For Teachers

Foundation KS 1 KS2 KS3 Edu-info Sheets Edu-links Interactives SoS In Schools

Our aim is to bring learning to life by providing everyone with fun ways of thinking about squirrels. The materials have been developed with school children in mind, but anyone can use them. A range of ideas have been linked so that activities are available for all ages. They are sorted by key stage, but are interchangeable according to ability and support.

We will be updating the resources regularly, so if you know anyone who might be able to use them, send them a link and let's get more people thinking Squirrel!

Foundation Stage and Key Stages 1 and 2

The difference between this and previous educational materials is it's accessibility. Many files follow the traditional worksheet format, but they have all been developed in landscape to suit a computer screen or interactive white board; we also have activities designed specifically for electronic use.

Key Stage 3 Downloads

Where these education materials have been designed to link with part of the natural curriculum then the Schemes of Work Unit number is shown.

Some of the activities follow a worksheet format for use in the classroom (CL), others will enable you to undertake practical field work (FW) and others are more interactive games to help young people think (IG).

Coming Soon - Interactive Recources

All ages depending on ability and support.

Nutitude Quiz - Run as full screen in Excell - On-sceen up-dates appear as you play.
Help Teasel to Survive - Simulation takes player through key factors affecting the survival of Red Squirrels. Year 3 ICT focus 3D Exploring Simulation.

Resources and ideas for the Foundation Stage:

Story board F/KS1 - Cut sentences to match with pictures.
Picture dominoes F/KS1 - Match key woodland images.
Word search F/KS1 - Become familiar with key words for a 'Squirrel' topic.
Jigsaw 6 pieces - Practice cutting, develop fine motor skills and visual awareness.
Maze F/KS1 - Engages children with woodland hazards delelops fine motor skills.
Woodland Words - mind map as many words as you can as a group and ask children to string alliterative phrases from them.
Make a drey - provide woodland materials such as twigs, leaves, feathers and moss for a supervised group to work with. Or work with pipe cleaners, art straws, paper and fabric. A chair could act as the trunk and branch, to get them started! It won't be easy, bendy conifer branches will help if you can get them!
Natures Table - gather things from nature and discuss: What could a squirrel eat? What could he use for his drey? What might be harmful to a squirrel?
Cone copies - provide cones for children to use in the sand or with dough. Encourage children to model cone shapes from dough or use cones to imprint patterns.
Feels Funny - use a feeling box with cones, leaves, moss, twigs... ask children to describe what they can feel, can class mates guess what it is? Match items to a simple key, this could be on the board to help those guessing with the names of objects.

Resources and ideas for Key Stage 1

Jigsaw 12 pieces - Practice cutting, develop fine motor skills and visual awareness.
Identification Sheet KS1/2 - Key features of Red and Grey Squirrels.
Conservation Information KS1/2 - Background to conservation need and SOS.
Cartoon Strip KS1/1 pictures, speech bubbles and frame to make a cartoon.
Word Search - KS1/2 - Become familiar with key words for a 'Squirrel' topic.
Teasel's Test - KS1 - Use given words to complete sentences.
Key Word/PictureDominoes - KS1/2 - Match facts to images.
Wonders of the Woodland - KS1/2 - Can children think of an something for each star?
Questionnaire - KS1/2 - True or False? Children may need to research answers. (Also available as an interactive resource 'Nutitude Quiz' - see above)
Food Forage - Explain to children that squirrels don't hibernate and that they do cache food. They store food by burying, espesially in autumn. Why? To see them over winter. Pasta works as a good substitute for the nuts seeds and fungi that would actually be hidden. The game can be played in the classroom over playtime in the yard of on a visit to a woodland. To play give each child five pieces of pasta, and ask thm to hide each in a different place. Distract the children with another activity, or play time! After a while, call the group back and explain that Squirrels often have trouble finding their cached food, discuss why and send the children off to try and find their hidden pasta. Discuss what might happen to the seeds that are buried, but not found....will they grow into new trees?
Woodland Words - mind map words as a stimulus for alliteration or poetry.
Make a drey - Provide a selection of materials that may or may not be found in the woodland. Ask children to decide which materials a squirrel might use in a drey, and why. Give children the chance to make their own drey, provide woodland materials such as twigs, leaves, feathers and moss. A chair could act as the trunk and branch, to get them started! It won't be easy, bendy conifer branches will help if you can get them!
Natures Table - Discuss with the children where objects might grow or be found, are they from a woodland, are they alive or dead, was that always the case?
Cone Copies - encourage children to look closely and draw carefully what they see.
Feels Funny - Using a feely box and a simple key available to the whole group, ask children to feel for, a cone, a leaf, a twig, and then to identify which leaf or twig it is.

