Bookish Ways in Math and Science

Multiplication Game

2012-02-22T09:50:00.003-05:00

I've been spending time recently pinning teaching materials to my Pinterest site. I currently have 36 boards, the bulk of them for math. I've been sharing some of the great ideas I find in my classes with my preservice teachers. Last night they asked the question, "How do teachers make all these great things?" I'll admit that I'm pretty savvy with Word, but I don't have the skills that many of these teachers have!

I did promise my students I'd experiment a little, so here's my first, very simple effort. When students got this file in class last night, it looked like this.

This morning after I "prettied it up," it looked like this.

Feel free to download Multiplication Four-in-a-Row. If you want to use this in the classroom, I recommend laminating and putting in a center. You could also send this home as a "Math in a Bag" activity. This kind of homework is great fun!

If you try this, please leave me a note and let me know what you think. If the feedback is good, I will work on uploading some additional resources.

Unit Resource Portfolio: Sound

2011-12-06T23:13:00.004-05:00

Sound is all around us. We can hear it and we can produce it, but can we see it? As we may not be able to see the energy traveling through the air from the source to our ears, we are able to see the affects that sound vibrations have on our world. The following unit plan will cover two weeks of instruction where the students will engage in meaningful hand's on activities designed to make a personal connection between their experiences and the unseen presence of sound waves. We will explore sound vibrations, sound waves, pitch, tone, amplification, how sound travels through different media, how sound can be seen and measured, how sound is received , processed, and re-transmitted through everyday communication. We will compare and contrast how humans and animals use sounds to communicate (sonar: bats, whales, dolphins).

Virginia Standards of Learning
5.2 The student will investigate and understand how sound is created and transmitted, and how it is used. Key concepts include
a)    compression waves;
b)    vibration, compression, wavelength, frequency, amplitude;
c)    the ability of different media (solids, liquids, and gases) to transmit sound; and
d)    uses and applications of sound waves.

Understanding the Standard (Background Information for Instructor Use Only)

Sound is a form of energy produced and transmitted by vibrating matter.
Sound waves are compression (longitudinal) waves.
When compression (longitudinal) waves move through matter (solid, liquid, or a gas), the molecules of the matter move backward and forward in the direction in which the wave is traveling. As sound waves travel, molecules are pressed together in some parts (compression) and in some parts are spread out (rarefaction). A child’s toy in the form of a coil is a good tool to demonstrate a compression (longitudinal) wave.
The frequency of sound is the number of wavelengths in a given unit of time.
The wavelength of sound is the distance between two compressions or between two rarefactions.
The wavelength can be measured from any point on a wave as long as it is measured to the same point on the next wave.
When we talk, sound waves travel in air. Sound also travels in liquids and solids. Sound waves must have a medium through which to travel.
In a vacuum sound cannot travel because there is no matter for it to move through.
Pitch is determined by the frequency of a vibrating object. Objects vibrating faster have a higher pitch than objects vibrating slower.
A change in frequency of sound waves causes an audible sensation—a difference in pitch.
Amplitude is the amount of energy in a compression (longitudinal) wave and is related to intensity and volume. For example, when a loud sound is heard, it is because many molecules have been vibrated with much force. A soft sound is made with fewer molecules being vibrated with less force.
Sound travels more quickly through solids than through liquids and gases because the molecules of a solid are closer together. Sound travels the slowest through gases because the molecules of a gas are farthest apart.
Some animals make and hear ranges of sound vibrations different from those that humans can make and hear.
Musical instruments vibrate to produce sound. There are many different types of musical instruments and each instrument causes the vibrations in different ways. The most widely accepted way to classify musical instruments is to classify them by the way in which the sound is produced by the instrument. The four basic classifications are percussion instruments (e.g., drums, cymbals), stringed instruments (e.g., violin, piano, guitar), wind instruments (e.g., flute, clarinet, trumpet, trombone), and electronic instruments (e.g., electronic organ, electric guitar).

Day 1 – Introduction to Sound Waves SOL 5.2a
Objectives - Students will:

Recognize that sound is energy that travels on invisible waves.
Explain the relationship between frequency and pitch
Demonstrate that frequency is dependent on the amplitude of the vibration at the source of the sound.

To begin my lesson on sound, I first need to introduce and describe what a wave is. I will begin by asking the students what they already know about sound. Next, I will ask them if they had ever been to the beach and watched the waves come in. (if yes, I would ask if the waves are always the same or are they different at times? (How are they different – height, frequency). I would use this as an introduction to waves by making a comparison between ocean waves and sound waves. A detailed description of the discussion can be found at Describing Sound Waves by Comparing to Ocean Waves

The students will complete wave diagrams (to be put in their notebooks), labeling, matching vocabulary terms to their meanings.

Day 2 – Waves, Wavelength SOL 5.2a
Objectives: Students will:

Create models to explain how sound is formed, how it affect matter, and how it travels

We will start class with a funny spoof from Bill Science Guy Bill Nye The Science Guy: "Sound is a Vibe" video. Prior to this video, the teacher will distribute vocabulary check lists and instruct the students to conduct a Think-Pair-Share with their pre-assigned partner and mark off the term that they are familiar with then share their meaning for identified term that differ with their partner.
Then show the YouTube video shot at the Virginia Museum of Science. Science of Sound Video

The vocabulary checklist extends to this video as well. This video will describe in detail the meanings of the definitions and conceptual ideas. The students will resume their pairings and discuss any new understandings. After 5 minutes, we will open this up to a class sharing.

Far assessment, students will begin a KWL chart in their student journal notebook to demonstrate their understanding of key concepts of sound .

We will wrap up the lesson with a Simple Phone Sound Experiment by making predictions and recording observations.

Days 3 & 4 – Sound Waves and Our Environment SOL 5.2a,c
Objectives: Students will

Evaluate how the human body (ears, voice box) receive and transmit sound waves
Compare and contrast the sounds (voice) that humans hear to that of animals. This includes bats, dogs, and whales.

The students should understand that sound is energy that travels in invisible waves, as well as, vibrations and mediums before the following activity. They should understand that when a vibration travels through the air and into our ear canal it vibrates the eardrum, and they should understand that the vibrations of our vocal chords create our voice.

We will continue with the KWL chart from yesterday on what they think they know about sound then transition to 6 different stations where the students will observe and record their observations. The materials and station set up can be found on the following web page

The Phenomenon of Sound Waves Activities

The Sound Wave Activities Will Consume TWO (2) Class Periods

Day 5 – Sound Waves and Musical Instruments SOL 5.2c

Objectives: Students will

Create an instrument capable of playing the basic musical scale
Observe a class made instrument (woodwinds) Play Those Pipes Again, Sam
Compare and contrast how different types of musical instruments make sound.

Create an instrument, Bass, J. et all, Activities for Teaching Science as Inquiry, Allyn & Bacon (2007), Pages A-60-61.

Lesson plan for making a guitar with box and rubber bands

We will rehash the concepts of vocabulary/concepts from our KWL charts and the stations activities yesterday. We will begin today’s lesson by creating musical pipes using PVC tubes of varying lengths. Based on our prior knowledge, I will ask the students to predict the pitch and tone of each tube. After the experiment, I will ask the students to think about the characteristics of other types of instruments and what the direct relationship between those and sound (describe wave lengths, frequency, and pitch).

We will round out today’s class be creating a simulated guitar using a box and rubber bands.

Formative assessments will be based on teacher observations during activities, paying close attention to use of vocabulary and applications of fundamental principles.

Summative assessments will consist of the student playing a scale and the rubric will be scaled in 5 of the 7 categories of the supplied rubric

Day 6- Sound and Matter: Relationship SOL 5.2b

Objectives: Students will

Observe the effects of sound waves through different mediums (air, water, sediment)
Compare and contrast sound traveling through a solid with a sound traveling through the air.
Compare and contrast sounds passing through different mediums

Sound Vibrations Activity

The students will start off by watching a 15 minute video on “The Case of the Barking Dogs” Barking dog then move directly into 4 person groups to compare and contrast the sounds (voice) that humans make and hear to that of other animals. This includes bats, dogs, and whales. The students will listen to different sounds and try to match them up on the accompanied scientific observation packets.

Day 7– Sound Vocabulary 5.2 a-c

Objectives: Students will

Demonstrate their understanding of basic terminology and work with a partner to sort and classify terms with concepts of sound.

The class will begin with another way of modeling the sound wave. We would then stretch out a slinky from end to end and have a student come up and pull a portion of the slinky back towards one end and let it go (the students would observe a pulse running from one end to the next. Then we would repeat the action this time doing it 5 times in succession – this would emulate the action of the waves coming in.

Slinky Science

The students will work in teams of 4 to create graphic organizers for vocabulary using the Frayer Model. We will apply our understanding to our observations, predictions, and inferences drown from the link provided below.

Sound Waves and Music. The Physics Classroom. http://www.physicsclassroom.com/Class/sound/soundtoc.html

Day 8 – Sounds: Uses and Applications SOL 5.2c

Objectives: Students will

Engage in a group discussion to identify both living and man-made sonar communications
Analyze and record the relationship between length and speed of sound waves and the medium in which they originated (water, soil/rock, air)

Sonar activity EducationWorld - Sonar Activity

Start lesson with students, discussing as a group, what comes to mind when they think of the word sonar (bats eco-location, whales, dolphins, submarines, obstruction indicator warning system on newer vehicles) Ask them if they think that sound travels faster in air or in water? Water. Have you ever communicated with a friend while submerged in a swimming pool. Sounds are distorted but arrive much faster in water.

Have the students engage in a paired group activity using Fossweb: Physics of Sound Interactive for sound waves traveling in air and water. Have the students’ chart the time elapsed at a series of distances from the sound source. Ask the students to evaluate the differences using estimated ratios for each distance and to identify a set of distances where the elapsed time is equal (record the distances)

The students will then write in their journals using diagrams and content reflections for the day.

Day 9 – Sound Applications SOL 5.2c

Objectives: Students will

Compare and contrast how different types of musical instruments make sound

We will start the lesson with an interactive activity on the Whiteboard String Thing - PBS Kids. Have some volunteers come up and create a musical piece using input from their classmates. Before we listen to the piece, the teacher asks the class to predict how it will sound (awful, good, or awesome). After listening, we will apply our knowledge of vibration, wavelengths, and pitch to create a more compelling composition. The students will work in groups of three to create a 3 circle Venn diagram (each circle to represent a medium of sound through) and brainstorm a list of characteristics, uses, similarities, and differences to be used to complete the diagram.

A class discussion will round out the lesson.

Day 10 – Comparing Sound and Light Waves SOL 5.3

Objectives: The students will

Apply learned principles to compare and contrast sound and light waves

To compliment our review, I thought it would be meaningful to make the wave-to-wave comparison (not an all-out introduction of new material). I will show a short 11 minute YouTube video Waves: Light and Sound to give them a glimpse of what is ahead next week, as well as, use our class discussion after the video to gauge the overall level of understanding from the class, thus being able to address anything that bares the need for clarification.

Assessments will be formative to plug any loose holes in student understanding.

Literature Connection

Catch a Wave: The Story of Sound and Light

Janice VanCleave's Physics for Every Kid: 101 Easy Experiments in Motion, Heat, Lights, Machines, and Sound

Sound Waves (Energy in Action)

What is Sound? (Sounds All Around Us)

Assessments

Quiz : Science of Sound

Quiz: Sound Waves

Sound Jeopardy

Useful Web Sites:
Reeko’s Mad Scientist Lab – numerous experiments about various concepts)

Acoustical Oceanography Lesson (Lesson plan on Sound Use by Marine Mammals.)

Sound: Slide Show Slide show for sound.

Advanced Wave Interactive Demo (Interactive demo – change the pitch and see the wavelengths change.)

The Phenomenon of Sound Waves (Lesson plans on sound waves.)

Read Lesson 2 - Sound: Echos Activity (Language Arts/Social Studies integration on science with Greek mythology and sound.)

Unit Resource Portfolio: Food Chains

2011-12-06T19:31:00.022-05:00

A food chain shows how each living thing gets food, and how nutrients are passed from creature to creature. Food chain begin with plant-life, and end with animal-life.

Virginia Standards of Learning
Science SOL 3.5, The student will investigate and understand relationships among organisms in aquatic and terrestrial food chains. Key concepts include:
a) producer, consumer, decomposer;
b) herbivore, carnivore, omnivore; and
c) predator and prey.

Background Information

A food chain shows a food relationship among plants and animals in a specific area or environment.
Terrestrial organisms are found on land habitats such as deserts, grasslands, and forests. Aquatic organisms are found in water habitats such as ponds, marshes, rivers, and oceans.
A green plant makes its own food using sunlight, air, and water. Green plants are producers.
A consumer is an animal that eats living organisms (plant or animal).
Certain organisms break down decayed plants and animals into smaller pieces that can be used again by other living organisms. These organisms are decomposers.
A food chain, which shows part of a food web, can have an animal that eats only plants (herbivores). It can have an animal that eats only other animals (carnivore). It can also have an animal that eats both plants and animals (omnivore).
An animal can hunt other animals to get its food (predator).
An animal can be hunted by another animal for food (prey).

Vocabulary
In order to successfully complete this unit, students will need to have mastered the following vocabulary words: decomposer, producer, consumers, herbivore, carnivore, omnivore, predator, and prey.

Day 1: Introduction to Food Chains

Objective
Students will: identify that a food chain shows a food relationship among plants and animals.

Introduce the concept of a food chain by asking students if they have ever heard of the term "food chain". As a class, fill out the "K" column of a KWL chart (both on the board and in student's Science notebook) by asking students what they already know about food chains. Next, read the book Trout Are Made of Trees by April Sayre. Follow up by asking questions such as: How are trout and trees connected? Do animals and plants depend on each other? Next, explain to students that we are going to learn how all animals and plants are connected through a process called a food chain. Have students watch the following food chain video. Once the video is over, fill out the "W" column on the KWL chart with the students. After students have listed several ideas, explain to students that we are going to be spending the next two weeks learning about food chains.

Day 2: Online Scavenger Hunt

Objective
Students will: identify and define the different terms associated with food chains.
create a foldable using the terms producer, consumer, decomposer.

