Grade K CRM 5 Animals TEKS K.10A, K.10B

Lesson 1

Observing and Describing Animals

Essential Questions

What does it mean to be alive?
How does our planet support life?
Where do organisms get their energy?
How do organisms depend on their environment and their structures to survive?
What changes do organisms go through in their life cycle?
Why do organisms resemble their parents?

/ Enduring Understandings

All organisms have basic needs to survive.
Basic needs can be met through interactions with living and nonliving things.
Energy is passed from the Sun and soil into plants and from plants into animals, and back into the soil.
Organisms have inherited parts that help them meet their needs.
Organisms change over time.

Intended Learning Outcomes
Students will know:

Different animals have external characteristics that help them live in different kinds of places.
Animals have parts that can be identified and named.
Animals have and use parts to help them live in their habitat.

Students will be able to:

View pictures or videos of animals from different habitats to determine similar characteristics.
Sort animals into groups with like characteristics.
Draw and label animals and their parts.
Use pictures to identify animal parts.

TEKS
K.10: Organisms and environments. The student knows that organisms resemble their parents and have structures and processes that help them survive within their environments. The student is expected to:
K.10A: Sort animals into groups based on physical characteristics such as color, size, body covering.
K.10B: Identify parts of animals such as head, eyes, and limbs. / Essential Vocabulary

adult / adulto
animal / animal
baby / bebé
basic need / necesidadbásica
body covering/ cubierta del cuerpo
breathe / respirar
drink / beber
eat / comer
egg / huevo
feather / pluma
fur / pelo, pelaje
grow / crecer, cultivar
habitat / habitat
head / cabeza
leg / pierna
living thing/ seres vivo
nonliving thing/ objetosinerte
parent / padre, madre,
reproduce / reproducir
shell / concha, caracol
shelter / refugio
skin/ piel
tail / cola
wing / ala

Language Objectives:
Use lessons to learn and practice using new vocabulary about animals.
ELPS:
2F-Listening- Listen to and derive meaning from a variety of media to build and reinforce concept and language attainment.
1C-Learning Strategies- Use strategic learning techniques such as concept mapping, drawing, memorizing, comparing, contrasting, and reviewing to acquire basic and grade-level vocabulary.
College and Career Readiness Standards:
Intellectual curiosity-Engage I scholarly inquiry and dialogue. Accept constructive criticism and revise personal views when valid evidence warrants.
21st Century Skills:
Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the environment and the circumstances and conditions affecting it, particularly as relates to air, climate, land, food, energy, water and ecosystems.
Prior Learning:

Organisms have different characteristics, and these characteristics help them live in their environment.
Organisms have life cycles.
Animals have basic needs to stay alive.
Animals grow and change.
Adult animals have young.

TOC (Think/Observe/Conclude) or KWL (Know/Want to Know/Learned)
Encourage oral language by using TOC strategies: put kids in small groups and encourage them to come up with 2-5 things they agree about the topic of study or content. Students in this small group report to the whole group in 3 minutes. The purpose of this activity is to go deeper into the subject.
I think…
I observed…
I conclude…

Teacher Management

Estimated Time for Completion: 5 days

Materials:

Throughout the lessons:

Discussion rules/protocols

Science Notebook Templates

Pencils, Pens, and colored pencils for recording in notebooks

Prepared KLEW Chart (What Do We Think We Know, What We Learned, What our Evidence Is, What We Wonder)

Access to projector/innovation station, internet resources

Plastic animals –including fish, birds, arthropods, reptiles, amphibians, and mammals

Photographs of a diverse selection of animals

Variety of non-fiction books about animals that include detailed color photographs

Additional Materials:

Day 1: none additional

Day 2: none additional

Day 3: Multiple copies (in color) or alligator/crocodile and frog/toad

Day 4: Arthropod examples, Pill bugs, hand lenses(lupas)

Day 5: Plastic animals*/photographs of mammals and non-mammals( See portfolio)

Advanced Teacher Prep

Day 1: Set up stations for children to explore (books, national geographic website, plastic animals, class pets if applicable)

Day2:Prepare a set of diverse animals/photographs for each small group

Day 3: Prepare a copy of the alligator/crocodile and frog/toad for each pair of students.

Day 4: Prepare photographs of arthropods. GO OUTSIDE BEFORE SCIENCE LESSON AND COLLECT ENOUGH PILL BUGS FOR EACH STUDENT. Place pill bugs in clear containers in which children can observe them easily.

Day 5: Prepare papers or trays labeled “mammals” and “non-mammals.” Prepare a diverse set of animals/photographs for the guessing game.

Several of the activities are designed for children to work in small groups. It is helpful to have a system ahead of time to limit transition times during the activities.

This may be a good time to schedule a trip to the zoo, farm, or nature center for Week 5 of CRM 5. Or schedule a visit from a veterinarian (or dog trainer) for Week 5 of CRM 5.

