Curriculum / Lesson Plans

The primary focus of this lesson is to introduce the idea of how difficult it can be to create eco-friendly solutions for current problems without often times developing more problems in areas not originally thought of. Uses engagement of 2023 Colorado Department of Transportation eco-friendly road tar that attracted ungulates to eat it.

 Eating Road Tar PDF Download

Could be used by teacher to read facts about sheep or used on a document camera to show class the question and then solicit answers by class before revealing answers on next page. A 3:30-minute video titled “conservation success story” gives a synopsis of the decline of wild sheep and how efforts have brought them back from near extinction.

 Watch Conservation Success Video on YouTube

 Flip Signs Sheep Basics PDF Download

Shows how populations of wild sheep have declined after gold discovered in California in 1848 and masses of humans moving into area. Shows lowest numbers of wild sheep in the 1960s (and forming of Foundation of North American Wild Sheep, currently called Wild Sheep Foundation) and how the populations are increasing because of efforts in conservation and translocation. Could fit well with lesson How Many Bighorns Can Live in this Forest?

 Historic Distribution PDF Download

Students will be able to describe the food needs of bighorn sheep and identify a limiting factor and define carrying capacity by becoming a “bighorn” and looking for food in this active simulation.

 Bighorn Food Lesson PDF Download

 How Many Bighorns Can Live in this Forest PowerPoint

Students will design and draw a zoo structure that is appropriate for the survival of Dall's sheep in a hot climate that is unlike their natural environment and identify problems for Dall's sheep that must be addressed in the zoo structure to mimic its natural environment.

 Dall’s Sheep in Las Vegas PDF Download

Students will be able to generalize that wild sheep can get respiratory infections from domestic sheep through playing a tag style game.

 Disease Transmission Tag Game PDF Download

Students analyze information about a complicated bighorn sheep population die off, and apply the analysis to understanding all the factors that can lead to a bighorn sheep herd’s population decline.

 Murder Ewe Wrote PDF Download

Students write a historical fiction account, using historical facts to make it realistic, of a week spent as a Sheep Eater Shoshone (social studies focus). There are also two movies—one film is 1:30 minutes long and the other is 28 minutes long.

 Sheep Eater Lesson Plan PDF Download

 Sheep Eaters by W.A. Allen PDF Download

 Sheep Eaters Idaho PDF Download

 Watch Sheep Eater Shoshone video on YouTube (Runtime - 1:33)

 Watch Sheep Eaters Keepers of the Past video on YouTube (Runtime - 28:00)

Students play a board game and describe events that both help and inhibit a bighorn sheep during the year.

 Ovisopoly Gameboard PDF Download

 Ovisopoly Printable Card PDF Download

 Ovisopoly Rules PDF Download

Through a town hall meeting, students express the pleasures and problems of living in bighorn sheep territory from different points of view. Focus is on listening and speaking skills, as well as understanding how complex wildlife management is.

 Do We Want Bighorns Here? PDF Download

 Download Town Hall Meeting PowerPoint

This lesson discusses a few of the adaptations of wild sheep that help them survive.

 Download Skeletal System and Adaptations PowerPoint

 Watch Wild Sheep Adaptations Video on YouTube (Runtime 2:39)

This lesson, created by Dr. Clinton Epps and hosted on American Museum of Natural History, focuses on bighorn between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, along Interstate 15, and how barriers such as roads can lead to isolated herds and cause genetic issues. Key Topics: Habitat, Populations, Inbreeding, DNA, Measuring and Map Analysis, and Genetic Diversity.

 Visit Highways Block Bighorns article from the American Museum of Natural History

Learn about human-made water catchment systems and how they help bighorns and other wildlife in arid parts of the United States.

 Guzzlers PDF Download

 Watch Wildlife Water Guzzlers with Randy Newberg Video on YouTube (Runtime 1:53)

 Watch Wild Sheep Conservation – Making Water Available Video on YouTube(Runtime 7:08)

 Watch Wild Sheep Foundation: The Lava Guzzler Project Video on YouTube (Runtime 3:28)

Students learn about essential components of a habitat (space, shelter, food, water) and how these create limiting factors that create yearly fluctuations within a population of bighorn, through a highly involving physical activity. Students can then see actual data of these fluctuations of a herd in Nevada and includes a short PowerPoint of population data and fluctuations of the Last Chance Herd in Nevada.

