1. Lauren Banks STANDARD 5.4.7: Explain that living things, such as plants and animals, differ in their characteristics, and that sometimes these differences can give member of these groups (plants and animals) an advantage in surviving and reproducing. MONDAY Activity: The whole class will discuss the word “adaptation” and what it means. The class will then be divided into 8 different groups. The students will use the website, http://www.mbgnet.net/bioplants/adapt.html, to do research. Each group will research one of the different biomes on the website to learn about some of the different adaptations that plants must have to survive in its habitat. They must create a short Power Point to present to their classmates. Their Power Point must include the name of the biome, some of the plant adaptations of that environment, pictures of the biome and plants that live there and whether or not it can live in any of the other 7 on the website. Each group will present their findings to the class. Objective: After instruction students will be able to describe what an adaptation is and how they help plants survive in different biomes. Science Process Skill: Observation – students are researching their biome and the plant adaptations, Communicating – students must communicate to their classmates by presenting their biome. Gardner Multiple Intelligence: Linguistic – students will read information about their biome and do a presentation on it, Spatial – students will look at many pictures of their biome. Indicator Integration: 5.4.4 – Explain that in any particular environment, some kinds of plants and animals survive well, some do not survive as well, and some cannot survive at all. Subject Integration: Language Arts – they have to present their findings to the class. Technology: Investigate using the internet. TUESDAY Activity: Animal Adaptations –The students will then investigate how adaptations for feeding help predators catch their prey. The class will be divided into three different groups. Each student will get a cup and a piece of silverware (either a fork, knife or spoon.) Tell the students they represent the animal, the beans represent the food, and each type of silverware represents a different adaptation for feeding. The beans will be thrown in a spot on the grass outside the school. The students will be allowed 2 minutes to pick up one bean at a time using only their “feeding appendage”. They should place each bean they pick up into their cups. Students will then gather with their group members and average the number of beans their group picked up. Discuss with the class the activity, the number of beans each group collected, which utensil was better, which animals (if this was real) they would see a year from now, etc. Students will then be given time to reflect in their science journals about the activity they took part in. They must describe adaptations and how these can affect plants and animals. Objective: After instruction, students will be able to explain that living things, such as plants and animals, have different adaptations, and that these differences can give members of the different groups an advantage in surviving and reproducing. Science Process Skill: Communicating – Talking with group members, Measuring – Averaging the number of beans each group collected. Gardner Multiple Intelligence: Naturalistic – Going outside and collecting beans from the grass, Bodily/Kinesthetic – Taking part in an activity that involves movement, Interpersonal – Working in groups, and Intrapersonal – Journal writing. Subject Integration: Language Arts – Journal writing and Mathematics – Averaging the number of beans their group collected. Assessment: Read each student’s journal entry to see if they understood the concepts presented in the lesson. WEDNESDAY Activity: Habitat Exploration – We will start off the activity by singing and marching to the “Habitat Song”. It talks about different animals in different types of habitats. The teacher will show the students pictures of different habitats and the animals that live in those habitats (arctic, jungle, desert, and ocean). The discussion will then turn to taking an animal and putting it into another habitat. Ask the students questions such as, what would happen to the animal?, could it survive in another habitat?, etc. We will then go a computer lab so the students can research their choice of habitat and an animal that lives there (Technology). Have a large world map for students to look at. Students will each choose a continent they would like to look into. The students must then choose an animal from that continent and list specific features and behaviors that are adaptations to its specific environment. Students can find out some information about the animals by going to Clubhouse Clues and picking the animal from a list (they can get to Clubhouse Clues by clicking on the picture of
Allison
in the lower, right corner of the map). Students also can learn more about the animal by watching a video clip about it. Students must clearly organize their information about their animal and its habitat. Students must also explain in their research what would happen if you took this animal and put it into a completely different habitat. Objective: After instruction, students will be able to tell you specific features of an animal of their choice for survival in its habitat. Science Process Skill: Observation – because students are giving a detailed description of their animal and habitat. They are describing what they see, watch, hear, etc. while researching their information. Gardner Multiple Intelligence: Musical – singing the Habitat Song, Bodily/Kinesthetic – Marching to the Habitat Song, Linguistic – Reading researched materials about their chosen habitat/anima, and Spatial – While researching the student will see many pictures and video clips of their habitat/animal. Indicator Integration: 5.4.4 – Explain that in any particular environment, some kinds of plants and animals survive well, some do not survive as well, and some cannot survive at all. Subject Integration: Social Studies – Students get to pick a particular continent and then pick a spot on that continent to research its animals and Language Arts – Students will write about their findings. Technology: Research habitat/animal using the internet THURSDAY Activity: How a Blue Crab Changes as it