Beaver Adaptations

In this unit, students investigate the physical and behavioral adaptations unique to beavers through a dress-up activity, a cooperative board game, biomimetic design, and the study of maps. Students will examine different types of sentences, using examples of beaver adaptations to identify and create declarative, interrogative, exclamatory, and imperative sentences. They will blend unit conversions with ecological problem-solving to find the safety of a beaver lodge. They will also consider the broader significance of beavers by examining how their adaptations made them valuable to Indigenous Peoples for food, clothing, tools, and trade, and how demand for beaver pelts shaped the fur trade and the settlement of the Pacific Northwest.