 Bighorn: Components of Habitat PDF Download

 Download Last Chance Herd PowerPoint

Students identify the four subspecies of wild sheep in North America, as well as the habitat of each. Posters, or informational books/tri fold pamphlets are created, identifying each sheep and its habitat, including adaptations for each habitat (primary and intermediate grade texts).

 What Is So Different? PDF Download

 Primary Book PDF Download

Students use the format of a poem to express what they have learned about wild sheep. From free verse, to rhyming, Diamante, Cinquain, and Haiku; a variety of formats could be taught to allow students opportunities of different expressions.

 Poetry of the Bighorn PDF Download

Students will learn about different micro-organisms that can impact bighorn sheep, including pneumonia by using a stuffed animal and a PowerPoint.

 Organisms in a Stuffed Animal PDF Download

 Download Organisms in a Stuffed Animal PowerPoint

Students work individually, in small research teams, and as a class to answer real-world questions using scientific data collected on wild bighorn sheep in Nevada. After watching the introductory video, students are grouped into six research teams and each team is assigned data from, and a case study about one Nevada bighorn sheep herd. Individually, students use real-world data to calculate missing information from a table with annual population estimates, and then they graph the data. Working collaboratively as a team, students interpret the graphs and analyze the results, answer questions from their Student Pages, create a presentation about their case study, and present findings to their peers. Includes an introductory video lesson and a Post Results PowerPoint.

 Lesson Plan PDF Download

 Watch Nevada Bighorn Sheep: On the Edge? Video on YouTube (Runtime 19:47)

 Group 1 – Student Pages PDF Download

 Group 2 – Student Pages PDF Download

 Group 3 – Student Pages PDF Download

 Group 4 – Student Pages PDF Download

 Group 5 – Student Pages PDF Download

 Group 6 – Student Pages PDF Download

 Download Results and Discussion PowerPoint

 Answer Key PDF Download

Designed for middle school, but effectively used in grades above and below, this multi-day lesson allows students to become specialists with one particular sheep herd in Montana. Using real data, student scientists graph data and then make analysis of what is impacting herd. Presentations are then given to class on each herd. Then, students see what actual scientists concluded. Includes introductory and post results PowerPoints.

 Teacher Guide and Student Pages PDF Download

 Download Introductory Slide Show PowerPoint

 Download Part II - Results PowerPoint

Students analyze the very complex issue of unmanaged feral (wild) horses on public lands and how this impacts the land and other wild animals like bighorn sheep who live there. Students create solutions and back them up with evidence.

 Watch Horse Rich and Dirt Poor Video on YouTube (Runtime: 15:55)

 Solving the Challenges: Horses of the West and Bighorn Sheep PDF Download

Students will write a basic narrative in the form of a play about a bighorn sheep. Next, each student makes a finger puppet using the template and then acts out the play within small groups.

 Finger Puppets PDF Download

Students use pinto beans and the Mark and Recapture Method for estimating the size of a population to estimate how many Bighorns (pinto beans) are on a mountain range (in a paper bag).

 Population Estimates Lesson Plan PDF Download

 Watch Counting Deer Populations Video on YouTube (Runtime 3:33)

 Watch Collaring and Releasing Sheep in the Badlands Video on YouTube (Runtime 5:32)

Students analyze an endangered species conflict: a legally protected but common predator, the mountain lion, is preying on and driving towards extinction an endangered herbivore, the Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep. Students examine the two perspectives, debate, and finally vote as a mock California State Senate on whether to allow culling of lions that kill bighorns.

 Sheep vs. Mountain Lions Lesson Plan PDF Download

 Watch Sierra Nevada Bighorn History Video on YouTube (Runtime 8:58)

 Watch Catalina Mountains Mountain Lion News Cast Video on YouTube (Runtime 0:30)

 Watch Catalina Mountain Herd and Controversial Issues with Mountain Lions Video on YouTube (Begin at 13:54)

This art project involves using templates to create a bighorn sheep out of construction paper, ideal for bulletin boards or other projects while learning about bighorn sheep.

 Create a Bighorn PDF Download