Read the book Hey Diddle, Diddle: A Food Chain Tale by Pam Kapchinske. Have students recall yesterday's lesson by reviewing the KWL chart in their Science notebook. Explain to students that they are going to go on an "Online Scavenger Hunt". With the following sites, have students define the following terms in their Science notebooks: producer, consumer, decomposers, herbivore, carnivore, omnivore, prey, predators, decomposers, producers, primary consumers, secondary consumers, tertiary consumers. Once students have finished the scavenger hunt, draw a pyramid on the board. Explain to students that we are going to fill out different levels of this pyramid by using the following site: Food Chains. As a class, fill out the pyramid. To close the lesson, return to the book Hey Diddle, Diddle: A Food Chain Tale. As a class, identify the different producers and consumers in the book. Using their notes from the scavenger hunt, follow up by having students create a producer, consumer, decomposer foldable.

Day 3: Test Your Knowledge!

Objective
Students will: test their knowledge on food chains by playing several food chain games.
create a foldable using the terms carnivore, herbivore, and omnivore.

As a class, review the terms from Day 2's scavenger hunt. Be sure to emphasize the different vocabulary words students identified yesterday. Create a shutter foldable using the terms carnivore, herbivore, and omnivore. Next, explain to students that they are going to test their knowledge on food chains by playing some food chains games with a partner. Have students partner up and play the following games: Chain Reaction, Food Chain Interactive Movie Game, and National Geographic Food Chain Quiz. As students play the games, remind them to keep notes and results in their Science notebook.

Day 4: Food Chain Snapshot

Objective
The student will: identify the different components that make up a food chain (decomposer, producer, consumer).

Read Pond Circle by Betsy Franco. Review the terms that relate to food chains. Make sure students identify who was at the "top" and "bottom" of the food chains. Next, have students play the interactive game Food Chain Snapshot. Remind students to takes notes of the game in their Science notebook. Once students have finished the game, have them return to their seats to review. Ask students what animals they took pictures of in the Food Chain Snapshot game. Write down the animals as student share. Be sure to include all eight different animals from the Food Chain Snapshot game. Once students have finished sharing, conduct an informal poll by asking students the following questions: What are the producers/consumers/decomposers. Conduct the poll and review results with the students. If the results are not unanimous, have students defend their answers.

Day 5: Different Animals Means Different Food Chains

Objective
The students will: create a foldable to understand the concept that different animals mean different food chains.

Ask students what kind of animals we find here in Virginia. List them on the board. Ask students if we have camels in Virginia? Lions (etc.)? Explain to students that there are different animals all over the world. To help enforce the idea create a hot dog booklet highlighting different food chains from a forest in Virginia, the Ocean, and a desert.

Day 6: Food Chains Around the World

Objective
The students will: identify different types of food chains in different biomes.

Remind students that there are different types of food chains, because there are different types of animals around the world. In pairs or groups, have students look at the following food chains from the following places, using the following sites: coniferous forest, deciduous forest, desert, ocean, and temperate. Have students take notes about each food chain in their Science notebook. One students are finished have them return to their seats. Next, ask students to list the five different food chains they looked at from around the world (students may use their notes). As students list the different food chain locations, write them on the board. Next, have individual students come up and write an animal that is located in one of the different food chain location. Once completed, ask students which living thing would be at the beginning of the food chain for each of the locations. Conduct an informal poll. Remind students that no matter where a food chain is located, it will most likely always begin with a green plant.

Day 7: Components of A Food Chain

Objective
The student will: create an accurate food chain using pictures.
label each component of the food chain.

On the SmartBoard, display the images of a mushroom, flower, grasshopper, raccoon, and a hawk. Together as a class, move the images around to create an accurate food chain (mess up a few times so students can correct you). Once you have completed an accurate food chain, as a class, label each component of the food chain (decomposer, producer, consumer, etc.) Once you have finished, explain to students that they are going to make their own food chain using the website Create A Food Chain. Have students pair up and create their own food chain using the site. Also, have students draw and label the food chain they create in their Science notebook.

Day 8: Make Your Own Food Chain!

Objective
The student will: apply their knowledge of food chains to create their own food chain.
physically create their own food chain using magazine images and yarn.

With a partner, have students share the food chain they created the day before with a partner. Next, explain to student that they are going to create their own food chain using magazines, markers, and crayons. Have students create their own food chain using pictures/drawings and yarn. As students create their food chains, make sure they label each component of their food chain. Once students have completed their food chain, individually call students up front to show their food chain to the class. While each child shows their food chain, call on the rest of the class to identify each component of the food chain.

Day 9: Let's Make A Food Web!

Objective
The student will: create a food web by combining food chains with other students.

Read to students Horseshoe Crabs and Shorebirds: The Story of a Food Web by Pam Kapchinske. Follow up by asking students the following questions: What were some of the animal in the story? Was there just one food chain in this story? What is it called when many different food chains connect together? Explain to students that they are now going to see how they will use their food chain they made yesterday to create something even bigger, a food web! Have students meet with partners and pass out each group a poster board and some yarn. Explain to students how to connect their food chains together to make a food web. Have students work on creating their food web.

Day 10: Closure

Objective
The student will: identify and label different components of a food web.
apply knowledge of food chains to a formal assessment.

Have students add the finish touches to their food web. Make sure that students identify the different components of their food chain and food web. Once each group has finished, individually call each group to the front to display their food chain. Have each group identify which food chain was their own and explain how they connected it with their partner's food chains. As a pre-assessment quiz, have the rest of the class identify the different components of each web. Also, make sure students identify which animals are either prey or predators. Finish up the unit by having students complete the Food Chain Assessment. Answer Key.

Additional Resources

Butternut Hollow Pond. By Brian J. Heinz. Illus. by Bob Marshall. 2005. 32p. First Avenue Editions, (9780822559931). Gr. 2-6.
Using beautiful watercolors, this book illustrates to students how animals depend on each other. The book takes place during one full day at a pond.

Decomposers in the Food Chain. By Alice B. McGinty. Photo. by Dwight Kugn. 2002. 24p. PowerKids Press, (9780823957578). Gr. 1-4.
This is book is great because it focuses solely on the importance of decomposers in the food chain cycle.

Hey Diddle Diddle: A Food Chain Tale. By Pam Kapchinske. Illus. by Sherry Rogers. 2011. 32p. Sylvan Dell Publishing, (9781607181309). Gr. 2-5
Using the tune from the rhyme “Hey Diddle Diddle”, this book gives numerous examples of different food chains in nature. With fun pictures and a catchy tune, this is a great book for children.

Horseshoe Crabs and Shorebirds: The Story of a Food Web. By Victoria Crenson. Illus. by Annie Cannon. 2009. 34p. Marshall Cavendish Copr/Ccb, (9780761455523). Gr. 2-6.
This book discusses food chains and food webs on the coast. This book has great illustrations and is very useful for teaching about food chains and food webs.

The Magic School Bus Gets Eaten: A Book About Food Chains. By Pat Relf. Illus. by Carolyn Bracken. 1996. 32p. Scholastic Paperbacks, (9780590484145). Gr. 2-4.
In this book, Ms. Frizzle takes the students on a food chain adventure. Using their school bus as a vehicle, the class drives into the ocean in search of food chain knowledge.

The Omnivore's Dilemma for Kids: The Secrets Behind What You Eat. By Michael Pollan. 2009. 352p. Dial, (9780803725001). Gr. 3-6.
This is a great book to use when teaching about carnivores, omnivores, and herbivores because it makes a real life connection for students.

Pleased to Eat You. By Sydnie Meltzer Kleinhenz. Illustrated by Beth Griffis Johnson. 2003. 32p. Millbrook Press, (9780761318279). Gr. 1-3.
This easy reader is great for students to read themselves! Following a young girl, this book tells the stories of food chains. Better yet, this book also has great facts at the end to further educate students on food chains.

Pond Circle. By Betsy Franco. Illus. by Stefano Vitale. 2009. 32p. Margaret K. McElderry, (9781416940210). Gr. 2-5
With amazing illustrations and a rhythmic flow, this book is great to use when introducing the concept of food chains. This book is great in that it also provides additional information about each animal from the story.

Secrets of the Garden: Food Chains and the Food Web in Our Backyard. By Kathleen W. Zoehfeld. Illus. by Priscilla Lamont. 2012. 40p. Knopf Books for Young Readers, (9780517709902). Gr. 2-4.
A brand new book about food chain hitting shelves this spring! This book discusses food chains and food webs that we would find in our own backyards.

Trout Are Made of Trees. By April Pulley Sayre. Illus. by Kate Endle. 2008. 32p. Charlesbridge Publishing, (9781580891387). Gr. 2-4
This is a great book to use when teaching food chains because it shows students how plants are an extremely important component of food chains. Readers learn that leaves fall into streams and decompose into food for fish, beginning a food chain cycle.

Unit Resource Portfolio: The Solar System

2011-12-05T20:57:00.001-05:00

With all the recent developments in our solar system, it can be difficult to keep up with the changes. This unit focuses on the most up-to-date information regarding the eight planets and five dwarf planets that exist in our solar system but also gives students an understanding that new discoveries and notions are being made every day. The below lessons give students the opportunity to look at the planets in our solar system, even the demoted dwarf planet of Pluto, and study aspects of each that are unique and interesting. This unit is extremely hands-on and gives students many opportunities to make predictions, observations, and conclusions about the solar system.

Virginia Standards of Learning

SOL 4.7 The student will investigate and understand the organization of the solar system. Key concepts include:
a) the planets in the solar system;
b) the order of the planets in the solar system; and
c) the relative sizes of the planets.

SOL 4.8 The student will investigate and understand the relationships among Earth, the moon, and the sun. Key concepts include
c) the causes for the phases of the moon

Background Information:

- Our solar system is ancient. Early astronomers believed that Earth was the center of the universe and all other heavenly bodies orbited around Earth. We now know that our sun is the center of our solar system and eight planets, a handful of dwarf planets, 170 named moons, dust, gas, and thousands of asteroids and comets orbit around the sun.
- Our solar system is made up of eight planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.
- Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars are considered terrestrial planets. Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are called gas giants.
- Mercury is closest to the sun and is a small, heavily cratered planet. Mercury looks like our moon. Since Pluto’s reclassification from planet to dwarf planet, Mercury is now the smallest planet in our solar system.
- Venus is second from the sun. It is similar to Earth in size and mass, and has a permanent blanket of clouds that trap so much heat that the temperatures on the surface of Venus are hot enough to melt lead.
- Earth is third from the sun. Earth’s atmosphere, the liquid water found on Earth, and its distance from the sun, among many other factors, make Earth a haven for life.
- Mars is fourth from the sun. The atmosphere on Mars is thin and there is a vast network of canyons and riverbeds on the red planet. Scientists hypothesize that Mars once supported a wet, warm Earth-like climate.
- Jupiter is fifth from the sun. Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system and is considered a gas giant. Jupiter has no solid surface.
-Saturn is sixth from the sun. Early scientists thought Saturn was the only planet with rings, but we now know that all four gas giants (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune) have rings.
- Uranus is seventh from the sun. Uranus is a gas giant.
- Neptune is eighth from the sun. Neptune appears blue through telescopes and is a gas giant.
- The eight planets sorted by size from largest to smallest are: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Earth, Venus, Mars, and Mercury.
- Pluto is no longer included in the list of planets in our solar system due to its small size and irregular orbit. Many astronomers questioned whether Pluto should be grouped with worlds like Earth and Jupiter. In 2006, this debate led the International Astronomical Union (IAU), the recognized authority in naming heavenly objects, to formally reclassify Pluto. On August 24, 2006, Pluto's status was officially changed from planet to dwarf planet.
- A new distinct class of objects called "dwarf planets" was identified in 2006. It was agreed that "planets" and "dwarf planets" are two distinct classes of objects. The first members of the dwarf planet category are Ceres, Pluto and 2003 UB313, given the name Eris.
- A dwarf planet has not "cleared the neighborhood" around its orbit, which means it has not become gravitationally dominant and it shares its orbital space with other bodies of a similar size.
Earth completes one revolution around the sun every 365 ¼ days. The moon revolves around Earth about once every month.
- Due to its axial tilt, Earth experiences seasons during its revolution around the sun.
- The phases of the moon are caused by its position relative to Earth and the sun. The phases of the moon include the new, waxing crescent, first quarter, waxing gibbous, full, waning gibbous, last (third) quarter, and waning crescent.
- The sun is an average-sized yellow star, about 110 times the diameter of Earth. The sun is approximately 4.6 billion years old.
- Our moon is a small rocky satellite, having about one-quarter the diameter of Earth and one-eightieth its mass. It has extremes of temperature, virtually no atmosphere or life, and very little water.
- Our understanding of the solar system has changed from an Earth-centered model of Aristotle and Ptolemy to the sun-centered model of Copernicus and Galileo.

Important Vocabulary:

cosmic dust - small particles less than 1mm in size produced from asteroids and comets
crater - bowl-shaped hollow on the surface of a planet, moon, or asteroid formed by a rock collision
dwarf planet - celestial body with all the characteristics of a planet except it does not "clear the neighborhood" around its orbit
gas giant - planet mostly made up of gas, includes Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune
moon - a rock that orbits around a planet or asteroid
orbit - the path of an object around an object caused by the larger objects gravitational pull
satellite - an object held in orbit around a planet or moon by gravity such as the Moon
terrestrial planet - planet made of rock, includes Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars

Day 1 - The Solar System

Students will:

Learn about the thirteen planets in the solar system and the difference between the eight planets and the five dwarf planets.
Create a solar system to scale of the eight planets.
Simulate the theories of Aristotle, Ptolemy, Copernicus, and Kepler using the solar system mobile.

On the first day of the unit, students will be introduced to the eight planets and five dwarf planets of the solar system. They will learn the difference between the two types of planets and then create a solar system to scale based on the eight planets. After watching a video on the astronomers who contributed to the discovery that the planets revolve in elliptical movements around the sun, they will use the solar system mobile to recreate the theories proposed by the four astronomers as talked about in the clip. Lastly, students will receive charts to record the phases of the moon for the next two weeks.

Day 2 - Pluto & the Dwarf Planets

Students will:

Compare and contrast the characteristics of planets and dwarf planets.
Read about the discovery of Pluto and it’s reclassification to a dwarf planet in 2006.
Create a blink comparator to understand how Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto.

This lesson will focus on understanding the difference between a planet and a dwarf planet. Since future lessons will focus on each of the planets, this will be the students’ only opportunity to learn about the dwarf planets. We will start by creating a foldable that compares and contrasts planets and dwarf planets.