Resources and ideas for Key Stage 2

Adaptations - KS2 - Use a table to show understanding of given adaptations.
Identify Adaptations - KS2 - Use table to demonstrate knowledge of adaptations.
Food Web - KS2 - Develop links from a woodland food chain.
Teasel's Test - KS2 - Use given words to complete the sentences.
Word Search - KS2 - Become familiar with key words for a 'Squirrel' topic.
Word Sort - KS2 - Use a frame to make a wordsearch using given key words.
Read All About it! - KS2 - Use the article to stimulate ideas for 'reporting' work.
Food Chain Game - KS1/2 - This game shows players how Red Squirrels depend on food (KS1). It can easily be extended to incorporate the issues of competition that Reds face when sharing a habitat with Grey Squirrels or predators (KS2). Establish a woodland area, (in the school hall, playground or woodland) and spread out the tokens. Each child needs to establish a drey, (an area they know to return to). Children collect tokens and bring them, one at a time, to their drey. When all the tokens are collected, identify the children with the most, they are Grey Squirrels. The children with fewer tokens are Red Squirrels. Although there was no fighting, the Reds didn't eat as quickly as the Greys, so they need to move to another woodland, where there are no Greys and they can eat well. To extend the learning follow with a new game as follows: About 1/3 of your children start the game as Red Squirrels and live in the woodland collecting food as before. After a minute, stop the game and introduce the Grey Squirrels who were passing the woodland. The Greys have to hop, as they are not as agile as the Reds, but they can pick up two items of food at a time. Discuss what might happen in the woodland. Run the game for another minute to test predictions. Extend further by introducing Squirrel Pox (carried by Greys and lethal to Reds), or introducing Predators! At each stage, discuss what might happen to the different populations. The Reds could have a red tag, Greys a grey tag and predators a brown tag. Then Greys can take the tag of a Red to show he has Squirrel Pox or predators could take the tag of either species as they catch them. Remember the Greys are slower! Who will survive?
Woodland Words - Ask children to mind map words for poems or rhyme.
Make a drey - Ask children to consider or research what a drey might be made from, and why. Then either, ask children to draw and label a drey, showing what they have found out, or - Collect or provide materials to make a drey, as above (FS or KS1). Extend learing by asking children how they can support their drey! Will they come up with a better solution that a chair?
Nature Table - discuss where items have come from and use a selction of leaves or branches to develop understanding of coniferous and deciduous trees and woodlands. Look at seeds and nuts (check for allergies), note that only the tiny seed within a pine cone is eaten, not the whole scale. Relate the differences in size to the differences between Red and Grey Squirrels.
Cone Copies - ask children to identify the goemetric pattern that holds each scale in place on the cone's core, and try to replicate this in observational drawings.
Feels Funny - Using a feely box and a simple key, ask children to match cones, seeds or nuts from the feely box to branches and leaves in class. Particular care will be needed when feeling similar cones or nuts. Perhaps teams and points will keep your children focused?

Resources and ideas for Key Stage 3

Geography Science 7c 8d

Geography

Discover Where the Squirrels Are through the use of maps and questionnaires. Students have a chance to collect data and analyse it. This can be linked to Citizenship (Unit 05 or 21) if questions about people's attitudes to conservation of red squirrels and the control of grey squirrels are added (see advanced).

Squirrel Questionnaire - Basic

Squirrel Questionnaire - Advanced

Science:

Unit 7c: Feeding and Relationships

1. Environmental Influences on Plants and Animals: Pictures and questions designed to help students think about the inter-relationships in broadleaf and conifer woodlands.

Cl Pictures and questions - illustrations of broadleaf forest in spring and winter and a conifer forest with animals asking questions about inter-relationships in the forest.

Cl Advanced - find the answers through reading information

Cl Basic. - match the answers to the questions

FW Can Red Squirrels Live Here? Students study a local woodland to see how suitable it is for red squirrels. The Red Squirrel ID Sheet should be used in conjunction with this activity.

