Animal Habitats and Adaptations

A Standards-Based Integrated Unit of Study (K-5)
By
Shannon Dunn, Teresa Gardiner, and Allyson Reynolds
Mary Todd Elementary School

Organizer    Essential Questions    Primary Academic Expectations/Demonstrators     Secondary Academic  Expectations/Demonstrators     Culminating Performance       Scoring Guide    Student Knowledge/Content Needed    Student Skills/Processes Needed    Lesson Sequence    Critical Resources            

Situation:  All living things are united in a web of life.  Each strand in this web is important.  Each plant and animal has a job to do.  Each living thing helps maintain the balance of nature and ensure the overall quality of life.  Over the next several weeks we will be learning how we affect this web of life.

Organizer:
How do we affect the survival of animals in their environment? 

Essential Questions:

1.      What is the importance of a habitat?

2.      What are the differences/similarities of various habitats?

3.      How do animals adapt to their habitat?

4.      What do we do to promote or destroy animal survival?  

Primary Academic Expectations/Demonstrators:

1.1            Students use reference tools such as dictionaries, almanacs, encyclopedias, and computer reference programs and research tools such as interviews and surveys to find the information they need to meet specific demands, explore interests, or solve specific problems.

·        Use research tools to access and synthesize information.

·        Identify and use print and non-print resources to obtain information.

1.2     Students make sense of the variety of materials they read.

·        Demonstrate an understanding of print materials read in and out of school.

·        Respond to reading through a variety of forms (e.g., conversation, art, media, writing).

1.11    Students write using appropriate forms, conventions, and styles to communicate ideas and information to different audiences for different purposes.

·        Express thoughts/ideas through verbal and/or symbolic representation (e.g., pictures, scribbles, words).

Secondary Academic Expectations/Demonstrators:

2.1   Students understand scientific ways of thinking and working and use those methods to solve real-life problems.

·        Identify variables that cause or influence an outcome.

·        Classify and order objects by one or more identifiable properties.

2.3   Students identify and analyze systems and the ways their components work together or affect each other.

·        Analyze how the properties of the components of a system affect their function within the system.

·        Recognize things that work together.

2.4    Students use the concept of scale and scientific models to explain the organization and functioning of living and nonliving things and predict other characteristics that might be observed.

·        Investigate models that represent objects, events, or systems.

2.6   Students understand how living and nonliving things change over time and the factors that influence the changes.

·        Observe and communicate change over time (evolution).

5.1   Students use critical thinking skills such as analyzing, prioritizing, categorizing, evaluating, and comparing to solve a variety of problems in real-life situations.

·        Examine cause-and-effect relationships.

5.3   Students organize information to develop or change their understanding of a concept.

·        Gather, sort, and re-sort information into categories.

·        Classify objects by characteristics

6.2   Students use what they already know to acquire new knowledge, develop new skills, or interpret new experiences.

·        Connect knowledge with past experiences.

Culminating Performance:

Each student will choose from the following list a method of presentation:

·        Writing Piece – Poem, Brochure, Persuasive or Informative Paper, Class Book

·        Poster

·        Diorama

·        Song/Rap

·        Skit

·        PowerPoint Presentation

·        Web Page

The presentation will include the following:

·        A representation of a habitat     (K-5)

·        A representation of an adaptation   (2-5)

·        An example(s) of how we destroy animal survival   (3-5)

·        An example(s) of how we promote animal survival     (4-5)

·        A bibliography of resources   (1-5)

Scoring Guide:  (Adapt by grade level activity)

Student Knowledge/Content Needed:

·        Nature and function of a habitat

·        Purposes of various adaptations

·        Environmental factors

·        Writing process

Student Skills/Processes Needed:

·        Ability to use print and nonprint resources to access and present information

·        Ability to organize ideas and interpret situations

·        Ability to use critical and creative thinking skills

Lesson Sequence

Kindergarten:

Goal:  Introduce animals and their environments.

·        SCIS (Suggested Sections): Section 1, Life on Land; Section 6, Life in Water

·        Examining Leaves activity

·        Tree Rubbings activities

·        Leaf Prints activity

·        Magic Spots activity

·        Living and Nonliving Things activity

·        Animals and Their Environments webquest and worksheet

·        Suggested Reading:  A Bird Can Fly by Douglas Florian; More Than Just Pets by Robert Caputto

Grade 1:

Goal:  Introduce the concept of habitat.

