship with the natural world.

 

Granger

IDEA 5

To Read, Watch, or Listen: Explore these folkloric appearances of the “big bad wolf”:

Greek Aesop’s Fable: “The Boy Who Cried Wolf”

English Fairy Tale: “The Three Little Pigs”

Russian Symphonic Fairytale: “Peter and the Wolf”

To Do: Have students consider how wolves are portrayed in these stories. Students can write an essay comparing how wolves are portrayed in folklore with how they are portrayed in “Saving America’s Wolves” and in some of the resources above. Alternatively, students can choose to write their own folktale portraying wolves in a different light.