Then we will read selections from Pluto: From Planet to Dwarf by Elaine Landau to learn more about Pluto’s discovery in 1930 and subsequent reclassification in 2006. Lastly, we will create our own blink comparator out of simple items like a box and tracing paper so students understand the technique Clyde Tombaugh used to discover Pluto.

Day 3 - The Sun

Students will:

Recall what they already know about the sun.
Compare the size of the sun to the size of the planets surrounding it.

This lesson will begin by creating a KWL chart about what students already know about the sun and what they would like to know more about. Next the class will go outside with the solar system mobile they created earlier and use a long string and some chalk to draw a 13’ circle on pavement to simulate the sun. The group will then compare the size of the ‘sun’ to the size of the planets on the mobile. Inside, the class will watch NASA’s Sun For Kids video and pair up to create a chart in their science notebooks that lists “why we can’t live on the sun” and “why we can’t live without the sun”. Students will use the video and background knowledge to answer these questions. After discussing the answers as a group, students will reread the questions posted in our KWL chart and try to answer them based on what they learned.

Day 4 - The Moon

Students will:

Identify the differences between life on Earth and life on the Moon.
Explore the landscape, size, age and makeup of the Moon.
Analyze popular misconceptions and subsequent historical contributions in understanding the Moon.
Examine the movement of the Earth around the Sun and the Moon around the Earth to create the phases of the Moon.

The lesson will begin with a reading of If You Decide To Go To The Moon by Faith Mcnulty. The class will then use Google Earth to view the moon and discuss the lunar landscape and other characteristics of the moon. Next the class will discuss misconceptions about the moon and use Google Earth to prove why they are not true. Students will then watch the explanation of the phases of the moon from Wonderville and then take turns with the interactive portion at the end of the presentation to reinforce their knowledge. Next students will make an accordion foldable showing the eight phases of the moon.

At the end of the lesson students will do a 3-2-1 analysis in their journals and write three ways being on the moon is different than being on earth, two things people once believed about the moon that we know aren’t true, and one thing they’d still like to know about the moon.

Day 5 - Mercury & Venus
Students will:

Illustrate why Mercury and Venus are classified as terrestrial or rock planets.
Demonstrate why Mercury’s day is longer than its year.
Observe the greenhouse effect to understand Venus’s gaseous atmosphere.

This lesson will begin with students making predictions in their science journals about two thermometers set in sunlight, one inside a covered jar and one in open air. They will hypothesize what will happen to the temperatures of each thermometer after sitting in the sun for the entire period. Then students will analyze pictures of Mercury and Venus as well as the class solar system mobile to make inferences about both planets. In their science journals, they will write about both planets' sizes in comparison to the other planets as well as their relative distance from the sun and why they are terrestrial planets. After a discussion on how Mercury’s day is longer than its year, the class will create a model of Mercury’s rotation using material such as a desk lamp, a ball, and clay to better understand it. Lastly, students will observe the thermometers from the beginning of class and make conclusions about why the temperature changes occurred. They will then make connections between the thermometer in the covered jar and the cloud blanket covering Venus to understand the greenhouse effect.

Day 6 - Earth

Students will:

Compare the distance from the Sun, size, and makeup of Earth to those of other planets within our solar system.
Outline the relationship between the Earth and the Sun regarding time and the seasons.
Contrast the climates of various regions of Earth relative to the Sun.

To begin the lesson, students will fill out the first two sections of a KWL chart handout regarding Earth. Next students will analyze pictures of Earth as well as the class solar system mobile to make inferences about the planet. In their science journals, they will write about Earth’s size in comparison to the other planets as well as its relative distance from the sun. The class will then do an experiment involving a flashlight to demonstrate the angles in which the sun hits either hemisphere during various seasons. After a discussion on the length of an Earth year, the class will use Google Earth to explore the various features of Earth including deserts, frozen tundras, and rainforests and relate their climates to their relationship with the sun. Lastly, students will volunteer some questions they asked in their KWL chart handouts and the group will discuss the answers to complete the charts.

Day 7 - Mars

Students will:

Test for living cells in sand to examine how scientists test for life on Mars.
Discover the characteristics of the atmosphere and terrain of Mars.
Illustrate why Mars is classified as a terrestrial planet.

To start the lesson, students will divide into small groups to start an experiment similar to how they test for life on Mars. They will make predictions about what might occur in three jars of sand and sugar water, one with salt added, one with baking powder added, and one with yeast added. Next students will analyze pictures of Mars as well as the class solar system mobile to make inferences about the planet. In their science journals, they will write about the size of Mars in comparison to the other planets as well as its relative distance from the sun. The class will then read Touchdown Mars! by Peggy Wethered and Ken Edgett and then write letters in their science journals from the perspective of a visitor on Mars and using the new things they learned about Mars from the book. Lastly, students will look at the three jars they prepared in the beginning of class and make observations about what happened within each. In the end, the class will conclude that the jar with yeast showed signs of life because the presence of living cells caused a slow but continuous reaction as the cells multiplied.

Day 8 - Jupiter & Saturn

Students will:

Illustrate why Jupiter and Saturn are classified as gas giants.
Create their own Jupiter storm to simulate the huge storm patterns and streams of gas moving at different speeds on Jupiter’s surface.
Test predictions about Saturn’s density versus the density of the rest of the planets.

The lesson will begin with students discussing the properties of a gas giant using the book Mighty Megaplanets: Jupiter & Saturn for clues. Then students will analyze pictures of Jupiter and Saturn as well as the class solar system mobile to make inferences about both planets. In their science journals, they will write about the sizes of Jupiter and Saturn in comparison to the other planets as well as their relative distances from the sun and and why they are both gas giants. Next the class will discuss the cloud patterns of Jupiter, including the Great Red Spot, and then simulate a storm on Jupiter by combining milk, food dye, and dishwashing liquid in a bowl. Then the class will divide into groups and do an experiment that asks, “Would Saturn float?” They will first make predictions about how a plastic ball and a marble will float in water and then test their theories. The class will conclude as a group that since Saturn has the lightest density of the planets and its density is lighter than water, it would float, unlike the rest of the planets which would sink.

Day 9 - Uranus & Neptune

Students will:

Illustrate why Uranus and Neptune are classified as gas giants.
Simulate the rings of Uranus to understand why we can’t see them from Earth.
Demonstrate how Neptune was discovered via mathematical calculations rather than a telescope.

As a review, students will do a think-pair-share to discuss the properties of gas giants. As a group, the class will discuss these properties and then students will analyze pictures of Uranus and Neptune as well as the class solar system mobile to make inferences about both planets. In their science journals, they will write about the sizes of Uranus and Neptune in comparison to the other planets as well as their relative distances from the sun and and why they are both gas giants. Next students will divide into groups to experiment with simulating light shining on the dust particles in Uranus’s rings. The teacher will light a candle, blow it out, and capture the smoke in an empty soda bottle and seal it. Next students will make predictions about where to hold the flashlight to see the smoke particles. Each group will then shine the flashlight at the bottle and then from behind and record which made the smoke particles more visible. The class will conclude that the particles (and thus the rings) are most easily seen when they are lit from behind (as they were in 1977 when Uranus passed in front of a distant star and the rings were discovered). Lastly the class will discuss the discovery of Neptune and do an experiment using materials such as a magnet and a paper clip to simulate how the pull of Neptune affected Uranus to prove Neptune’s existence.

Day 10 - Review

Students will:

Create a foldable about the eight planets in the solar system and their unique characteristics.
Review content from the Solar System unit.

The review will begin with students creating a diamond accordion foldable about the eight planets. The front will show the planets in order with some attention paid to scale as well as a mnemonic device to remember them in order.

Inside the foldable, students will divide the square into eight parts, four for the terrestrial planets and four for the gas giants. They will then use the entries in their science journals from the past two weeks to fill in information on each planet.

The class will then divide in half and play a game of 'Solar System baseball' with the following rules:
1. If you answer a question correctly, you can move up a base.
2. If you answer incorrectly, it is an “out” (and the class answers as a whole).
3. Three “outs” and the inning is over and it’s the other team’s turn to “bat”.
4. The team with the most runs wins once all the questions have been answered.

Literature Connections

13 Planets: The Latest View of the Solar System by David A. Aguilar. Illus. by the author. 2011. 64p. National Geographic Children's Books. (978-1426307706). Gr. 2-5.

The newest edition of this book includes the 8 planets and 5 dwarf planets that form our solar system. It’s a great introduction to the planets as it gives a brief overview of each planet and the sun, explains how the solar system formed, and briefly touches on the discovery of new solar systems orbiting distant stars. It’s enough information to get students acquainted with the planets before studying them more in depth as we’ll be doing later in the unit.

Far-Out Guide to the Sun by Mary Kay Carson. 2010. 48p. Bailey Books. (978-1598451801). Gr. 2-5.

This book explores fascinating facts about the sun as well as mysteries still being researched today. It’s a comprehensive resource for learning about the sun because of the wide variety of topic it touches on, including the sun’s relationship with the earth, the age of the sun and its future, and the long journey research probe Solar Probe will begin in a few years when it departs Earth to research the sun.

How The Universe Works by Heather Couper and Nigel Henbest. 1994. 160p. Reader’s Digest. (978-0895775764). Gr. 4-6.

This book is the source of 90% of the activities within this unit. It’s an amazingly creative resource for hands-on experiments kids can do to learn about the universe. The materials and prep work involved are never too complicated and experiments that require parents to help out are clearly noted. I was so excited to discover so many interesting experiments within this book and it’s a wonderful addition to any upper elementary science classroom.

If You Decide To Go To The Moon by Faith Mcnulty. Illus. by Steven Kellogg. 2005. 48p. Scholastic Press. (978-0590483599). Gr. 1-4.

In this imaginative book, readers go on a journey to the Moon and gain a perspective on how things differ up there. It’s a great way to help students understand the atmosphere and lack of gravity of the Moon as well as its unique landscape. The end of the fascinating journey gives students an idea of the importance of air and water, “Earth’s special blessings”. The book is a great way of helping students understand why we can’t live on the moon.

The Magic School Bus Lost In The Solar System by Joanna Cole. Illus. by Bruce Degen. 1992. 40p. Scholastic Press. (978-0590414296). Gr. 1-4.

Another adventure with Miss Frizzle, this is the story of the Magic School Bus’s journey through the solar system. This series of books is always a great way to get students imaginations going and help them see science class as more of an adventure than a task. This book even ends with the class making a mobile of their solar system discoveries which is also an activity in the unit. Students will love doing the same thing as the students in the story. The only caveat is it still includes Pluto as a planet but that would also be a great way to show students that for a long time everyone believed it was.

Mighty Megaplanets: Saturn & Jupiter by David Jefferis. Illus. by the author. 2008. 32p. Crabtree Publishing. (978-0778737537). Gr. 4-6.

This book is a great introduction to the gas giant planets. Though it focuses on Saturn and Jupiter, it goes into detail about the gas giants in general. Students will love learning about the rings of these gas giants, from the bold rings of Jupiter to the less visible rings of Saturn. Because it can be hard to grasp the idea of planets made up of mostly gas, the imagery and fun facts in this book make it a great resource for helping students understand the wonders of these two gas giants.

My Science Notebook: The Moon by Martine Podesto. Illus. by the author. 2009. 104p. Gareth Stevens Publishing. (978-0836892154). Gr. 3-5.

This book is a series of letters to ‘Dr. Brainy’, a scientist who knows all about the moon. The questions range from simple to more complex but Dr. Brainy never fails to give a thorough answer that’s easy to understand. This book would be a great addition to a KWL chart about the moon if students looked through it to see if Dr. Brainy answered any of the questions they came up with.

Nicolaus Copernicus: The Earth Is a Planet by Dennis B. Fradin. Illus. by Cynthia Von Buhler. 2004. 32p. Mondo Pub. (978-1593360061). Gr. 3-6.

This book is a beautifully illustrated biography on Copernicus and how he contributed to astronomy with his idea that the planets rotate around the sun. Students will love the pictures and the elementary-level text will make it easy for them to understand Copernicus’s theories and notions.

Pluto: From Planet to Dwarf by Elaine Landau. 2008. 48p. Children's Press. (978-0531147948). Gr. 2-5.

This helpful little book opens with two true or false statements, one of which is true and one of which is false. The false statement of course is that Pluto is a planet and the book goes on to explain the discovery of Pluto and its reclassification in 2006. The book is a great resource for helping students understand the difference between planets and dwarf planets.

Touchdown Mars! by Peggy Wethered and Ken Edgett. Illus. by Michael Chesworth. 2000. 40p. Putnam Juvenile. (978-0399232145). Gr. 1-4.

This adventure book brings the readers on the long journey from Earth to Mars as an astronaut. Readers get to explore Mars from its canyons and volcanoes to its moons, learning facts about the red planet along the way. It’s an imaginative piece of literature to add to the classroom and even contains a Mars A-B-Cyclopedia at the end for student reference.

Web Resources

Classzone: Distances between planets in the solar system
This incredible simulation is a great way to help students visualize the vast distance between planets. Since the mobile we make in this unit has planets that are to scale but not distances to scale, this video is perfect for teaching that aspect. Students will be amazed at the vast distance between the outlying planets

Kids Astronomy: The Solar System
This interactive site gives users a chance to see the solar system in motion and to click on any part of it to learn more. It's a great way to help students visualize the different speeds at which the planets orbit the sun as well as the size of their orbits and the consequent varying lengths of their years. In 'visiting' all the various places in the solar system (even including comets and asteroid belts!), students get a full page of fascinating content on that topic that is both comprehensive and easy to understand.

Magic School Bus Space Chase
This quiz game coincides with the Magic School Bus book above. With each quiz question, the player follows Miss Frizzle around the solar system and answers questions along the way. The material is extremely relevant to the unit and its a fun way for students to review what they've learned.

NASA: StarChild Learning Center
StarChild is a great source for the most up-to-date information since it was created by NASA. Students can explore various topics on the solar system on both a beginner and intermediate level. The site has the option to have content pages read to you as well, which is great for younger students. In addition to information, there are games and activities and its easy to toggle back and forth between levels if users care to do so.