·        SCIS (Suggested Sections): Section 3, Habitats

·        The Empty Lot activity

·        Notice Small Things activity

·        Observing A “Fellow Earth Traveler” activity; (incorporate word processing for writing)

·        Farewell to Shady Glade activity

·        Feed the Animals of a Habitat activity

·        What Is a Habitat? handout

·        Animal Habitats webquest and worksheet

·        Suggested Reading:  The Empty Lot by Dale Fife; Farewell to Shady Glade by Bill Peet; The Magic School Bus Hops Home: A Book About Animal Habitats by Joanna Cole; When the Woods Hum by Joanne Ryder

Grade 2:

Goal:  Master the concept of habitat and introduce the concept of adaptation.

·        SCIS (Suggested Sections): Section 1, Living Things

·        Connecting to Science: Animals Need Shelter, Too! activity

·        Camouflage activity

·        Bird Beaks activity (and make Pop-up Bird Card)

·        Who Lives There? activity

·        Adaptation of Animals webquest and worksheet

·        Suggested Reading: A House Is A House for Me by Mary Ann Hoberman; Our Amazing Animal Friends by Gene S. Stuart

Grade 3:

Goal:  Continue concept of adaptation and introduce the concept of destruction of habitat.

·        SCIS (Suggested Sections): Section 2, Populations; Section 4, Populations on Land; Section 5, Populations in Water

·        How Animals Protect Themselves activity

·        Habitat Lap Sit activity

·        Invasion of the Arctic activity

·        The Effects of an Oil Spill activity

·        What Would You Do? activity

·        Ethi-Thinking activity

·        Deforestation handout

·        Destruction of Habitats webquest and worksheet

·        Suggested Reading:  How to Hide a Butterfly by Ruth Heller; How to Hide a Crocodile by Ruth Heller; How to Hide a Meadow Frog by Ruth Heller; How to Hide an Octopus by Ruth Heller; How to Hide a Parakeet by Ruth Heller

Grade 4:

Goal:  Master the concept of adaptation and introduce the concept of preservation of habitat.

·        SCIS (Suggested Sections): Section 4, Animal Responses to Environmental Factors

·        Look-Alike Animals activity

·        An Earthworm Knows without a Nose activity

·        Hide and Seek activity

·        Improving Wildlife Habitat in the Community activity

·        Some Garbage Isn’t Trash activity

·        How Are Animals Protected? handout

·        Plant a Tree or Garden handout

·        Build a Compost Heap handout

·        Preservation of Habitats webquest and worksheet, solutions to wordsearch

·        Suggested Reading: Animal Homes by Tammy Everts and Bobbie Kalman; Animals that Build their Homes by Robert M. McClung; How Animals Hide by Robert M. McClung; How Animals Survive by Ross E. Hutchins; Tricks Animals Play by Jan Nagel Clarkson

Grade 5:

Goal:  Master the concepts of preservation and destruction of habitat and introduce the concept of communities. 

·        SCIS (Suggested Sections): Section 5, Community Interactions

·        Changing Attitudes activity

·        Can Do! activity

·        Recycling Paper and Saving Trees activity

·        Preservation and Destruction of Habitats webquest and worksheet

·        Suggested Reading:  Antarctica by Helen Cowcher; City Critters Around the World by Amy Goldman Koss; Endangered Forest Animals by Dave Taylor; Endangered Island Animals by Dave Taylor; The Forest by David Bellamy; The River by David Bellamy; The Roadside by David Bellamy; The Rock Pull by David Bellamy

Additional Activities and Worksheets:

·        Crossword puzzle

·        Oral Language activities

·        People Saving Other Animals puzzle

·        Proud As a Peacock activity

·        Things to Know Crossword puzzle

·        Writing activities

Critical Resources:

·        Various books on animals, habitats, and adaptations

·        Internet

·        Vocabulary list

·        Videos, CD’s

·        Guest speaker (bird lady, Raven Run, Natural Bridge, Saluto Game, Louisville Zoo)  (Optional)  

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