Group items tagged

1.3.4 "Describe how animals' habitats, including plants, meet their needs for food, water, shelter and an environment in which they can live."

Extension: Students can create mobiles to reveal their understanding of the rainforest ecosystem. Using coat hanger wire and string, students can construct a three-dimensional "dependence web" utilizing the animal and people-characters in The Great Kapok Tree.

1.3.3 "Observe and explain that plants and animals have basic needs for growth and survival: plants need to take in water and need light, and animals need to take in water and food and have a way to dispose of waste." This activity can be modified for ELL students by having them strictly draw pictures of their observations, rather than writing words to describe their observations. This can also be adjusted for older grades, by having them grow several different types of flowers, or by using different fertilizers to help the flowers grow. The students can then compare their effects of the different fertilizers on the same flowers.

2.3.1 Observe closely over a period of time and then record in pictures and words the changes in plants and animals throughout their life cycles-including details of their body plan, structure and timing of growth, reproduction and death. Differentiation: Have ELL students keep a picture journal of drawings of their compost 2 times a week.  Observe the changes over time.

1.3.4 "Describe how animals' habitats, including plants, meet their needs for food, water, shelter and an environment in which they can live."

Extension: This is a great way to open up conversation between the students and increase communication skills as they work together to determine what they need in their habitat in order for their living organisms to survive. This could also be a fun language arts cross-curricular activity- students could answer the question "What would your shoebox habitat look like?"

Differentiation:  planting trees is a universal activity that would build community within the classroom and within the school.   Gifted students could make models of what "trees" are used for to assist human beings.  

This lesson would be great if combined with science lessons on plants.

4.G.2 "Classify two-dimensional figures based on the presence or absence of parallel or perpendicular lines, or the presence or absence of angles of a specified size. Recognize right triangles as a category, and identify right triangles." This activity can be modified for ELL students, gifted students, etc. by using fewer shapes, as well as shapes that are easier to identify. In the other sense, it can be modified to include more shapes that are more difficult to identify. This activity could also be used in other subject areas, such as science. It could be used to identify different classifications of plants and animals. It could also be used in foreign language. The students could read a vocabulary word in the foreign language, and then have to say the correct vocabulary work in English.

2.3.2 "Compare and contrast details of body plans and structures within the life cycles of plants and animals."

Extension: This activity could be a culminating activity to a unit on monarch butterflies, integrating Language Arts.

I have seen a pasta butterfly life cycle created on a paper plate divided into fourths (similar to the one I shared in class that used other materials) which helps to emphasize the cyclical nature because next to the adult section is the egg section which starts the process all over again.