Wonderville: Phases of the Moon
This kid-friendly interactive activity gives students a quick lesson on the phases of the moon before it involves them in finding the phase of the moon that matches the moon's current position. I found a lot of simulations involving the phases of the moon to be somewhat confusing for children but this one makes it clear and also provides great visuals to really drive the point home.

Assessments

Halfway through the unit, students will complete a Solar System Quiz that they will be graded on. (Answers: C, B, D, C, A B)
At the end of the unit, students will complete the Solar System Unit Test. See also the
Unit Test Answer Key
Since the diamond accordion foldable created during the review was the product of notes taken in each student's science notebook over the unit, the foldable will be assessed as part of their grade. The rubric used to assess these foldables can be found here.
Each student's lunar chart will be collected and graded at the end of the unit. Students will be assessed on their ability to accurately describe which phases of the moon they observed and their diligence in observing and recording the moon's phases throughout the two week period.
Formative assessments will occur throughout the unit during all of the experiment activities that require predicting and testing. I will be looking for students who make thoughtful predictions, ask relevant questions before, during, and after the experiment, and can make educated conclusions by the end of it.

Unit Resource Portfolio: Scientific Investigation

2011-12-05T18:29:00.043-05:00

Children are naturally curious. This curiosity can lead to interesting and wonderful discoveries. By experimenting, observing, and making predictions students can discover a plethora of new and exciting things. This resource contains instructional planning, foldables, books, websites, and assessment for the Virginia Standard of Learning for first grade scientific investigation.

Virginia Standard of Learning - 1.1
The student will demonstrate an understanding of scientific reasoning, logic, and the nature of science by planning and conducting investigations in which:
a) the senses are used to observe differences in physical properties;
b) observations are made from multiple positions to achieve a variety of perspectives and are repeated to ensure accuracy;
c) objects or events are classified and arranged according to characteristics or properties;
d) simple tools are used to enhance observations;
e) length, mass, volume, and temperature are measured using nonstandard units;
f) inferences are made and conclusions are drawn about familiar objects and events;
g) a question is developed from one or more observations;
h) predictions are made based on patterns of observations;
i) observations and data are recorded, analyzed, and communicated orally and with simple graphs, pictures, written statements, and numbers; and
j) simple investigations and experiments are conducted to answer questions.

Background Information
The nature of science refers to the foundational concepts that govern the way scientists formulate explanations about the natural world. The nature of science includes the following concepts:

a) the natural world is understandable;
b) science is based on evidence, both observational and experimental;
c) science is a blend of logic and innovation;
d) scientific ideas are durable yet subject to change as new data are collected;
e) science is a complex social endeavor; and
f) scientists try to remain objective and engage in peer review to help avoid bias.

In grade one, an emphasis should be placed on concepts a, b, and e.

Science assumes that the natural world is understandable. Scientific inquiry can provide explanations about nature. This expands students’ thinking from just a knowledge of facts to understanding how facts are relevant to everyday life.
Science demands evidence. Scientists develop their ideas based on evidence and they change their ideas when new evidence becomes available or the old evidence is viewed in a different way.
Science is a complex social endeavor. It is a complex social process for producing knowledge about the natural world. Scientific knowledge represents the current consensus as to what is the best explanation for phenomena in the natural world. This consensus does not arise automatically, since scientists with different backgrounds from all over the world may interpret the same data differently. To build a consensus, scientists communicate their findings to other scientists and attempt to replicate one another’s findings. In order to model the work of professional scientists, it is essential for first-grade students to engage in frequent discussions with peers about their understanding of their investigations.
To communicate an observation accurately, one must provide a clear description of exactly what is observed and nothing more.
Observations should be made from multiple positions (e.g., observations of the same object from the front of the object, from the back of the object, looking down on the object, etc.) whenever possible to achieve a variety of perspectives.
Observations should be repeated multiple times to assure accuracy.
Once the characteristics of several objects or several events have been observed and recorded, the objects or events can be arranged by those characteristics (e.g., several objects sorted by color, several events sorted on a timeline by age, etc.).
Simple tools, such as a magnifying glass and a balance can extend the observations that people can make.
Nonstandard units such as paper clips, a student’s foot, index cards, etc., can be used to measure the length of objects. The mass of two objects can be compared by holding each object in a different hand. The volume of various liquids can be compared by pouring them in cups of the same size. Variations in temperature of different objects can be compared by the difference that is felt when each object is touched. Variations in air temperature can be compared by observing the differences one feels when in different environments (e.g., inside the classroom vs. outside on the playground in winter, inside the freezer compartment of a refrigerator vs. inside a kitchen).
An inference is a tentative explanation based on background knowledge and available data.
A conclusion is a summary statement based on data from the results of an investigation.
Questions about what is observed can be developed.
A prediction is a forecast about what may happen in some future situation. It is based on information and evidence. A prediction is different from a guess.
Graphs are powerful ways to display data, making it easier to recognize important information. Describing things as accurately as possible is important in science because it enables people to compare their observations with those of others.
Data should be displayed in bar graphs and picture graphs at the grade one level.
An experiment is a fair test designed to answer a question.

Unit Vocabulary

View PDF file with suggested vocabulary terms and definitions here.

Day One - Introduction to Observation

Before starting Science Unit play "Science is Real" video by They Might Be Giants

Objective: Students will

Use their senses to enhance their observation of physical properties

Students will make observations of everyday items using their 5 senses. First,gather class together and discuss with the students what they already know about their 5 senses. Read "How Do You Know?: A Book About Five Senses" by Lisa Jayne. Hand each student "My Itsy Bitsy Five Senses Book" worksheet. Have them color and write words before cutting up and putting into book foldable (directions for foldable - you will need to make two books and glue together). Glue foldable into left side of science journal. Next, Put students into group of 4 to 5. At each table put a "Senses Bag". In each bag put an item for smelling (garlic in a container with holes), hearing (beads in a container), touching (cotton balls), tasting (M&Ms if permissible at your school), and a picture. Items in parentheses are suggested items. Number each item. Have each student make observations about each numbered item using each of their senses at least once and record in their science journal. Bring students back into group and discuss what they learned about their senses. Explain to students that they are collecting data on each item.

Assessment - Check student's science journals to make sure they used the correct senses for identifying items.
Day Two - Observations from Multiple Positions
Objective: Students will

Observe an item from multiple positions and make repeated observations
Communicate observations with simple pictures

For this lesson you will need Styrofoam cylindrical cone cut in half. Gather the students on carpet and show them the cone from the front and ask what they see, turn it and ask what they see, point the top at them and ask what they see. Explain that items can look different from different angles. Have a student stand in the front of the group. Ask student to face group, turn back to group, lay on floor. Ask students if they see the difference in the way they see their fellow student depending on what angle they are looking from. Next, divide students into groups so that approximately the same number are at each table. On each table place 4 - 5 items that look different from different angles (book, Styrofoam circle cut in half, half cylindrical cone, plate, pine cone, cup, hexagon bolt, toy car, football). Number each item. Have students draw each item in their science journal. They should have a column for the item number, top view, front view, back view). Again, explain that they are collecting data on each item and making observations.
Assessment - Check student's science journals to make sure they filled in each column correctly and understood what the assignment was.
Day Three - Classification of Objects
Objective: Student will

Classify and arrange objects and events according to at least two attributes or properties so that similarities and differences become apparent

Read the book "3 Little Firefighter" by Stuart J. Murphy. As you are reading point out the different shapes and ask if they are the same shape? Color? After reading ask students the different ways they could have grouped the buttons. Draw different options on the white board (triangles could be grouped together, all the black buttons could be grouped together, all the red triangles). Sent students back to their desk. Give each one a Sorting Worksheet. Have them cut out each box. Construct a three pocket foldable (these are directions for a two pocket - follow them except fold the paper in thirds). Ask students to sort the cards into different groups (white triangles, red triangles, triangles, circles, white circles, red circles, red shapes, white shapes).

Day Four - Using Non-Standard Measurement
Objective: Student will

Measure length, mass, and volume, using nonstandard units

Watch "Body Matches" & "Catching the Kidnapper" videos. Discuss different ways the video used to measure items. Read "How Big is a Foot?" by Rolf Myller. Discuss how the book used measurement for the Queen's bed. Set up stations around the room where students can measure items. Have a long stuffed snake or similar item for students to measure with their feet. Have two small but different weight items for students to hold in each hand and determine which is heavier/lighter. An ice pack and a hand warming packet to determine which is colder/hotter. These items are just suggestions. Once you have determined which items you will use, create a worksheet with pictures and a space for students to make observations. This sheet can then be glued into their science journal.
Assessment - Check student's science journals to make sure they were able to make logical observations.
Day Five - Making Predictions
Objective: Student will

Predict outcomes based on actual observations and evidence rather than random guesses

Read "The Sneeches" By Dr. Seuss. While reading, stop and ask students to make predictions about what might happen next in the story. Explain that a predication is a thought about what we think might happen. After the book, explain that we can use the same predicting skills in science. We will observe (watch) an experiment and make predictions. Give each student a cup that has been marked on the inside with a line at the half way point. Fill each cup to the line with warm water. Have student put their finger in water so they know the starting temperature. Tell students you will be adding an ice cube to each cup - what are some predictions about what will happen in the water (water will rise, water will get cold, ice will melt). Have students fill out "I Can Make Predictions" worksheet with predictions about what they think will happen to the water. Add ice to each cup. Have students fill-out the observation portion of worksheet. Students will also list the 5 senses used to make observations and predictions. These are in their science journal from previous lesson. Glue sheet in science journal.
Assessment - Check student's science journals to make sure they made logical predictions, observations, and wrote their 5 senses.

Day 6 - Making Inferences

Objective: Student will

Use familiar events and objects to make inferences and draw conclusions

Discuss how we use information we know to draw conclusions. View "Drawing Conclusions Detective" PowerPoint. Answer the questions in a group discussion. Read "Bear & Bunny Grow Tomatoes" by Bruce Koscielniak. Next, give each student "What Happened?" worksheet and have them fill out what happened in the story and the result of these actions on each character.

Assessment - Check student's science journals to make sure they knew details of the story and could draw a conclusion.

Day 7 - Collecting Data

Objective: Student will

Communicate observations and data with simple graphs and pictures

Read "Collecting Data: Pick a Pancake" by John Burstein. Discuss collecting data to create graphs. Hand out "What M&M Color?" and collect data from their fellow students on their favorite color of M&Ms. They will use this information tomorrow to create a graph.

Your students can create different graphs online at Kids' Zone.

Day Eight - Creating Graphs

Objective: Student will

Communicate observations and data with simple graphs and pictures

Read "The Great Graph Contest" by Loreen Leedy. Discuss the different ways we can pictorially represent information. Show students examples of different graphs. Have students use their "What M&M Color" sheet from the previous day to create a bar graph. Model the graph on the board and show students where labels go and how to know where their bars go. Glue the M&M sheet and the graph in their science journals.

Assessment - Check student's science journals to make sure their bar graph matched the information they collected.

Day Nine - Answering Questions

Objective: Student will

Answer questions by conducting simple experiments using simple tools

Read "Mighty Maddie" by Stuart J. Murphy. Discuss the how objects can be the same size and still have different weights/can be the different sizes but still weigh the same. Using balances have students weight two items and record their findings in their science journals. Have them do 4 - 5 different experiments with different items. Have them make a prediction on which is the lightest (or heaviest) before they weigh items. See if their prediction was correct.

Assessment - Check student's science journals to make sure they made predictions and recorded their findings.

Day Ten - Review

Read "Detective LaRue: Letters from the Investigation". Discuss with students that experiments, predictions, observations, etc. are like pieces of a mystery and how we use them can help us solve a problem and discover answers.

For the final assessment of this unit, construct a Layered-Look Book foldable. Give each student a copy of "Science Assessment" worksheet. Have them use this information to create the book. This will review information included in this unit. You can always change the terms or add more. Teachers will probably need to construct the books ahead of time (Layered-Look Book foldable directions).

Resources

Books
3 Little Firefighters. By Stuart J. Murphy. Illus. by Bernice Lum. (2003). 40p. HarperCollins, (978-0060001209). Gr. K -3. Three firefighters scramble to find their missing buttons before the big parade. A good introduction to sorting items by attributes.
Bear and Bunny Grow Tomatoes. By Bruce Koscielniak. (1993). Knopf Books for Young Readers, (978-0679836872). Gr. K - 3. Bear and Bunny both decide to grow tomatoes except Bear takes a must more proactive approach to his garden. This book helps students to draw conclusions about what will happen based on the characters' behavior.
Collecting Date: Pick a Pancake. By John Burstein. (2003). 24p. Weekly Reader Early Learning, (978-0836838206). Gr. K - 2.The Math Monsters decide to open a pancake shop, but they like four different kinds of pancakes, but they only have three mixing bowls. The Monsters decide to survey their friends to figure out which three kinds of pancakes are most popular in Monster Town. Introduces the concepts of data collection and data representation.
Detective LaRue: Letters from the Investigation. By Mark Teague. (2004). 32p. Scholastic Press, (978-0439458689). Gr. K - 2. Ike LaRue (dog detective) is framed for a crime by two cats and he must solve the crime. Great illustrations.
The Great Graph Contest. By Loreen Leedy. (2006). 32p. Holiday House, (978-0823420292). Gr. 1 - 3. Gonk the toad and Beezy the lizard engage in a contest to create the best graph. The friends show how to collect and organize data.
Hershey's Milk Chocolate Weights and Measures. By Jerry Pallotta. Illus by Rob Bolster. (2003). 32p. Cartwheel, (978-0439388771). Gr. 1 - 4. Teach students about measurement using different candies.
How Big is a Foot? By Rolf Myller. (1991). 48p. Yearling,( 978-0440404958). Gr. K - 2. The King wants to build a bed for his Queen for her birthday. The problem is that no one knows what a bed is, since they haven't been invented yet, let alone how big one should be. Teaches non-standard measurement.
How Do You Know? A Book About 5 Senses. By Lisa Jayne. (2007). 24p. Tate Publishing & Enterprises (978-1602473126). Gr. K-1. How do you know certain things? By using your different senses.
Mighty Maddie. By Stuart J. Murphy. Illus by Bernice Lum. (2004). 40p. HarperCollins, (978-0060531614). Gr. K - 1. Maddie needs to clean her very messy room up before her party! Might Maddie to the rescue. While cleaning, Maddie teaches about light and heavy.
The Sneeches and Other Stories. By Dr. Seuss. (1961). 72p. Random House, (978-0394800899). Gr. 1 - 4. Some Sneeches have stars on their bellies and some do not. When the Sneeches with bare bellies fall victim to a con man and decide to add stars to their bellies, insanity ensues. Good book for helping students make predictions since the Sneeches go in and out the star machine.
Websites
YouTube

This site has many videos that work for almost any subject you need to teach.
TeacherTube
This site is similar to YouTube, but focuses on only educational videos.
AuthorsStream
This site has many educational resources available, including many complete PowerPoints to aid in lesson presentation.
TeachersDomain
This site is full of lesson plans that also include videos that support the lesson.

