Teacher Tips for Meet the New Eastern Flock
Print-and-Fold Instructions
Web "Slide Show" Version of Booklet

BEFORE READING
Make Connections: Ask students if any pets they know remind them of people they know. What traits do the person and the pet have in common? Explain that people who are around animals a lot, like the Operation Migration pilots and crane handlers, often think the animals are like people they know. We'll see what they mean in the booklet: Meet the New Eastern Flock.
 
DURING READING

Critical Thinking: Discuss:
How do you know the experts are concerned about #412's insect bite?
•Why does the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership (WCEP, pronounced WEE-sep) put colored leg bands on every bird in the Eastern flock?
•How can you find the answer to "Guess Who?" on page 5? (Look at the banding codes charts. Start with hatch year 2001. See notes at the top of the page, telling which leg the individual codes are on. See if the clues match any information on booklet p. 5. If not, go to banding codes for the 2002 birds, etc.
On page 6, why is the costumed person holding the puppet high over the adult cranes' heads?
(to assert dominance and keep the "parental authority")
Why don't the pilots and handlers want the older ultracranes hanging around the training sites?
(They don't want the older cranes challenging them for authority, distracting the chicks' focus on training, or leading the chicks astray.)
On page 7, enourage students to get clues from the questions to help them in their search on the bio pages. Answers: #710, pair 211 and 217, #312 got an aluminum pop-top lid stuck on her bill and couldn't open her mouth, #733, 21 chicks in 2009

 
AFTER READING: EXTEND LEARNING

Consider Author's Purpose: Why did the author write "Use Your Cranium?"
Use Technology for Research: Revisit questions throughout the booklet and guide kids in navigating the Journey North Web site to answer the questions. For example, from the JN home page, click on the picture of Whooping Cranes and you'll go to the crane home page, a good one to bookmark. Choose "Explore" and under Fall Lessons choose "Meet the Cranes of the New Eastern Flock" to navigate to charts referenced in the booklet. These pages are the route to answers for the booklet's questions — and a lot more fun stuff! (A particularly fascinating crane is #309! Click and scroll down for the most recent information on any bio page.)
Learn from the Experts/Read an Interview: To answer the question on page 6, your students may benefit from this lesson:

Dominant or Submissive? Leader or Follower? (See Journaling Questions/Activities at the end of this lesson.)
NOTE: For younger children, start with Who's in Charge? (see Journey North for Kids )


Journey North is pleased to feature this educational adventure made possible by the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership (WCEP).