TEACHERS TAKE NOTE

Everybody's Somebody's Lunch

Cherie Mason

Illustrated by Gustav Moore

Hardcover, $16.95, ISBN 978-0-88448-198-0

Paperback, $7.95, ISBN 978-0-88448-200-0

9 x 10, 40 pages, color illustrations

Children / Nature; Grades 3-6

Everybody's Somebody's Lunch Teacher's Guide:
The Role of Predator and Prey in Nature

Cherie Mason and Judy Kellogg Markowsky

Illustrated by Rosemary Giebfried

Paperback, $9.95, ISBN 978-0-88448-199-7

8.5 x 11, 70 pages, illustrations

Education / Nature; Grades 3-6

Science educators will appreciate this unique book for way it tackles the difficult and important subject of predation. Wildlife and nature study programs as well as traditional classroom teachers will be pleased with the resources in the comprehensive teachers guide.

Everybody's Somebody's Lunch crosses traditional curriculum lines. The book tells the story of a girl who discovers that her pet cat has been killed by a wild animal. This is one of life's most difficult lessons, and Cherie Mason meets the challenge by providing a story with just the right balance between emotion and scientific fact.

Everybody's Somebody's Lunch will help inspire classroom conversations about:

• The food chain and role of predators
• Predator behavior
• Endangered and extinct animals
• Death in nature
• Humans as predators

Activity: Great Blue Heron Fish Toss

A fish-eater is a predator. The great blue heron, a well-known bird, catches and eats fish with its long bill, waiting patiently for a fish to come close rather than chasing it. Then it strikes, grabbing the fish in its bill rather than spearing it. Like any predator, the heron misses a large percentage of the time.

You Will Need:

• Large, safe (not sharp) tongs shaped somewhat like a bird's bill. (You need to stress good behavior and safety; children do get excited in this entertaining demonstration. The tongs must not have sharp edges or corners.)
• A simulated fish (rubber fish are often sold in toy stores; look for ones that will sink, not float, in water)
• A pail of water

Ask children if they have seen a great blue heron--a large, visually prominent and well-known bird. Ask a child to demonstrate how the heron catches a fish.

• The fish can start out on the floor. If children can easily pick up the fish from the floor with the tongs, add to the challenge by putting the rubber fish in the pail of water, making it more slippery.
• Then you could add a little mud to the water, making it harder to see the fish, or you could put simulated water plants (paper strips or grass would do) in the pail, making it easier for the fish to hide.
• Another challenge is to ask the children to toss the fish gently up in the air with the tongs and catch it again, as herons occasionally do with a large fish to ensure they swallow it headfirst. Children will enjoy this game a lot, and learn that it's not easy to be a predator.