Kids' Zone
Many student centered activities. This site is run in conjunction with the National Center for Education Statistics.

Unit Resource Portfolio: Senses

2011-12-05T12:03:00.045-05:00

Our senses allow us to enjoy our food, the sound of music, the beauty of a sunny day, the softness of a child's hair -- in short, our lives! There seems to be endless ways to teach our students about the special gift of the senses and how they work. We rely on our five senses to provide information about the world around us. Just the thought of a special holiday dinner brings to mind many observations made through the senses -- the smell of dinner cooking, the sound of holiday music, the taste of freshly baked cookies, and more. Children may recognize the importance of their senses, but they don't often focus on them individually.

Virginia Standards of Learning

Standard K.2 The student will investigate and understand that humans have senses that allow them to seek, find, take in, and react or respond to information in order to learn about their surroundings. Key concepts include:

a) the five senses and corresponding sensing organs; and

b) sensory descriptors used to describe common objects and phenomena.

Background Information

A Particular sensing organ (eye, ear, nose, tongue, and skin) is associated with each of the five senses
Using the senses, we can make careful observations about the world.
To communicate what is observed, descriptors should be used.

Essential Knowledge

In order to meet this standard, it is expected that the students will:
identify and describe the five senses: taste, touch, smell, hearing, and sight.
match each sensing organ (eye, ear, nose, tongue, and skin) with its associated sense.
match sensory descriptors with the senses (taste: sweet, sour, bitter, salty; touch: rough, smooth, hard, soft, cold, warm, hot; hearing: loud, soft, high, low; sight: bright, dull, color, black, white; smell: strong, faint, bad, and good.)

Vocabulary

In order to successfully complete this unit, students need to know the following words:

taste, touch, smell, hear/ing, sight, eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin, body parts.

Day 1: Introduction to our Five Senses:

Objective:

Students will

Identify the five sense and correlate with right body part
Using chart paper, introduce the vocabulary and pictures for the lesson: eyes, ears, nose, tongue, fingers, body part, sight/seeing, hearing, smell/smelling, taste/tasting, touch/touching. Be sure to have children point to their body parts as you go
Ask students to call out things they can touch (teddy bear,) things they can see (pictures), things they can smell (cookies), things they can hear (music) Make a list on the chart of their answers. Next, teach the children the following "Senses Chant Movement" song to the tune of "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes."

See (point to eyes)

Hear (point to ears)

Smell (point to nose)

Taste (point to tongue)

And Touch (wiggle fingers in the air)

See (point to eyes)

Hear (point to ears)

Smell (point to nose)

Taste (point to tongue)

And Touch (wiggle fingers in the air)

We use our eyes (point to eyes),

ears (point to ears),

nose (point to nose),

tongue (point to tongue),

and our fingers (wiggle fingers in the air)

See (point to eyes)

Hear (point to ears)

Smell (point to nose)

Taste (point to tongue)

And Touch (wiggle fingers in the air)

To close the lesson for the day, select a book on the senses to read with the children. I like to read My Five Senses by Aliki Brandenberg. It is a five book series about children who follow a young boy as he tells of all the things he can do with his five senses.

Day 2: Touch

Objective

Students will:

• identify the sense of touch

• identify what body part is used to touch

Today the students will focus on the sense of touch. Ask the children, "Which body part do

we use to touch?" Encourage the children to name all the body parts that we use to touch (fingers, cheeks, toes, elbows, etc) Let the children know that their skin is the largest sense organ we have. Brainstorm with the children the things they can touch and chart how they feel (hard, soft, cold, bumpy, round etc). These are good descriptive words for young authors.Ahead of time, place six different shaped objects in six socks and label them with numbers. Hand out the worksheet with 6 socks (blocks with socks). Pass the socks around and have the students make a picture of what they think is inside from feeling them. After they are all finished, take out the objects and compare the drawings to the actual objects. Have each student show their drawings and describe what they felt and let them feel the actual object to feel the difference. End with reading the book "My Hands" by Aliki.

Day 3: Hear

Objective

Students will:

• identify the sense of sound/hearing

• identify what body part is used to hear

Start the lesson playing a CD with various sounds (animal sounds, household sounds, cars, etc...) Discuss with the class all the different sounds they heard. Make a list of the different sounds they heard on the board. Then ask the students what part of the body were they using to hear those sounds. Hopefully they answer with EARS! Ahead of time fill 6 film canisters with a different objects in each (for example, pennies, marbles, rice, cotton balls, paper clips...) These sound boxes are a fun experiment that requires students to concentrate on their sense of hearing. Ask them to identify the objects inside by their sound as the shake the container. Have them number a sheet of paper 1 to 6 and next to each number, tell the students to draw a picture of what they thought was in each container. Once the students are done with their drawings, bring them back into a group circle and open each canister one at a time. Show the students the objects and discuss what kind of sounds each object make (i.e.,loud, soft, clinking, metal, etc...) Let them touch (review from the day before) and describe how it feels versus how it sounds. Create foldable on sound and have students draw pictures inside or list what items made quiet sounds and which ones made loud sounds (directions under the Foldable section in this blog). An alternative to this would to provide enough of the objects for each student to glue under the tabs.

Day 4: Smell

Objective

Students will

Identify the sense of smell
Identify what body part is used to smell (nose)

This lesson encourages children to observe, compare and use language skills as they describe scented items. Ahead of time fill 10 film canisters with pinholes in the top for each of the following scented items: (use cotton balls the liquid scents): onions, vanilla extract, vinegar, cinnamon, coffee grounds, perfume, banana chunks, lemon oil, peanut butter, and peppermint extract or mint leaves. Start the lesson talking about the sense of smell by asking everyone to close their eyes and spray a little perfume into the air. When the children open their eyes ask them what they smell. Ask them what body part they are using to smell. Talk about how our noses help us smell things and introduce one canister. While each child is smelling the scent, talk about what it smells like. Encourage the use of descriptive words. Next, introduce the other film canisters, making certain each child has one. Allow time for children to talk about the smells and encourage older youngsters to exchange canister. Ask, "Can you guess what it is by the way it smells?" After children have opportunities to guess, open each canister. Show them how you poured the liquid onto cotton balls to create the the "smelliest." Finally, place the closed canisters in the science area for future smell investigations.

Day 5: Taste

Objective

Students will

• identify the sense of taste

• identify what body part is used to taste

Ask the class if you they can think of examples for ways we use the sense of taste. Most likely they will give you an example of food. Tell them without taste we wouldn't know if food was good or not. Taste lets us know that candy is sweet and lemons are sour. Make a chart with headings such as sweet, sour, salty, and bitter. After listening to the book Taste by Maria Rius, the students will participate in a food sampling activity and will create a chart that depicts the students’ favorite foods from the lesson’s food samples. The students must use sensory taste describing words. Also, the class must use the words less, more, and equal when analyzing the outcome of the taste chart.

Make sure to check for food allergies ahead of time! Distribute the first tasting item, placing a small sample on each child's plate. Have children taste each item at the same time. After tasting each item, have children describe it. After students taste each item, ask them to raise their hands if they liked that item. Write the name of the item on the board and draw its picture. Then use tally marks to show how many children liked it. Discuss the results. Ask questions such as: How many children liked carrots? Did more children like pears or apples? Which food was the favorite? Create a foldable with four sections that say salty, sweet, sour and bitter. Example in the foldable section below.

Day 6: Sight

Objective

Students will

Identify the sense of sight
Identify the what body part is used in sight

Ask what the students know about sight. Ask what part of their body do they use to see. Without sight, we would not know what each of us looks like, we could not see colors, where we are going etc...Read the book Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr. While reading the book, tell students to pay close attention to what they see. At the end of the book divide the class into color groups to match each animal in the book. For example, anyone wearing red represents Red Bird; anyone wearing yellow would represent Yellow Duck. (If there are colors missing, children can hold colored construction paper.) Retell the story focusing on the color words. When children hear the color they represent, invite them to stand and join in. Have the students to go back to their seats and hand out a blank animal to every student. Give each table a box of crayons. Tell them to recall what color they remember seeing that particular animal was. Without using our eyes, we would not of seen what color the animal was. At the end of the lesson, come back to a group and ask students what they see on the way home from school. Record ideas on the chart.

Day 7:

Objective

Students will

create sense puppets to review their comprehension

Puppets can be used for many activities, and they help young children practice their cutting skills. We will make simple puppets out of the

five senses. Give each child an outline of a mouth, hand, nose, ear and eye. Have children decorate the shapes, then cut them out and glue them to wooden craft sticks. Once the glue is dry, use the puppets to quiz children about the senses. Give children a word, then ask them to hold up the senses that are involved. For instance, if you say "cake," children should hold up every puppet except the ear. They can taste, see, touch, and smell cake, but can't hear it.

Day 8

Objective:

Students will

use descriptive words to describe their sense

Post these words along the board. Hot, Cold, Smooth, Hard, Loud, Quiet, Sweet, Salty. Ask the students what sense correspond with each descriptive word. Then ask what kind of things they can think about to make a list under each. Hot could be fire,soup, tea; Cold -ice, snow, ice cream, Loud-bells,yelling Quiet-whispers; Sweet- Cookies, Ice Cream, Candy, Salty- Pretzels, Chips, Ocean Water. Tell them that many different senses can be used at once. Show them how ice cream is cold at the touch, sweet on the tongue, sweet smell, and can see it (example: chocolate chip ice cream is white and has black/brown chips.) Hand out activity sheet

Day 9:

Objective

Students will

Develop their sensory awareness and observational and language skills

Tell the students we will be going on a sensory exploration walk! Ask them to predict what they will see, hear, touch, and smell. Provide magnifying glasses, binoculars, a camera, and a portable tape recorder for children to use in their outdoor investigation. Explain that they will use these different tools to explore and record information. For tactile explorations, invite children to touch different types of textures and describe how they feel (such as cement, gravel or rubber surfaces, grass, plants, tree bark, brick, and metal). For visual explorations, help children photograph different textured surfaces as well as different colors that they see outdoors. For olfactory explorations, ask children to describe different types of smells. Use binoculars and magnifying glasses to study and observe things in the environment. What do they notice about the colors and textures of things that have been magnified? Encourage children to use descriptive language as they share their observations and discoveries. Ask questions to further their investigation and observation skills. After returning to the class, create a language experience chart about how they used their senses during their walk. Provide children with paper and markers to create drawings and dictations about their experiences. Use the photographs you and the children took to create a book about their sensory walk. Invite children to identify the outdoor sounds that they recorded.

Day 10: Review Concepts

Objectives:

Students will

Review their five senses
Create a foldable that identifies and describes the five senses for review

Hand out the worksheet with each symbol and word for the foldable. After all the students have finished, lead a class discussion to review all five senses and all five body parts we use.

Additional Resources

Books

The Five Senses. By Keith Faulkner. Illus. by Jonathan Lambert. 2002. 14p. Cartwheel. (978-0439388825). Gr. Pre-K to 2.

Pull the tabs to learn about hearing, tasting, touching, smelling, and seeing!

The ears of an aardvark

Can hear every sound.

They can hear tiny ants

Who walk underground.

Rhyming text and brightly colored illustrations teach children about the five senses.Children can pull a tab on each spread to watch an animal move and use one of its senses. An aardvark hears its prey, a bear tastes honey, a chimp touches her baby, an elephant smells a lion, and a bushbaby sees a bug.

Hearing (The Five Senses). by Maria Rius, J.M Parramon & J.J. Puig. Illus. Unknown. 1985. 32p. Barron's Educational Series. 978-0812035674. Gr Pre-K to 3.

Do you remember your first realization of any of your five senses? Prolific children's author J. M. Parramon successfully tackles these tough concepts in words that 3-5 year olds can comprehend. These five colorful books awaken young minds to the wonders of the senses: the taste of oranges, the aroma of fresh-baked bread, and other sensations that give us delight in being alive. Educational, yet fun to read, this clever series is clearly written and cheerfully illustrated in flowing colors throughout. Each book includes a special "scientific" section to help parents answer their children's questions about the senses.

Look, Listen, Taste, Touch, and Smell: Learning About Your Five Senses. By Pamela Hill Nettleton. Illus. by Becky Shipe. 2006. 24. Picture Window Books. (978-1404805088) Gr. K-4.

An introduction to the five senses and the organs that perform the functions of sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. A great book for kindergarteners!

The Listening Walk. By. Paul Showers. Illus. by Aliki. 1993. 32p. Harper Collins. 978-0064433228. Gr. K-2.

In this revised edition of the 1961 title, a father and child take a walk together and listen to the sounds around them. The text has been streamlined and updated, and Aliki has completely replaced her previous black-and-white sketches with colorful, lively illustrations of multiethnic people in contemporary settings. The writing is concise and to the point without being choppy, and the overall effect is unhurried and relaxed. Young readers (or listeners) will enjoy the book, both as a story and as a jumping-off point for their own walks.

The Magic School Bus Explores the Senses. By Joanna Cole. Illus. by Bruce Degen. 2001. 32p. Scholastic. 978-0590446983. Gr K-3.

When Ms. Frizzle drives away from school before receiving an important message, Mr. Wilde, the new assistant principal, hops behind the wheel of the Magic School Bus to catch her. The class jumps aboard, too, knowing full well that only the Friz can handle the bus. When Mr. Wilde flips a mysterious switch, the vehicle shrinks and lands in a police officer's eye, then a child's ear, a dog's nose, and, finally, Ms. Frizzle's mouth as she eats pizza with her mother ("We'd been chewed out by teachers before, but this was ridiculous"). The format is comfortably familiar with text boxes and dialogue balloons complementing the story. Degen's illustrations are just as exciting and exacting as usual. Another fun, fact-filled adventure in the series.