Anchors of Support

Display of animal photographs with labels

Diagrams with pictures and labels of animal groupings

KLEW Chart

Safety Considerations

Using live organisms with children requires special safety considerations—for both children and the specimens. The most important precaution is to make sure that children wash their hands after handling organisms, their food, and their habitats. Read more about safety precautions (including safe classroom pets) from the CDC’s page about Animals in School and Daycare Settings.

Literary Resources

Here are a few suggestions, but there are many books about animals in school libraries.

Reptiles and Amphibians by Roger Priddy

What Makes a Bird a Bird? By Mary Garelick

What’s It Like to Be a Fish? By Windy Pfeffer.

Why Frogs Are Wet By Judy Hawes

Frog or Toad: How Do You Know? By Melissa Stewart

What is an Arthropod?by Bobbie Kalman

I Am a Pill bug by YukihisaTokuda

Discover Mammals: Fun Facts for Kids by Rose Alden

The Magic School Bus Explores the World of Animals by Nancy White and John Speirs

Technology Resources

How Plants and Animals Live, Cómovivenlasplantas y los animales by Tristan Nicholas (Gr 1)

Habitats, Hábitats, by Arlene Block (Gr 1)

iPad Apps: How Do (visuals and sounds for processes, including dog feeding pups and other animal processes)

Birch Aquarium Fish Cam

Animal Planet Bird Cam

Animal Planet Pacific Reef Cam

The Magic School Bus Explores the World of Animals

Toads, Frogs, Pollywogs: the Amphibian Song

Reptile Rap (very outdated but the chorus is catchy):

Suggestions for beginning or end of unit: Create a Poll and allow student to utilize a device like an IPhone, IPad, Smartphone, etc. These sites, Kahoot, Padlet, Poll Everywhere, allows teachers to create a poll for students to respond to. Show a group of students how to respond to the poll by passing around the device throughout the day if only one device is available, these students in turn will show the rest of the class. By the end of the day, as an exit slip strategy, review the poll results with the whole class. This should only take a few minutes and allows for a quick review of content learned.

Science Fusion Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) Resources

Big Book of Science Vocabulary p. 23

Student Edition pp. 109-114

Inquiry Flipchart p. 22

Assessment Guide p. AG 73

Picture Sorting Cards 10, 13, 16, 23, 26, 28, 32, 38

Science Songs CD, track 1, 2

Background Information for Teacher

Science Lessons in Kindergarten should have 80% hands-on investigations or inquiry, which is 36 out of 45 minutes.

If you have visiting animals from the SHRC, please modify to focus on your live specimen. Animals are a fascinating topic for young children; rare is the kindergartner who does not have a favorite animal, and many children are knowledgeable about animals through reading books, visiting the zoo, or owning a pet. Some children may fear animals, however—especially those considered wild or violent, those that creep and crawl, or those that make loud noises. The experiences suggested in this lesson and the ones that follow should capitalize upon the interest of the already knowledgeable children and encourage comfort and curiosity in children who are nervous around animals.

A-Z Animals provides a general overview of classification. The animal kingdom is divided into about 40 (scientists are still fine-tuning!) phylum. Phylum are further broken down into classes. With the exception of arthropods, all groups that are a focus in this week’s lessons are classes. Arthropods are a phylum. The reason to focus on arthropods as opposed to insects is to dispel the misconception that many children have that any crawling creature as an insect; arthropods include not only insects, but also other creepy-crawlies like spiders, millipedes, etc. (as well as lobsters!). The groups focused on this week are but a sampling of the many groupings included in the animal kingdom. Encourage, above all, students’ ongoing curiosity to keep exploring, researching, and wondering on their own beyond this week and beyond the classroom!

The teacher can make the lessons presented here even more meaningful and exciting by having specimens for observation. While the lessons presented her do not rely on having classroom pets, access to real animals will heighten any and all learning that happens. If you are not comfortable maintaining classroom pets for the entire school year, consider these options:

Request organisms for 2-week periods from the Living Materials Center at the Science Health Resource Center
Borrowing pets from other classrooms
Inviting families to bring pets to school for a visit
Creating habitats for animals found outside (e.g. pill bugs, caterpillars, ants, worms)
Scheduling a visit to the zoo or a farm
Purchasing a low-maintenance pet (e.g. fish, gerbils, tarantula) that a family will adopt at the end of the unit