Grows - To prepare the students for the changes that a blue crab goes through during molting, you could discuss how the students themselves have changed as they have grown. Make a list on the board. Focus their attention to the physical changes. Some questions to ask: How do you know when you have grown?, What evidence do you look for that lets you know you have grown?, What kind of changes has your body gone through as you have grown?, Do you think other living things change as they grow?, Why do you think that?, and Name a living thing and explain how it grows. Explain to the students that now they will be learning about how one animal grows and why it is important for scientists to understand how it grows. Go to the BlueCrab Archive website for this part of the lesson. If your students are not familiar with the blue crab or they have only seen these crabs after they have been steamed, you might want to have them observe the photographs in the section: Blue Crab Identification. These photographs are very good at showing male and female crabs and their differences. Hold up a map and show the students where in the world they can find these types of crabs. Next, go to the Molting section of the website. After reading this paragraph, discuss it with the entire class. Now have students go to Busting out of its shell. Have the students observe the photographs before they read the information. They can click on each photograph to see the image enlarged. When they are finished with the enlarged image, have them click
Back
on the browser to return to the normal sized image. Have them take notes. When students have finished taking notes on this section, you might want to have them share their notes with the whole class. This promotes valuing the work of others. Tell students that scientists share and compare notes quite often. Have students classify the Blue Crabs into a particular animal kingdom by noting its characteristics. Objective: After instruction students will be able to understand the changes that animals, specifically a blue crab, go through during its life span. Science Process Skill: Classifying – Students must classify the Blue Crab by looking at its characteristics. Gardner Multiple Intelligence: Linguistic – students will read a lot of information about the Blue Crabs and Spatial – many pictures of crabs will be seen while researching their life cycle. Subject Integration: Social Studies – students must look into where on the map they might find Blue Crabs. Technology: In this lesson students will be exploring the BlueCrab Archives website to gain knowledge. (http://www.bluecrab.info/) FRIDAY 47593259525Activity: Bird Beaks – Read the book Flight of the Golden Plover by Debbie Miller. The teacher will then have the students INFER what the bird’s most helpful adaptation is. Children must make an educated guess based on prior knowledge, data and observation from previous lessons about other animal adaptations. After the students make their educated guess (and hopefully they will say beaks), then the lesson on Bird Beaks will begin. Have students discuss birds with which they are familiar, and then focus the discussion on beaks. What do birds use their beaks for? Are all beaks the same? What beak shapes have students seen? Students will be allowed to explore the website http://mdc.mo.gov/nathis/birds/peekbeak/ to gain more knowledge about the purpose of a bird’s beak. Also the teacher should show students many pictures/examples of different types of beaks. Discuss what features of the beaks and feet might make them suitable for the activities listed. Then tell students that they will try to test out different models of bird beaks to see which are most effective in picking up different types of food sources. In this activity, students pretend to be birds by using the
beaks
(spoons, chopsticks, or tweezers) to eat the
food
(glass marbles, pennies, or toothpicks). Students must select a “beak” from the objects provided by the teacher. They must get one plastic cup (this represents your stomach). Hold your beak in one hand and your stomach in the other. When your teacher tells the students, they may use their beak to pick up “food” (glass marbles) and place them in their stomachs. When the teacher says “Stop,” students must empty their stomachs and count the number of items that were in it. Record this amount on the Bird Beaks Record Sheet. This activity will be repeated for each of the other types of food (pennies and toothpicks). When done, be sure students have completed the record sheet with their totals. Students must provide data to the teacher, who will record the data on a class grid. Using the data that has been recorded on the class grid, students must create a bar graph that shows the class totals for each beak and food type. The three different bird beaks should be on the X axis and the amount of food collected should be on the Y axis. There should be a different color bar for each type of food. The final thing is that students must PREDICT places (or habitats) in which birds with particular beak types could survive. Then they could research actual birds with beaks that resemble those modeled in the activity, and check to see if their predictions were consistent with the research. Objective: After instruction students will be able to describe the relationship between a bird's beak and its ability to find food and survive in a given environment. Science Process Skill: Inferring – students must make an educated guess about what a bird’s most useful adaptation is and Predicting – students must look at the evidence and predict which habitats in which birds with particular beak types could survive Gardner Multiple Intelligence: Bodily/Kinesthetic – students get their own “beak” and pick up “food”, Logical/Mathematical – students must record information and make a graph, Linguistic – students have to read through information about bird beaks, Spatial – students will see many different pictures of bird beaks and they are going to draw a bird for their assessment. Technology: Students get to use the internet as a resource for this activity. Assessment: The students must draw a real or imaginary bird that is adapted by its feet and beak for a particular way of survival. After students have drawn their bird, they should select and describe a habitat in which they think that bird would thrive.