Warm Up: (10 min) Introduce students to condors in flight through images

- Encourage students to guess the size and weight of the birds relative to other items in the images.

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1. Begin by projecting a photo of a condor in flight from the “Condors in Flight” photo library.

• As a class, discuss and share: 

  • what it is, where it lives, what it eats, how it behaves.

• Have students give evidence for their inferences.

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2. Record observations on a poster board for future reference.

• Encourage the class to look at the surroundings as well: the land forms in the background, the presence or absence of foliage, other animals, etc.

3. Recording Data (10 min)

• Create a chart to examine the wingspan of each student.

• Measure each student’s “wingspan,” add in the data, and display the chart in the classroom.

• CREATE (40 minutes) Divide the students into groups and pass out materials and instructions to measure and draw a scale representation of a turkey vulture, California Condor, juvenile condor, and human. Provide rulers, butcher paper (one 10 ft long sheet for entire project), closeup photos, and the measurement fact sheets to each group. Students work in groups to create the life-size artworks.

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4. Designing your life-sized condor model (10 min)

• Students (in groups or as a class) are given materials and instructions to measure and draw a scale representation of a condor.

• Divide the class into 4 groups: Head and Torso, Left Wing, Right Wing, and Feet

  • Hand out rulers, butcher paper(one 10 ft long sheet for entire project), close-up photos and the measurement fact sheets to each of these groups and have them examine the measurements they have been given.

5. Creating the model (20–40 min)

• Students work in groups to draw the difference parts of their condor.

• Have groups use rulers to measure out length and sketch their body part onto the butcher paper. 

• Assemble the 4 groups pieces together

  • Have students label body parts and length in feet, inches, etc.