My Five Senses. By Aliki. Illus. by the Author. 1991. 32p. HarperFestival. (978-0440843542). Gr- Pre-k to 3.

How do you learn what the world is like? Through your five senses of course! Each sound and taste, each smell, sight, and touch helps you to discover something new. So find out more about your senses-what they are and what you can learn through them about the exciting world.The world awaits!

My Five Senses. By Margaret Miller. Illus. Unknown. 1998. 24p. Aladdin Picture Books. 978-0689820090. Gr. Pre-K to 2.

PreSchool-K-Slight in text, but often visually striking, this book introduces the subject through photographs of five children, each of a different race or ethnicity. An African-American girl looks at herself, her shadow, her dog, and her city, each illustrated with a full-color photograph of her interacting with the topic at hand. The pattern is repeated by each child: "with my nose I smell popcorn, a horse, flowers, and garbage. With my mouth I taste..." Finally, readers are told, "With our five senses, we enjoy our world." While some of the pictures seem staged, they depict experiences common to many children of this age, and are sure to provoke discussion.

Sight (The Five Senses). by Maria Rius, J.M Parramon & J.J. Puig. Illus. Unknown. 1985. 32p. Barron's Educational Series. 978-0812035674. Gr Pre-K to 3.

Do you remember your first realization of any of your five senses? Prolific children's author J. M. Parramon successfully tackles these tough concepts in words that 3-5 year olds can comprehend. These five colorful books awaken young minds to the wonders of the senses: the taste of oranges, the aroma of fresh-baked bread, and other sensations that give us delight in being alive. Educational, yet fun to read, this clever series is clearly written and cheerfully illustrated in flowing colors throughout. Each book includes a special "scientific" section to help parents answer their children's questions about the senses.

Smell (The Five Senses). by Maria Rius, J.M Parramon & J.J. Puig. Illus. Unknown. 1985. 32p. Barron's Educational Series. 978-0812035674. Gr Pre-K to 3.

Do you remember your first realization of any of your five senses? Prolific children's author J. M. Parramon successfully tackles these tough concepts in words that 3-5 year olds can comprehend. These five colorful books awaken young minds to the wonders of the senses: the taste of oranges, the aroma of fresh-baked bread, and other sensations that give us delight in being alive. Educational, yet fun to read, this clever series is clearly written and cheerfully illustrated in flowing colors throughout. Each book includes a special "scientific" section to help parents answer their children's questions about the senses.

Taste (The Five Senses). by Maria Rius, J.M Parramon & J.J. Puig. Illus. Unknown. 1985. 32p. Barron's Educational Series. 978-0812035674. Gr Pre-K to 3.

Do you remember your first realization of any of your five senses? Prolific children's author J. M. Parramon successfully tackles these tough concepts in words that 3-5 year olds can comprehend. These five colorful books awaken young minds to the wonders of the senses: the taste of oranges, the aroma of fresh-baked bread, and other sensations that give us delight in being alive. Educational, yet fun to read, this clever series is clearly written and cheerfully illustrated in flowing colors throughout. Each book includes a special "scientific" section to help parents answer their children's questions about the senses.

Touch (The Five Senses). by Maria Rius, J.M Parramon & J.J. Puig. Illus. Unknown. 1985. 32p. Barron's Educational Series. 978-0812035674. Gr Pre-K to 3.

Do you remember your first realization of any of your five senses? Prolific children's author J. M. Parramon successfully tackles these tough concepts in words that 3-5 year olds can comprehend. These five colorful books awaken young minds to the wonders of the senses: the taste of oranges, the aroma of fresh-baked bread, and other sensations that give us delight in being alive. Educational, yet fun to read, this clever series is clearly written and cheerfully illustrated in flowing colors throughout. Each book includes a special "scientific" section to help parents answer their children's questions about the senses.

Websites

Brain Pop Senses

The animators at BrainPop are back with five excellent pages devoted to our five senses: hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting and feeling. Each page includes a movie, a quiz, an experiment and a activity. Free movie passes are now limited to three per day so you won't be able to view all five movies in one visit. Unlimited BrainPop access is available by paid subscription for both families and classrooms.

Neuroscience For Kids - The Senses

The smell of a flower. The memory of a walk in the park. The pain of stepping on a nail. These experiences are made possible by the three pounds of tissue in our heads...the BRAIN!! Neuroscience for Kids has been created for all students and teachers who would like to learn about the nervous system. This fabulous site starts with dozens of classroom experiments and word search puzzles. For more on the five senses, follow the links to "On the Senses" and "Amazing Animal Senses" that you'll find in the middle of the page.

Sid the Science Kid

The "Sid the Science Kid" Web site is designed to further develop children's natural wonder and build a strong foundation for early science exploration.Complementary online and offline activities motivate children to practice and internalize scientific methodology: "Observe! Compare! Contrast! Describe!" The site is crafted to support a collaborative learning experience between child and adult and offers features that help adult mentors to support and participate in the child's learning process.

Gudli

A fun, very easy to manage website designed with the child in mind. Although you must register to play the games, it is free and allows the parents to see what their child is playing! The All about the five senses game is interactive to teach children about their five senses which they use to examine objects in their daily life.

KVIEkids Games

Children’s programming on KVIE provides families with a truly educational experience they cannot find anywhere else. As children watch, they explore developmentally appropriate topics such as math, science, and literacy along with their favorite PBS Kids characters, discovering new worlds and ideas with each new episode. KVIE demonstrates its commitment to families by providing direct community outreach across the region. In 2010, KVIE coordinated over 100 workshops, offering parents concrete tools and resources that help them discover anytime is learning time.

Assessments

Each of the three foldables listed above will be reviewed for accuracy as a summative assessment of the children's comprehension of the five senses.

A formative assessment during the discussions of each lesson will provide insight into the children's comprehension. If the students are not understanding what body part goes with the senses, it is the teachers responsibility to fulfill these un-met needs.

A "quiz" will be handed out at the end of the 10 day unit, but is a simple circle and match test of body part to sense. Click here to view the quiz and answer sheet.

Unit Resource Portfolio: Animal Adaptations

2011-12-04T23:36:00.002-05:00

Introduction
In order to ensure survival all animals have adapted to their environment. Adaptations can be behavioral or physical. If your students are wondering why animals, including themselves, are shaped and act the way that they do, this is a fitting lesson plan.

Standards of Learning and Teacher Notes/Background Information

3.4 The student will investigate and understand that adaptations allow animals to satisfy life needs and respond to the environment. Key concepts include a) behavioral adaptations; and b) physical adaptations.
Understanding the Standard (Background Information for Instructor Use Only)	Essential Knowledge, Skills, and Processes
· In order to survive, animals act in different ways to gather and store food, find shelter, defend themselves, and rear their young. · Physical adaptations help animals survive in their environment (e.g., camouflage, mimicry). · Various animals possess adaptations which help them blend into their environments to protect themselves from enemies (camouflage). Camouflage is the means by which animals escape the notice of predators, usually because of a resemblance to their surroundings using coloration or outer coverage patterns. · Mimicry occurs when a species has features similar to another species. Either one or both are protected when a third species cannot tell them apart. (Mimicry happens in both animal and plant species.) Some animals look like other animals to avoid being eaten (mimicry). This adaptation helps protect them from their predators. (For example, the viceroy butterfly tastes good to birds, but the monarch butterfly tastes bad. Because the viceroy looks like the monarch butterfly, it is safer from predators.) Mimicry can also occur as mimicked behaviors, mimicked sounds, or mimicked scents. · Behavioral adaptations allow animals to respond to life needs. Examples include hibernation, migration, dormancy, instinct, and learned behavior. · Some animals (e.g., groundhogs, black bears) go into a deep sleep in which their body activities slow down due to seasonal changes and they can live off stored food (hibernation). Hibernation is a condition of biological rest or inactivity where growth, development, and metabolic processes slow down. · Some animals (e.g., geese, monarch butterflies, tundra swans) go on a long-distance journey from one place to another (migration) in search of a new temporary habitat because of climate, availability of food, season of the year, or reproduction. · Dormancy is a state of reduced metabolic activity adopted by many organisms (both plants and animals) under conditions of environmental stress or, when such stressful conditions are likely to appear, as in winter. · Some animals are born with natural behaviors that they need in order to survive in their environments (instincts). These behaviors are not learned but are instinctive, such as a beaver building a dam or a spider spinning a web. · Some behaviors need to be taught in order for the animal to survive, such as a bear cub learning to hunt (learned behavior).	In order to meet this standard, it is expected that students will · give examples of methods that animals use to gather and store food, find shelter, defend themselves, and rear young. · describe and explain the terms camouflage, mimicry, hibernation, migration, dormancy, instinct, and learned behavior. · explain how an animal’s behavioral adaptations help it live in its specific habitat. · distinguish between physical and behavioral adaptations of animals. · compare the physical characteristics of animals, and explain how the animals are adapted to a certain environment. · compare and contrast instinct and learned behavior. · create (model) a camouflage pattern for an animal living in a specific dry-land or water-related environment. (Relates to 3.6.) · design and construct a model of a habitat for an animal with a specific adaptation.

Vocabulary

environment	The surroundings or conditions in which a person, animal, or plant lives in.
climate	Weather conditions
adaptation	Any change an animal makes that allows it to survive longer in its environment.
behavioral adaptation	Changes to the way an animal acts that allow it to survive longer.
physical adaptations	Changes to an animal’s body that allow it to survive longer.
camouflage	The means by which animals escape the notice of predators, usually because of a resemblance to their surroundings using coloration or outer coverage patterns.
dormancy	A state of reduced metabolic activity adopted by many organisms (both plants and animals) under conditions of environmental stress or, when such stressful conditions are likely to appear, as in winter.

Instructional Plan

Day 1: What Do You Do When Your Environment Changes?

Objectives: Students will

· Identify how they adapt to climate changes.

· Analyze why humans adapt the way they do to certain climates.

Ask the class for volunteers to come up to the front of the room. Pick about three people. Explain to the students that when you say what the weather is like, they need to act out what they would do in that situation. For example, if it is cold they would start to shiver. Ask the class why they think their peers acted the way that they did? Ask the volunteers why they acted the way that they did. Discuss why humans react the way that they do to certain weather climates. For instance, humans shiver because the movement of shivering keeps the body warm. For the second activity, build several piles (a pile for each group of about 5 people) of different items for various weather scenarios. For example, include sun tan lotion, a ran jacket, snow boots, etc. Provide each group a different weather scenario (example: snowing, raining, sunny) and ask them to pick the appropriate gear. Have them dress one person in the gear. Once each group is finished, ask each group to explain why they chose the gear that they did. Introduce the unit’s vocabulary through a foldable. Have the students glue their foldable onto the left side of their interactive notebook. The vocabulary should include: environment, climate, adaptation, behavioral adaptation, and physical adaptation. See below for pictures and directions to make the foldable.

Day 2: Peoples’ Homes

Objectives: Students will

· Create drawings of the ideal house for specific climates.

Discuss with the class what kind of shelter you would want for different climates. What should you worry about? Examples: flooding, earthquake, wind, snow, temperature, etc. Split the class into groups of 3-4 people. Give each group a large sheet of paper. Provide each group with a different climate. Direct each group to draw a house for their climate. Show the class the Kids Discover magazine, Shelter, of different houses from around the world. Provide each group with another sheet of large paper. Ask them to draw their house again but this time improve it by using the ideas that they saw in the video or new ideas they thought of while watching the video. Have each group present their house to the class and explain why they chose the features that they did.

Day 3: Animal’s Homes

Objectives: Students will

· Match animals with their habitats.

· Identify what the purpose of a house it.

Define instincts and behavioral adaptation with the class. Explain that a behavioral adaptation is a change an animal makes in the way they act that helps them to survive. An inherited behavior is one that animals are born instinctually knowing. Ask the students if they can think of any examples. Look for examples like a beaver building a dam, a spider spinning a web, bears living in caves, or termites building termite towers. Ask the students to reflect on their lesson yesterday and identify what the purpose of a house is. Look for answers such as keep you safe from predators and weather, keep you dry and warm, provide a place to sleep and store food, offer a place to lay eggs, and to attract mates. Read Animal Homes to the class. Split the students into groups of 3 or 4. Ask the students to create their own game using the animals and their appropriate homes. For example, the students can make matching games or mazes in which you need to lead the animals to their correct home. If you have students that are more theatrical, offer them the option of creating a short skit about animals in their habitats to perform at the end of the class. If you have more pictorial students, then offer them the option to draw a picture of animals in their habitats. This is a great opportunity for differentiated instruction. Change the options in according to the students in your class. For homework, ask students to look for animal homes near their house such as ant holes or spider webs. Direct students to record their findings into their interactive notebook.

Day 4: Animals and Friends

Objectives: Students will

· Identify a personal experience of having a symbiotic relationship from their past.

· Write a poem about a symbiotic relationship.

Ask students to write in their interactive notebook about a time where they needed a friend to help them and a time where they helped the same friend. Read Weird Friends to the class. Ask for a volunteer to write the names of the different pairs of animals on the board as you read. Get a couple copies of Weird Friends or make a couple copies of the pages. Put the different copies on the groups of desks. Ensure that the desks are grouped together in numbers depending on how many copies of Weird Friends you have. Have the students write a poem about one of the animal relationships in their interactive notebooks.

Day 5: Hibernation

Objectives: Students will

· Create a foldable about bears in hibernation.

Read the section about bears from The Laziest to the class. Either gather several copies of or make copies of sections of The Laziest. Ask the students to use the books or the copies of the book sections to make their own foldable. They may create any foldable that they see fit. If they have not had enough experience making a foldable, then teach them the foldable in the picture example. Make sure that their foldable answers the following questions: Where do they sleep and in what position? (Example: Bats: in caves and upside down). How long do they sleep? What do they eat? Where in the world do they live? (Draw and label the world for this question). Have students glue their foldable into their interactive notebooks.

Day 6: Rainforest Animals

Objective: Students will

· Choose and research a rainforest animal’s adaptations.

· Create a foldable about their chosen animal.

