Scientific Organization and SequencingSC010205

Unit 2: Parents and Offspring

Lesson 5: Live vs. Hatched

Big Ideas of the Lesson

  • Some animals are born alive.
  • Some animals hatch from eggs.
  • Mothers take care of their babies when they are little.
  • Many baby animals cannot take care of themselves.

Abstract

This lesson focuses on identifying how animals are born. Children read a book and watch videos about life cycles and animal mothers. They make a chart of animals that hatch from eggs and animals that are born alive.

Grade Level Context Expectation(s)

Children will:

  • generate questions based on observations of various animal life cycles (S.IP.01.12).
  • communicate and present findings of observations of parent/young characteristics (S.IA.01.13).
  • classify young animals based on characteristics that are passed on from parents (e.g., dogs/puppies, cats/kittens, cows/calves, chickens/chicks) (L.HE.01.12).
  • describe the life cycle of animals including the following stages: egg, young, adult; egg, larva, pupa, adult (L.OL.01.21).

Key Concept(s)

adult

egg

growth

life cycle

young/offspring

Instructional Resources

Equipment/Manipulative

Chart paper (1 sheet)

Crayons

Marker

Optional live animal cultures (see Advance Preparation Below)

Pencils

Student Resource

Heller, Ruth. Animals Born Alive and Well. New York: PaperStar, 1982.

---. Chickens Aren’t the Only Ones. New York: PaperStar, 1981.

Kalman, Bobbie. Animals Grow and Change. New York: Crabtree Publishing, 2008.

Kalman, Bobbie, and Jacqueline Langille. What is a Life Cycle? New York: Crabtree Publishing, 1998.

Kessler, Dawn, and Claudia Douglass.Supplemental Materials (SC01020501.doc). Teacher-made material. Waterford, MI: Oakland Schools, 2008.

Teacher Resource

Amazing Animals – Animal Mothers. Videocassette. New York: Dorling Kindersley Ltd., 1997.

Glover, David. Experiments in Science: How Do Things Grow?. New York: Dorling Kindersley, Ltd. 2001.

Graves, Kimberlee. See How It Grows. Cypress, CA: Creative Teaching Press, 1994.

Hampton, Carolyn et al. Classroom Creature Culture: Algae to Anoles. Arlington, VA: National Science Teachers Association, 1994.

Kalman, Bobbie. Animal Life Cycles: Growing and Changing. New York: Crabtree Publishing, 2006.

Kessler, Dawn, and Claudia Douglass.Grade 1 Unit 2 Teacher Background (SC010200TB.doc). Teacher-made material. Waterford, MI: Oakland Schools, 2008.

Life Cycles. Bill Nye the Science Guy. Videocassette. Burbank, CA: Walt Disney Productions, 1998.

Sequence of Activities

Advance Preparation: Make a two-column chart with the subtitles, “Born Alive” and “Hatch From Eggs.”

Ideally, maintain cultures of two animals, one of which who lays eggs and one which has live young. An easy example would be an aquarium that included guppies (which appear to have live young*) and another fish that has eggs, in the same aquarium. Many teachers have egg hatcheries, but it is important to make sure you have the means to maintain good care of the eggs, and have a place to get your hatchling adopted at the appropriate time. An animal that has very lively, healthy live young is the guinea pig. Note: All fish have eggs, but some maintain the eggs inside the body until birth, which gives the appearance of live birth. See Teacher Background for more culture tips.

1.To introduce this lesson, show the video Life Cycles with Bill Nye the Science Guy. Explain to the children that as they view this video they are looking for animals that are born alive and animals that hatch from eggs. To help clarify the difference, ask: “Has anyone seen an animal give birth?” [Some children may have seen a pet or farm animal give birth. Most of these animals will give birth to a young that resembles the parent and is born alive.] Next ask: “Where do baby birds come from?” [Most children know that they hatch from eggs. Include chickens in this discussion.] After viewing the video, make a two-column chart with Animals Born Alive and Animals That Hatch From Eggs as column headers. Add new animals to this chart throughout this lesson.

2.Share the book See How It Grows. Discuss how the animals in this book are born. (Alternatively, you may have good photos including those in Teacher Background on your board. You can review each situation.)

3.Show the video Amazing Animals – Animal Mothers and discuss how the animals in the video are born and how their mothers take care of them. Ask the children why these animals need their mothers to take care of them. [Because they are too small and unable to get their own food and to protect themselves. As they grow to adults, they will be able to take care of themselves.]

4.As your children observe live or videotaped baby animals, encourage observation and classification with questions like those that follow:

  • “How are the tiniest babies protected?” [In an egg or in the mother. Kangaroos (marsupials) have a pouch for their young that are born extremely small and helpless.]
  • “Are the babies able to take care of themselves when they are first born?” [Normally, no. Guinea pigs and guppies are born in a very active state, but kittens and puppies are blind and helpless. A few fish and reptiles (like the alligator) protect their young but that is not the rule.]
  • “How do the newborns eat?” [Birds get food that the parent carries in the beak. Mammals drink milk from the mother. Fish, reptiles, and amphibians normally must find food right away.]

These questions will be repeated in the next lesson after observation of the egg.

5.Have children create an individual chart of “Animals Born Alive” and “Animals That Hatch From Eggs.” The children draw and color animals under the appropriate heading.

Assessment

Individually assess the children as they are making their chart. Ask about the birth of the animals they are drawing in each column.

Application Beyond School

Children could identify animals around their neighborhood that are born alive and those that hatch from an egg.

Connections

Mathematics

While discussing the animals that hatch from eggs, the children could make size comparisons of the eggs.

The Oakland Schools Curriculum Page 1of 3

scope.oakland.k12.mi.usJanuary 14, 2010