2. How do Environments Vary? A series of activities that will help students see how red squirrels are suited to their habitat.

Cl Daily Changes

Cl The Squirrel's Year

3. Feeding Relationships

Cl Adapting to Life Worksheet to help students think about how red squirrels and their predators are adapted to the way they live and what they eat!

IG Who am I & Web of Life Discover what part of the ecosystem you are and then find your place in web of life.

Who am I picture cards

Unit 8d Ecological Relationships

FW Can Red Squirrels Live Here? Collect data about how good an area is for red squirrels. Use the Red Squirrel ID Sheet to help.

Cl Squirrel Wood Survey Use secondary data to work out the density of red squirrels in a woodland.

How do plants, animals and environmental conditions interact in a habitat?

FW Cone Quadrats Use simple quadrats in a conifer forest and look for cones that have been eaten by squirrels (using the Cone ID Sheet). Then use the data to work out the density of red squirrels in that forest. The Cone Survey Information Sheet provides all the necessary information.

FW Visual Transects Use a simple line transect in any type of woodland to look for squirrels and signs of squirrels. The Red Squirrel ID Sheet and the Visual Survey Information Sheet provide all the necessary information.

How do Living Things Depend on Each Other?

IG Who am I? and Web of Life provide a great way to review how living things depend on each other and physical environmental factors for survival. You can use our Picture Cards as well.

Edu-Info Sheets

The Edu-Info Sheets provide background information about red squirrels and have been written at a level suitable for KS3 students to read.

Red Squirrel Ecology

Red Squirrel Food

Red Squirrel Behaviour

Reds vs Greys

Edu-Links

The following are red squirrel and other wildlife education websites that students can look at. SoS takes no responsibility for the content of these websites.

Red Squirrel Websites

www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/Redsquirrel - red squirrels and the Forestry Commission. Use links on this page to find out more about research and research methods into red squirrels.
www.red-squirrels.org.uk/ - website about red squirrels in South Scotland
http://www.redsquirrels.info/ - website about red squirrels in Anglesey
http://www.highlandredsquirrel.co.uk/ - In addition to the story of the red squirrel in the Highlands, this site also has a 'Squirrel-Cam' so you can see when the squirrels prefer to feed.
http://www.arkive.org/species/ARK/mammals/Sciurus_vulgaris/ - look here for excellent photographs and film of red squirrels.
www.abdn.ac.uk/mammal/red_squirrel.shtml - the Mammal Society pages about red squirrels.
www.snh.org.uk/ukredsquirrelgroup/ - find out what is happening UK wide to help red squirrels through this Partnership Organisation.
http://www.squirrelweb.co.uk/ - this is a website run by leading scientists and researchers in the squirrel world.
www.e-ayrshire.co.uk/local/redsquirrel - website about activties run by Ayrshire Red Squirrel Group.
http://www.dundeeredsquirrels.co.uk/ - website about red squirrels in Dundee.
http://www.wightsquirrels.co.uk/ - Find out about England's most southerly red squirrels on the Isle of Wight.
www.scottishsquirrelsurvey.co.uk/ - a Scotland-wide survey of red and grey squirrels.
http://www.europeansquirrelinitiative.org/ - a Europe-wide organisation dedicated to protecting red squirrels. Their main aim is the eradication of grey squirrels in Europe.
www.ehsni.gov.uk/uk_stgy_red_squirrel_conservati.pdf - find out what is happening in Northern Ireland to save red squirrels.

Red/Grey Issue Websites - please note, SoS do not necessarily agree with all the views put out in these websites.

http://www.forestry.gov.uk/greysquirrel
http://www.grey-squirrel.org.uk/ - the views of the grey squirrel are put forward in this website.
www.forestresearch.gov.uk/greysquirrels - information about research into grey squirrels
www.essexwt.org.uk/leaflets/squirrels.htm - looking at attitudes towards grey squirrels in the south of England.

Predators

http://www.toothandclaw.org.uk/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/wildfacts/factfiles/197.shtml
http://www.treesforlife.org.uk/forest/ecological/predation.html
http://www.aigas.co.uk/Pine-Marten-Ecology-g.asp

SoS in Schools

The People and Wildlife Officers are also available to run educational activities for schools within our area of operations. These include both in-school and forest based activities. Contact your nearest People and Wildlife Officer for further information.