Read Animals in Camouflage to the class. When the book asks, “What am I?” ask the students to raise their hands and guess. Explain how some animals adapt by using camouflage. Camouflage is when you blend with surroundings. Animals use this to hide from predators and to sneak up on prey. Discuss how animals also physically adapt by changing their physique. Read What Do You Do With a Tail Like This? and What Do You Do When Something Wants To Eat You? by Steve Jenkin to the class. Discuss the different animal adaptations as you read the book. Provide several books about rainforest animals such as Life on the Equator by Stephanie Lazor. Ask students to choose an animal from the rainforest and research how their animal adapts to their environment. Have the students to create a foldable of their own design to enter in their research. The foldable should answer the following questions: What animal is it? Where in the world does the animal live? (For this answer, draw the world and label). What does the animal eat? What are the animal’s physical adaptations? What are the animal’s behavioral adaptations? Does the animal hibernate? If so, how long and when? Remind the students to ask themselves the questions discussed in the book, like why have certain types of noses, eyes, or ears? If they do not finish their foldable in class, they may finish it for homework that night.

Day 7: Arctic Animals

Objective: Students will

· Choose and research a arctic animal’s adaptations.

· Create a foldable about their chosen animal.

Provide students with a variety of books about animals that live in the arctic such as Amazing Arctic Animals. Ask students to use the books to choose an animal that lives in the arctic and research how their animal adapts to their environment. Have the students to create a foldable of their own design to enter in their research. The foldable should answer the following questions: What animal is it? Where in the world does the animal live? (For this answer, draw the world and label). What does the animal eat? What are the animal’s physical adaptations? What are the animal’s behavioral adaptations? Does the animal hibernate? If so, how long and when? Remind the students to ask themselves the questions discussed in the book, like why have certain types of noses, eyes, or ears? If they do not finish their foldable in class, they may finish it for homework that night. If a student finishes early, they may create another foldable or another choice project about arctic animals. The project may be a poem, drawing, news article, skit, or game. If a student has any other ideas for a project they need to have the teacher approve it. If a student finishes their project, allow them to present it to the class.

Day 8: Desert Animals

Objective: Students will

· Choose and research a desert animal’s adaptations.

· Create a foldable about their chosen animal.

Provide students with a variety of books about animals that live in the desert such as Adapting and Surviving by Dr. Brian Knapp. Ask students to use the books to choose an animal that lives in the desert and research how their animal adapts to their environment. Have the students to create a foldable of their own design to enter in their research. The foldable should answer the following questions: What animal is it? Where in the world does the animal live? (For this answer, draw the world and label). What does the animal eat? What are the animal’s physical adaptations? What are the animal’s behavioral adaptations? Does the animal hibernate? If so, how long and when? Students should draw a picture of their animal somewhere on the foldable . Remind the students to ask themselves the questions discussed in the book, like why have certain types of noses, eyes, or ears? If they do not finish their foldable in class, they may finish it for homework that night. If a student finishes early, they may create another foldable or another choice project about arctic animals. The project may be a poem, drawing, news article, skit, or game. If a student has any other ideas for a project they need to have the teacher approve it. If a student finishes their project, allow them to present it to the class.

Day 9: Ocean Animals

Objective: Students will

· Choose and research a ocean animal’s adaptations.

· Create a foldable about their chosen animal.

Provide students with a variety of books about animals that live in the ocean such as Adapting and Surviving by Dr. Brian Knapp. Ask students to use the books to choose an Have the students to create a foldable of their own design to enter in their research. The foldable should answer the following questions: What animal is it? Where in the world does the animal live? (For this answer, draw the world and label). What does the animal eat? What are the animal’s physical adaptations? What are the animal’s behavioral adaptations? Does the animal hibernate? If so, how long and when? Students should draw a picture of their animal somewhere on the foldable. Remind the students to ask themselves the questions discussed in the book, like why have certain types of noses, eyes, or ears? If they do not finish their foldable in class, they may finish it for homework that night. If a student finishes early, they may create another foldable or another choice project about arctic animals. The project may be a poem, drawing, news article, skit, or game. If a student has any other ideas for a project they need to have the teacher approve it. If a student finishes their project, allow them to present it to the class.

Day 10: Make Your Own Animal

Objective: Students will

· Create their own animal.

· Build a foldable describing their animal’s background including their behavioral and physical adaptations.

Direct students to create their very own animal. Ask students to build a foldable to present their animal with in front of the class. The foldable should answer the following questions: What animal is it? Where in the world does the animal live? (For this answer, draw the world and label). What does the animal eat? What are the animal’s physical adaptations? What are the animal’s behavioral adaptations? Does the animal hibernate? If so, how long and when? Students should draw a picture of their animal somewhere on the foldable Remind the students to ask themselves the questions discussed in the book, like why have certain types of noses, eyes, or ears? Students may include any other fun facts about their personal animal. If students finish early, they may write a poem or write a story about their animal.

Resources

Books

Adapting and Surviving by Dr. Brian Knapp. Illus by David Woodroffe. (2003). 24p. Grolier Educational. (32769076747999). Gr. 3-6.

This highly descriptive book discusses how different animals and plants adapt to survive in woodlands, ponds, rivers, meadows, rock pools, mountains, and deserts. It also includes the changes plants and animals undergo in order to live through seasonal changes. One section that is in this book and not several others for thirds graders discusses how plants have adapted to defend themselves. Adapting and Surviving is a bit text heavy, but a glossary is included at the beginning of the book to help students with vocabulary and a table of contents is also included to help students sift through it to find the information they need quickly. I would not recommend reading this book to the class, but rather offer it to students if they would like to do research.

Night Animals by Susan Meredith. Illus by Patrizia Donaera and Adam Larkum. (2003). 32 p. Usborne Publishing Ltd. (32769080631692). Gr. 2-6.

Night Animals is a picture-filled book that describes how nocturnal animals have adapted in order to survive. It shows how not only have nocturnal animals adapted to seeing at night but they adapt in different ways like how they hunt, have improved hearing, eyes adjust during the day, can have larger eyes, cool off during the day through mud baths or holes in the ground, sleep during the day, use camouflage, use sound waves, make noises to attract, to communicate with their family, or to keep outsiders away, or use light to send messages such as fireflies. A glossary is included at the end to help students learn the terms nocturnal, hunt, snout, claw, burrow, male and female. Websites are also included to find additional information.

Weird Friends: Unlikely Allies in the Animal Kingdom by Jose Aruego and Ariane Dewey. (2002). 40p. Gulliver Books Harcourt, Inc. (32769069405829). Gr. 2-6.

This is one of my personal favorite finds for this unit. Weird Friends: Unlikely Allies in the Animal Kingdom is all about symbiotic relationships. Symbiotic relationships is a really good example of adapting to the environments because animals are helping each other so they can both survive. This book has adorable drawings and clear descriptions about the symbiotic relationships between the clown fish and the sea anemone, the rhino and the cattle egret, the blind shrimp and the goby, the ostrich and the zebra, the red phalaropes and the sperm whale, the red ants and the large blue butterfly, the hermit crab and sea anemone, the impalas and the baboons, the horse mackerel and the portuguese man-of-war, the forest mouse and the beetles, the hippo, the oxpeckers and the black labeo fish, the wrasse and the google-eye fish, the tuatara and the sooty shearwater, and finally the water thick-knees and the crocodile. The pictures are large enough and the descriptions short enough that it is the perfect book to read to the class aloud.

What Do You Do When Something Wants To Eat You? by Steve Jenkin. (1997). 16p. Houghton Mifflin Company. (32769048038196). Gr. 2-6.

Every animal has a defense tactic to keep itself from being eaten. Some animals use camouflage to hide, some run away really quickly, and some split their own tails into wiggly little pieces. These defense skills can be either instinctual or learned behavior. They are how animals have adapted to keep surviving despite living amongst their predators. What Do You Do When Something Wants To Eat You? describes the escape tactics of an octopus, bombardier beetle, puffer fish, glass snake, pangolin, basilisk lizard, hog-nosed snake, clown fish, hover fly, gliding frog, silkmoth, avanese, flying fish, and finally the blue-tongued skink. The pictures are big enough and the descriptions short enough that it is perfect to read aloud to the class.

What Do You Do With a Tail Like This? by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page. (2003). 32p. Houghton Mifflin Company. (32769076278375). Gr. 2-6.

Animals' physical appearances often change through evolution so animals can survive in their environment. Several examples of these adaptations are shown in What Do You Do With a Tail Like This? The book is set up in a way that two pages will show a certain body part of several animals and will ask "What do you do with a ______[insert name of body part] like this?" The next page will show exactly why those animals have that type of body part and how it helps them survive. The pictures are large enough and the descriptions short enough that it is perfect to read aloud to your class. The read is easy but it is filled with information that you might never have known yourself!

The Laziest by Mymi Doinet. (2002).14p. Random House, Inc. (32769069374140). Gr. 3-6.

People spend about a third of their life sleeping, but that is nothing compared to some other animals in the world! The Laziest describes several animals around the world that sleep incredibly often including the brown bear, the orangutan, the grass snake, the alpine marmot, the three-toed sloth, the cow, the hippopotamus, the cat, the garden dormouse, the lesser horseshoe bat, the edible snail, and the flamingo. This book contains huge pictures of the animals in real life, not just drawings. This book is too text heavy to read the whole thing to the class, but just a section would be great to introduce students to it and offer it to them for further research.

Amazing Arctic Animals by Jackie Glassman. Illus by Lisa Bonforte. (2002). 48p. Glosset and Dunlap. (32769072889589). Gr. 1-3.

This book is great for students doing research on arctic animals. The book begins by introducing Antarctica and describing how it is the coldest place on Earth. This book shows how Antarctica is in just winter for the last six months, and is still chilly in its summertime. It also explains how Antarctica is in complete darkness for its winter. With such a climate, animals need to be prepared in order to survive. Amazing Arctic Animals depicts the different adaptations of animals that they need. It does not read as a story but rather each 2 pages in the middle section of the book describes a different animal in the arctic. It provides the baby name of the animal, size at birth, size full grown, favorite foods, and enemies. If a student wanted to do research on arctic animals, this would be there go-to book.

What Color is Camouflage? by Carolyn Otto. Illus by Megan Lloyd. (1996). 32p. Harper Collins. (32769041872567). Gr. 1-3.

Beautiful pictures of animals using camouflage to hide from their predators are provided on every page. The pictures are large enough and the descriptions are short enough to read aloud to your class. The highly detailed drawings make it easy to see how camouflage helps animals hide.

Animals in Camouflage by Phyllis Limbacher Tildes. (2000). 32p. Charlesbridge Publishing. (32769059300923). Gr. 1-3.

This is the perfect book to read aloud to your class in an introduction to camouflage. Huge pictures allow the whole class to see if held high. The book is set up in a way that on one page it contains a description of the animal and the question, “What am I?” The next page provides the animal’s name and a description of how its particular camouflage helps them hide. Be sure to give time for your students to try to pick out if they can see where the animal is!

Life on the Equator by Stephanie Lazor. (2004). 53p. Rosen Publishing Group. (32769081123426).Gr. 3-6.

Life on the Equator describes the different ecosystems along the equator such as the rainforest and the savannah. It is not just about adaptations, but it does include some interesting adaptation facts such as how toucans have longer and bigger beaks to give them advantage in getting food over birds with smaller beaks. This book would be for third graders at a more advanced reading level.

Shelter Edited by Stella Sands. (1998).19p. Kids Discover. (10542868). Gr. 3-6.

This magazine is a great source of information about the different types of houses built around the world. These different houses include sod houses, steel houses, wood houses, stone houses, bottle houses, mud/dung/stick/hair/straw houses, foam houses, mud houses, cave houses, leaf houses, and bamboo and paper houses. This is a great lesson to introduce students to how people adapt to their environments through house making.

Animal Hibernating by Pam Hickman. Illus by Pat Stephens. (2005). 39p. Kids Can Press. (32769083383721). Gr. 3-6.

There are several animals out there that hibernate. This book describes how different animals have adapting to weather changing to the cold side by hibernating. The particularly cool thing about this book is that it actually describes how it is physically possible to survive while sleeping for so long. The book describes how different animals survive hibernation. For instance, a black bear’s breathing and heart rate would be much lower than normal. They would also grow a thick layer of fur and fat to stay warm. Many animals curl up in their sleep, and the book provides a science experiment to teach students why curling up is an effective way to stay warm.

Websites

Arctic Adaptation Quiz

http://www.ecokids.ca/pub/eco_info/topics/climate/adaptation_quiz/index.cfm

See if you can answer all the frog's questions about the adaptations of animals in the arctic. This is another Eco Kids Game. Eco Kids is a reliable site made for kids. This site also has homework help if students wish to use it.

Animal Adaptations Eco Kids Game

http://www.ecokids.ca/pub/eco_info/topics/climate/adaptations/index.cfm

Beat the clock! Pick the correct three out of four adaptations for the chosen animal before the clock runs out!

Deciduous Forest Animal Adaptations

http://www.cotf.edu/ete/modules/msese/earthsysflr/dforestA.html

Read up on deciduous forest animals and the adaptations they have gained by living in their environment. This website also includes an introductory lesson on adaptation by describing how humans adapt to different weather climates. It describes the difference between physical and behavioral adaptation. This site includes a teacher resource section under "Teacher Lounge" which leads to a glossary, lesson ideas, and further activities.

National Geographic for Kids: Search for Your Favorite Animal

http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/animals/creaturefeature/

This National Geographic website for kids provides pictures and descriptions of certain animals and how they have adapted to their environments. A plethora of animal options are provided. These animals can be sorted on the site by the habitat they live in or whether or not they are mammals, birds, invertebrates, fish, bugs, birds, insects or even dinosaurs.

Plant and Animal Adaptations to the Desert

http://wc.pima.edu/Bfiero/tucsonecology/adaptations/adaptations_home.htm

Read about the major ways hat plants and animals adapt to desert life in Southeast Arizona. Some of the information might be a little advanced for third graders, but if the teacher explains it then the site can certainly be used.