Timeline of Concepts and Questions

Day / Concept / Question in Child-Friendly Language
1 / Animals are living things that exist in almost infinite variety.
Los animales son seres vivos que existen en una variedad casi infinita. / What is an animal?
¿Quées un animal?
2 / Scientists put animals into groups. Birds are two-legged animals covered with feathers; they hatch young from eggs. Fish are water animals covered with scales; they hatch young from eggs.
Los científicos ponen a los animales en grupos. Las aves son animales de dos patas cubiertos de plumas; nacen de huevos.
Los peces son animales de agua cubiertos de escamas; nacen de huevos. / How can we group animals?
What makes a bird a bird and a fish a fish?
¿Cómo podemos agrupar a los animales?
¿Qué hace a una ave ser una ave y a un pez ser un pez?
3 / Reptiles are cold-blooded, scaly skinned land animals that hatch young from eggs.
Amphibians are cold-blooded land animals that lay eggs in water, and live in water before maturing into adults and moving to land.
Los reptiles son animales de sangre fría, con piel escamosa que nace de huevos. Los anfibios son animales de sangre fría que ponen sus huevos en el agua, viviendo allí antes de madurar a su etapa de adulto para moverse hacia el suelo de tierra. / What makes a reptile a reptile and an amphibian an amphibian?
How can drawing help us see the details that make animals unique?
¿Qué hace a un reptil ser un reptil y a un anfibio ser un anfibio?
¿Cómo nos ayuda hacer a ver los detalles que hacen a los animales ser únicos?
4 / Arthropods are hatched from eggs, have more than four jointed legs, and have a hard outer covering (exoskeleton).
Los artrópodos nacen de huevos, tienen más de cuatro piernas conectadas y tienen una cubierta exterior dura (exoesqueleto). / What makes an arthropod an arthropod? ¿Qué hace a un artrópodo ser un artrópodo?
5 / Mammals are hair-covered warm-blooded animals that drink milk from their mothers when they are young.
Los mamíferos son animales de sangre caliente cubiertos de pelo, que toman leche de sus madres cuando son pequeños. / What makes a mammal a mammal?
¿Qué hace a un mamífero ser un mamífero?

Misconceptions

“Students tend to classify animals (including mammals) using criteria such as movement, number of legs, body covering, and habitat. These criteria can lead students to classify some animals incorrectly. For example, marine mammals such as whales are often believed to be fish. Some students might believe that only large land mammals are animals.” Source: Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears
“Students also develop their ability to classify animals as they age. Students in the primary grades often form animal groups by different status (organisms that fly, organisms that live in the water) and do not use a hierarchical system of classification.” Source: Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears
“Research has shown that some students may believe that insects are not animals because the organisms were introduced and studied in separate units. Teachers should be careful to relate such units (insects, birds, mammals) back to a larger discussion of animals.” Source: Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears
“Students may have misconceptions about specific mammals due to personal experiences or cultural myths. For example, students may believe that bats feed on blood because they have been exposed to horror movies and stories.” Source: Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears
Animals can be grouped only by similarities in external appearance, behavior, or habitat. (vs. internal structures and processes).Source: Ohio Resource Center
All ocean animals are fish. Source
All fish lay eggs. (Some fish give birth to live young, such as guppies and some sharks.) Source

Probing Questions

Why do scientist study animals?
¿Porqué los cientificos estudian animales?
What makes an organism an animal?
¿Que causa que un organismo se clasifique como un animal?
What features and behaviors help us to tell animals apart?
¿Qué características y comportamientos nos ayudan a separar a los animales?
How can grouping animals help us understand them?
¿Cómo es que agrupando a los animales nos ayuda a estudiarlos?

See questions embedded in daily lessons as well.

All lesson resources provided within this lesson are for instruction by ALL teachers.

To meet Dual Language criteria, Dual Language Activity 1 and Activity 2 have been identified for the Dual Language teacher.

Arch of Lessons Kindergarten (45 Minute Lessons)

Day 1: Is it an animal?

Directed Inquiry- Students are given the question and procedures, but make their own claims and conclusions citing their collected data as evidence.

Engage (20 minutes) and Dual Language Activity 1

“We will be studying animals for the next few weeks. A scientist who studies animals is called a zoologist. So that is how I will greet you each day at science for the rest of our study. Do you hear a familiar word in there? Zoo, of course, we know a zoo is place where we can observe animals, especially those that we do not often see. That word, zoo, will help us remember the word for scientists who study animals—zoologists.”

“Whenever we study something new, I like to find out what you already know…and also what we might be confused about or wondering about as a class.

Drawing Detectives:

Adapted to the theme of animals: Students will describe an animal’s external characteristics and parts.

Divide group into pairs. Distribute pens and paper (sticky notes) to everyone. Students could be arranged on the carpet sitting back to back or at tables in chairs back to back. Without speaking, each person should draw three parts of an animal with the intention to help their partner guess the animal drawn. Stress that drawing ability does not matter – it will be the Detective’s job to interpret whatever marks or images are presented to them. After drawing their images, ask each person to take a turn at being a Detective and guessing as much as they can about the animals their partner drew. The partner should remain silent until the Detective has finished. After all detectives have finished, bring 2 or 3 pairs together and ask each person to introduce their partner to the larger group by saying what they have discovered about them.

Additional probing questions: