Lessons & Units :: The Quest for the Tree Kangaroo 5th Grade Unit

Paired Text Questions: The Quest for the Tree Kangaroo & "The Koala Search"

Lesson Plan

The Quest for the Tree Kangaroo: An Expedition to the Cloud Forest of New Guinea | 830L

The Quest for the Tree Kangaroo: An Expedition to the Cloud Forest of New Guinea
Learning Goal
Integrate information from the passage “The Koala Search” and the book Quest for the Tree Kangaroo to write or speak about the similarities between koalas and tree kangaroos, as well as between the scientists working to save the animals.
Duration
Approximately 20 minutes
Necessary Materials
Provided:
  1. Questions
  2. Non-fiction reading passage “The Koala Search”

Not Provided:
The Quest for the Tree Kangaroo: An Expedition to the Cloud Forest of New Guinea
 
  • Questions 1 and 2 refer to the non-fiction passage “The Koala Search.” Questions 3 and 4 refer to the book The Quest for the Tree Kangaroo. Questions 5, 6, and 7 refer to both the passage and the book.
  • Student versions of the questions are in the 'Text & Materials' tab.
 
Part 1: "The Koala Search"
 
Show your students the location of Australia, using either the map with the text or a larger map.
 
Read the passage “The Koala Search” out loud to your students. Alternatively, students can read the passage independently or as a group.
 
Question 1: According to ‘The Koala Search,’ what problems are koalas facing in Australia?
 
Sample student answer: Koalas in Australia are endangered. They used to inhabit the entire eastern coastline of Australia, but now they only live in a few places along the coast. The population of koalas has decreased because farmers have cut down the forests where they lived and hunters have killed them for their fur.
 
Question 2: What are Bill Ellis and his team of scientists trying to do to solve this problem?
 
Sample student answer: Bill Ellis and his team of scientists are studying koalas and their habitat on an island near the coast of Australia. They are trying to learn about the blue gum trees that the koalas live in and eat. Bill Ellis is trying to learn how to protect the blue gum trees so that the koalas will have a home and food.
 

Part 2: Quest for the Tree Kangaroo

 
Question 3: In Quest for the Tree Kangaroo, what problems are the tree kangaroos facing in Papua New Guinea?
 
Sample student answer: The tree kangaroos in Papua New Guinea are endangered. They were hunted and killed to feed the local people.
 
Question 4: In Quest for the Tree Kangaroo, what was the goal of Lisa Dabek’s trip with her research team to Papua New Guinea?
 
Sample student answer: Lisa Dabek was trying to learn as much as possible about the tree kangaroo so that she could try to make sure that it survives as a species.
 

Part 3: “The Koala Search” and Quest for the Tree Kangaroo

 
Question 5: What is similar about Bill Ellis from “The Koala Search” and Lisa Dabek from Quest for the Tree Kangaroo?
 
Sample student answer:
  • Bill Ellis and Lisa Dabek are both scientists who are trying to help endangered animals by doing research in the wild where the endangered animals live.
  • They both travel to where the animals live to learn about them.
  • Both of them care a great deal about animals and want to protect them.
 
Question 6: Using specific details from both texts, name at least three things that koalas and tree kangaroos have in common.
 
Sample student answer (may vary as long as there are at least three similarities):
  • Both koalas and tree kangaroos carry their babies in pouches.
  • They both live in trees.
  • They each live in only one place in the world (koalas on the east coast of Australia and tree kangaroos in the cloud forest of Papua New Guinea).
  • The population of both species has decreased because many koalas and many tree kangaroos have been killed by hunters.
  • Both koalas and tree kangaroos are endangered species that researchers are trying to save.
 
Question 7: Assume Bill Ellis retires today. Explain whether it would be easy for Lisa Dabek to replace Bill as the leader of his research project.
 
Sample student answer (may vary and should include):
  • Yes, it would be easy for Lisa Dabek to replace Bill as the leader of his research project because she, too, has experience conducting research to learn more about a threatened animal in order to help protect it.
  • Yes, it would be easy for Lisa Dabek to replace Bill as the leader of his research project because she, too, has experience working in that region of the world under similar conditions.
  • No, it would not be easy for Lisa Dabek to replace Bill as the leader of his research project because she does not have the same level of expertise as Bill does about koalas and the environmental factors that affect their survival.

Texts & Materials

Standards Alignment

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User Comments

You can make a nice Venn Diagram by comparing and contrasting the koala and the tree kangaroo stories.

Submitted by naftalowitz_1995147 on 12/12/16

Hi, I have used the paired lesson The Frog Scientist and Frogs at Risk and I am looking forward to using this similar lesson. The Frog Scientist is a great lesson! I hope you will add to your paired lessons.

Submitted by Jill on 11/25/13