Assessment Resources

http://www.vtaide.com/png/edu/Animal-Adaptations.pdf

This website is an adaptations quiz. The quiz provides a picture of an animal and a statement. For example, the first question has a picture of a wolf and reads, “Fur turns white during the cold, snowy winter months. To answer the questions, students need to write the function of the adaptation and what the name of the animal is.

http://www.ngsp.com/Portals/0/Downloads/60296_lm.pdf

This website provides a pre-test on animal adaptations. It includes labeling, matching, and multiple choice. This website also includes other worksheets for the lesson including an animal concept web for behaviors and features, a fill in the blank with a word bank, a study guide, a place to summarize key concepts, a kwl chart, a writing frame, and even a post-test.

http://www.unitedstreaming.com/videos/11279/11279_BM.pdf

This website includes a pre-test and a post-test for animal adaptations. They are both fill in the blank with a word bank. Each test is only 5 questions long. This website also includes a video quiz game and a vocabulary review.

http://users.netrover.com/~kingskids/quiz_science/animals/quiz1.html

This website is an online quiz about adaptations. The quiz provides pictures. The website also provides a link for further resources for teachers.

http://www.lessonplanet.com/article/elementary-science/science-performance-assessment

This website provides different options of assessments. The suggestions include having the students write a story, letter, song, comic strip, textbook chapter, photo essay, or create a diorama or game.

Answer Keys to Assessments

Answer Key for First Assessment Resource

1. Function: to blend with the snow and hide from predators and prey.

Animal: Wolf

2. Function: to go long distances without needing water.

Animal: Camel

3. Function: to run fast and catch prey

Animal: Cheetah

4. Function: to breathe air when they resurface. They only have to resurface enough to she blowhole reaches the air.

Animal: Dolphin

5. Function: to reach food (twigs and leaves) high up in the trees.

Animal: Giraffe

6. Function: to climb hard rocks without injuring their feet.

Animal: Billy-goat

7. Function: so the air catches the skin and allows them to soar in the air.

Animal: Flying squirrel

8. Function: to swim easily and swiftly

Animal: Penguin

9. Function: to move easily and swiftly in the water

Animal: Seal

10. Function: for buoyancy because oil is less dense than water.

Animal: Shark

11. Function: to swim easily

Animal: Platypus

12. Function: To keep them warm.

Animal: Walrus

Answer Key to Second Assessment Resource

Pre-test

(Question 1 is labeling the anteater’s tongue and claws)

2. Anteaters have claws to dig into the ground. They have long tongues to pick up ants.

3. d

4. c

5. b

6. e

7. a

8. b

9. a

10. c

Post-Test

(The first questions just asks to label the camel’s hump and feet).

2. The camel’s hump is made of lots of fat and can help it survive a long amount of time without food.

3. d

4. c

5. e

6. a

7. b

8. c

9. a

10. b

Answer Key for 3^rd Assessment Resource Pre-test

1. bodies

2. plants

3. blend

4. chance

5. survive

Post-test

1. camouflage

2. meat

3. choice

4. survival

5. behavior

Name:_________________________________

Rubric for Foldables
Question	Their points	Out of
Did they answer all the asked questions?		5
Did they include a picture?		2
Folding wise, did they correctly make the foldable?		2
Is it neat enough to be used as a reference to return to?		1

Total____/10

Foldables
#1
Take a single sheet of paper.

Hot dog fold your paper.

Hamburger fold your paper.

Unfold your paper once.

Fold the bottom half into thirds.

Unfold your paper once.

Do the same to the top half.

Unfold your paper once.

Cut the creases on the front cover only.

Cut off the cover on the top section of the foldable.

Use the top section to write the title. On the front cover on the other flaps write the vocabulary terms.

On the inside flap, write the vocabulary definitions.

#2
Take two pieces of paper.

Overlap one sheet over the other, leaving about an inch.

Fold over the papers. Staple the top edge.

#3
Take a single sheet of paper.

Fold one corner to the edge of the other side.

Cut off the excess edge.

Unfold your paper. Make sure it is on the valley side.

Fold your paper in half.

Unfold your paper.

Fold your paper in half to make a new crease.

Unfold your paper.

Fold your paper inwards so the two corners meet.

Fold the top down and crease the edges.

This should be your final result.

by Nicole Pradas

Unit Resource Portfolio: Plants

2011-12-04T22:18:00.022-05:00

Young children have a natural curiosity about the living things that they encounter. Observation is a great way for students to answer questions about how plants live, their parts, and characteristics. All plants need nutrients, air, water, light, and a place with space to grow. They have specific structures to meet their needs. This ten-day unit is designed to fulfill the SOL requirements for first graders' in-depth exploration of plants.

Virginia Standards of Learning

Standard 1.4 The student will investigate and understand that plants have basic life needs and functional parts and can be classified according to certain characteristics. Key concepts include
(a) plants need nutrients, air, water, light, and a place to grow;
(b) basic parts of plants;
(c) plants can be classified based on a variety of characteristics.

Background Information

Plants have different structures that serve different functions in growth, survival, and reproduction.
The functions of plant parts include the roots which hold plants in place and absorb water, seeds which make new plants, leaves which make food for the plant, and stems which hold the plants upright and transport materials up and down the plant.
Plants can be categorized by their different characteristics, such as edible/nonedible, flowering/nonflowering, and evergreen/deciduous.

NOTE: Students do not need to know the terms nonedible, edible, evergreen, and deciduous. The focus should be on the concept, not the terminology.

Vocabulary

In order to successfully complete this unit, students need to know the following words: seed, roots, leaves, stems, plant, flower.

Day 1: Introduction to Plants

Objective
Students will:

Identify and describe the basic needs of a plant.

Students will participate in an introductory activity that requires them to guess a mystery item (a plant) contained in a brown paper bag. Divide students into small groups and then display the bag. Tell the students that the bag contains a mystery object. Write sun, water, soil, and air onto the Interactive Whiteboard. Explain that in order to reveal the mystery object, each group must determine what the words on the board have in common. Select a volunteer from each group to share how the words are related. Reveal the plant and discuss how each word is important to the life of a plant. For example, the teacher could say, "The sun gives energy for the plant to make food. Plants use minerals in the water to help them grow. The soil provides nutrients for the plant. The plant takes in carbon dioxide from the air to help make food." Read the book, Seed, Soil, Sun by Cris Peterson. Facilitate a plant walk on the school's campus (if weather permits) and instruct students to complete a checklist of different plants they saw. Teach students "The Needs of a Plant" song to review the basic needs of plants.

Day 2: The Parts of Plants

Objectives
Students will:

Identify the basic parts of a plant.
Create an illustration of the basic parts of a plant.

Read the book, Plants are Living Things by Bobbie Kalman. Discuss the basic parts of plants on p. 10 of the book. Model how to create an illustration of the basic parts of a plant (see example). Instruct students to complete the Plant Vocabulary worksheet. Teach students "The Parts of Plants" song. For the lyrics, click here.

Day 3: Flippin' Over Plant Parts

Objectives
Students will:

Identify and describe the basic parts of a plant.
Create a stepbook foldable that identifies and describes the basic parts of a plant.

Read the book, From Seed to Plant by Gail Gibbons. Lead a discussion about the different plant parts and their roles in the life of the plant. Model how to create a stepbook foldable, using four sheets of paper. Staple the booklets along the top. Display the example for reference. Instruct students to write a short sentence under each flap describing the importance of the labeled plant part. Students will use the foldable to review the five basic parts of the plants in pairs.

Day 4: Leafy Comparisons

Objectives
Students will:

Identify the functions of leaves for a plant.
Sort, identify, and describe the similarities and differences of a variety of leaves.

Three types of leaves.

Read the book, Leaves by Vijaya Khisty Bodach. Discuss the functions of leaves, describe the different kinds of leaves, and the leaves in which we eat. Review the basic parts of plants using the maple tree illustration on p. 22. Begin the leaf sorting activity by giving one leaf to each student. Explain that one way scientists classify leaves is by looking at a leaf's edge. Introduce the three categories on the Leaf Sorting Activity handout. Show examples of smooth-edged, lobed, and toothed leaves. Place students in pairs to sort various leaves. Instruct students to paste the leaves in the appropriate column and share why the leaf fits into that category. Select groups to share their leaf classifications at the end. Read Look Once, Look Again: Plant Leaves by David M. Schwartz, which taps into readers' sense of sight.

Day 5: Leafy Learning

Objectives
Students will:

Collect a variety of leaves on a leaf hunt (if the weather permits).
Create a leaf rubbing.
Record the similarities and differences between various leaves.

Read We're Going on a Leaf Hunt by Steve Metzger. Facilitate a leaf hunt to collect various leaves that have fallen. Encourage students to collect at least four smooth-edged, lobed, and toothed leaves. Instruct students to place leaves into their individual plastic bags. Discuss the differences between deciduous and evergreen trees. Once in the classroom, instruct students to choose two of their leaves to create a leaf rubbing. Instruct students to choose crayons that match the color of each leaf. Demonstrate how to use a crayon to make a leaf rubbing. Instruct students to study the rubbings and identify similarities and differences between the two types of leaves and record these comparisons. Select students to share their rubbings in small groups and discuss the similarities and differences, as well as the types of leaves (i.e. smooth-edged, lobed, toothed). Click here for the handout.

Day 6: Garden in a Glove Sprout Race

Objectives
Students will:

Identify the needs of plant seeds.
Investigate the germination of seeds.
Observe the growth of various seeds over a period of time.

Facilitate a Think-Pair-Share activity in which students answer the following question: Do all plants take the same amount of time to sprout? Instruct students to record their thoughts, then share with a partner and the class. Discuss that like humans, plants also go through stages as they grow. Show students the life cycle of a plant poster. Read Oh Say Can You Seed: All About Flowering Plants by Bonnie Worth and review the stages of growth in flowering plants. Explain that the students will set up an experiment to compare five seeds (Garden in a Glove, Ag In the Classroom) and observe the seeds for several days until germination is complete. To keep track of the seeds' progress, students will make a seed journal using brown construction paper and writing paper. For the first day, students will make predictions about when they think the first signs of growth will occur and what seeds will sprout first. Explain that students will record observations in their "Sprout Race" journals every day until the seeds have matured into sprouts. Read The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle on YouTube. Click here for the link.

Day 7: Getting to the Root of It

Objectives
Students will:

Identify the function of roots.
Recognize the importance of roots in the life cycle of a plant.

In advance, gather a hair dryer, a small potted plant, a container with moist soil, and plant clippings with no roots. Ask students why they think roots are important and list their responses on the Interactive Whiteboard. Place the plant clippings in the container with moist soil. Ask students to predict what might happen to these two plants on a windy day. Select students to share their responses. Turn the hair dryer on a low setting and point it toward both plants. Ask students to describe what happened (i.e. the plant clippings pull out of the soil because they have no roots). Read Roots by Vijaya Khisty Bodach. Discuss the function of roots and different roots in which we eat. Show students two plastic cups that contain garlic cloves (i.e. teachers should plant these at least 3-5 days in advance). Explain that one cup contains a garlic clove that was planted pointing up, while the other was planted pointing down. Instruct students to record their observations on this handout. Explain that roots always grow down. Explain that a garlic clove is a kind of seed called a bulb and when it is planted, pointing down, a sprout still grows up from it; however, it takes longer to come out of the dirt. Provide students with time to play the interactive game, The Great Plant Escape.

Day 8: Carnation Capers

Objectives
Students will:

Identify and describe the functions of a plant's stem.
Observe and investigate plant stems in tinted (i.e. food coloring) water.

Place students into pairs and give each pair a blue carnation to observe and analyze. Instruct students to answer the following questions on Post-It notes, Why is the carnation blue? Aren't carnations usually white? If you wanted to change a white carnation into a blue carnation, what would you do? How could you find out if your idea was correct? Select students to share and post these responses on the Interactive Whiteboard. Conduct a brief demonstration to show why the stem of a plant is so important by filling a cup with water, tinted with food coloring and adding a rolled paper towel. Ask students to share what they observed and how it is related to plants. Give students food coloring and cups with tinted water to color carnations. Give each pair of students a carnation with a split stem to investigate what happens if both stems are placed into different colored water. Ask students the following questions: How do the carnations that drink one color of water look? How do the carnations that drink two colors of water look? Is there a difference? Do the flowers drink the different colors at the same speed? Read Stems by Vijaya Khisty Bodach. Explain that a plant draws water up to its stem similar to the water in which humans drink through straws. Distribute the Keyword Method handout for students to complete. Click here for the handout.

Day 9: Tops and Bottoms

Objectives
Students will:

Classify various edible vegetables, according to their parts of the plant.
Create a salad that contains various edible vegetables.
Identify top and bottom vegetables.

Is it a top or a bottom? Students will find the answer to this question during a brief sorting activity. Explain that a vegetable is the part of the plant that we eat. Read Tops and Bottoms by Janet Stevens, emphasizing how Hare was able to trick the lazy Bear. Display an assortment of vegetables and have students sort them by plant part. Select students to help to create a salad to taste the different vegetables. As each item is added, explain which plant part it is from and the function of the plant part. Provide students with time to play the interactive game, Build a Salad. Instruct students to complete the Tops and Bottoms assessment. For this handout, click here.

Here are some examples of edible veggies:
Stems: asparagus, leeks, celery
Leaves: cabbage, lettuce
Flowers: cauliflower, broccoli
Roots: carrots, beets, radishes, parsnips, turnips
Tubers (underground stems): potatoes, yams
Seeds: peas, corn, sunflower seeds, chickpeas
Fruit: tomatoes, cucumbers, orange segments

NOTE: This lesson involves food; therefore, teachers should review student allergies prior to the lesson.

Day 10: Review Concepts

Objectives
Students will:

Review the basic needs and parts of plants.
Create a foldable that identifies and describes the different parts of plants.

Read Plant Secrets by Emily Goodman to review the basic parts of plants. Model how to create an envelope foldable that identifies and describes the different parts of plants to glue into their science notebooks. Instruct students that they must draw the life cycle of a plant inside of the foldable. Provide students with ample time to play the following interactive games: (1) Plant Life Cycle Sequence Game; (2) Helping Plants Grow Well; (3) Plant Growth Factors; (4) Plant Life, Plants Galore;; (5) Plant Explorer, as well as review their science journals.

SPECIAL NOTE: All handouts and foldables should be pasted into the students' science notebooks and used as a studying tool.

End-of-Unit Plants Test

Additional Resources

The following web sites are a great way for students to build their understanding of plants:

Biology of Plants
This site provides information on basic plant parts, pollination, and photosynthesis.

Plants Quiz
This web site quizzes students' knowledge of basic plant parts.

SOL Pass
This web site contains various plant interactive games, in preparation for the third grade SOL.

Trees are Terrific: Travels with Pierre
Pierre the acorn leads students on an interactive adventure that explores trees.