Grade 4; English Language Development & Science
Content Area Standards:
California English Language Arts
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.1
Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.9
Integrate information from two texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.
English Language Development
SL.4.1, 6; L.4.1,3,6
Exchange information and ideas with others through oral collaborative discussions on a range of social and academic topics
W.4.1-10; L.4.1-3,6
Writing literary and informational texts to present, describe, and explain ideas and information, using appropriate technology
California Science Content
LS.3.a-b
3. Living organisms depend on one another and on their environment for survival. As a basis for understanding this concept:
a. Students know ecosystems can be characterized by living and nonliving components.
b. Students know that in any particular environment, some kinds of plants and animals survive well, and some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all.
Learning Outcomes:
Materials:
Pre-activity: photos of various animals and environments
Bird adaptation activity: paper plates, pliers, tweezers, chopsticks, spoons, clothespins, bird seeds, pasta, rice, cereal
Copies of chart worksheet for adaptation activity
Class set of Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner
Animal adaptation research: 5"x7" index cards with copies of rubric to assess index cards, access to Internet/computerlab
Pre-Assessment:
Students will be shown various photos of animals and environments on the white board or SmartBoard. They will match the animals to the environment accordingly and discuss with their partners why they made their conclusions.
Activities:
Bird Adaptation Activity
Students will be organized into heterogeneous groups of four. Before their experiment, students will discuss among themselves, and brainstorm and draw the different shapes of beaks while the teacher poses the question "Why are there different shapes of beaks?". For the experiment, students will fill out their chart table with the tools, materials, and their observations as they use the different tools to pick up the foods. Findings will be shared and discussed with the whole class; open-ended questions will be independently completed at the end of the experiment, below the chart table.
Stone Fox Text Reference
Using the chapter book, students will go back and make connections between the bird adaptions and the Samoyed dogs that are mentioned in the story. Students will be instructed to use the text as reference to identify and describe at least three adaptations of the dogs.
Collaborative Animal Adaptation Research
Students will be assigned in pairs and will be given an animal to research. On an index card and using appropriate technology resources, partners will record the animal behavior and structural characteristics in relation to its habitat. Their findings will be shared in a short presentation of about 3-5 minutes with a drawing or diagram.
Vocabulary: environment, adaptations, body structure, survival, behavior, habitat
Post Assessment:
Teaching Reflection:
In collaborating with other teachers and colleagues, there may be different approaches to introduce the lesson or different questions to pose for the students. From another perspective, activities can be altered to address other learning styles that weren't considered before.
Source:
*http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/2852?ref=search
- Students will relate characteristics and behavior of animals to their environment
- Students will determine the behavior and body structure that have specific growth and survival functions
- Students will evaluate living and nonliving things that affect animals in their environment
Materials:
Pre-activity: photos of various animals and environments
Bird adaptation activity: paper plates, pliers, tweezers, chopsticks, spoons, clothespins, bird seeds, pasta, rice, cereal
Copies of chart worksheet for adaptation activity
Class set of Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner
Animal adaptation research: 5"x7" index cards with copies of rubric to assess index cards, access to Internet/computerlab
Pre-Assessment:
Students will be shown various photos of animals and environments on the white board or SmartBoard. They will match the animals to the environment accordingly and discuss with their partners why they made their conclusions.
Activities:
Bird Adaptation Activity
Students will be organized into heterogeneous groups of four. Before their experiment, students will discuss among themselves, and brainstorm and draw the different shapes of beaks while the teacher poses the question "Why are there different shapes of beaks?". For the experiment, students will fill out their chart table with the tools, materials, and their observations as they use the different tools to pick up the foods. Findings will be shared and discussed with the whole class; open-ended questions will be independently completed at the end of the experiment, below the chart table.
Stone Fox Text Reference
Using the chapter book, students will go back and make connections between the bird adaptions and the Samoyed dogs that are mentioned in the story. Students will be instructed to use the text as reference to identify and describe at least three adaptations of the dogs.
Collaborative Animal Adaptation Research
Students will be assigned in pairs and will be given an animal to research. On an index card and using appropriate technology resources, partners will record the animal behavior and structural characteristics in relation to its habitat. Their findings will be shared in a short presentation of about 3-5 minutes with a drawing or diagram.
Vocabulary: environment, adaptations, body structure, survival, behavior, habitat
Post Assessment:
- Teacher will use open-ended questions to check for student understanding of animal adaptation.
- Teacher will use teacher-made rubric to assess research content of animal behavior and structural characteristics.
- Teacher will verify student understanding of animal adaption through citation of text passages from Stone Fox.
Teaching Reflection:
In collaborating with other teachers and colleagues, there may be different approaches to introduce the lesson or different questions to pose for the students. From another perspective, activities can be altered to address other learning styles that weren't considered before.
Source:
*http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/2852?ref=search
