Animal adaptation

This lesson focuses on the adaptations, body structures, and behavior of animals. The students will explore animal growth and adaptations of animals. This lesson is designed to be taught during the reading of Stone Fox.

A lesson plan for grade 4 English Language Arts, English Language Development, and Science

By Jennifer Fessler and Karen Wright

About the authors

Jennifer teaches ESL for Rockingham County Schools. Karen teaches fourth grade at Central Elementary in Rockingham County.

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Related topics

• Learn more about biology and life science and science.

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Learning outcomes

Students will:

• relate characteristics and behavior of animals to their environment.
• determine the behavior and body structure that have specific growth and survival functions of animals.
• evaluate living and nonliving things that affect animals in their environment.

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

3 days

Materials/resources

• Pre-activity: Pictures of animals and their environments. For images that can be used for free in educational use, try Classroom Clipart and explore the geography and animals sections.
• Adaptation Experiment: chart table, pliers, tweezers, chopsticks, spoons, clothespins, cooked rice, cooked spaghetti, bird seed, peanuts, paper plates, paper towels.
• Copy and transparency of chart for the experiment.
• Animal Research: 5″x 7″ index cards for each student, reference books from media center, access to computer lab. Copy of the Rubric to assess index cards.
• Stone Fox Activity: Copy of Stone Fox for each student

Technology resources

For the Animal Research section, the students will need access to a computer and the Internet.

Pre-activities

Prior to this lesson the students will need to know about basic needs of living things.

To stimulate student’s prior knowledge of living and nonliving things that affect animal life, the student will participate in a class activity where the teacher will pass out pictures of animals and their environment. The students will be instructed to match the animal with the environment in which that animal lives.

These pictures can be found by visiting the suggested websites that contain image collections.

Activities

1. The teacher will guide a Bird Adaptation experiment, setting the purpose that animals body structures help them adapt to their environment. This experiment will be taught by using cooperative groups in a heterogeneous setting. Before beginning the experiment, the teacher will brainstorm with the class different shapes of birds’ beaks, drawing these on the overhead or board. The teacher will then pose the question, “Why are there different shapes of beaks?” She will then instruct the students to copy the table for the experiment that will be on the overhead. The teacher will clarify any questions about the table at this time. The teacher will give each group the supplies listed in the Bird Adaptation Materials List. She will then instruct the students to use each tool to gather the various foods and record their observations on their table. Once the groups have been given ample time to complete their table, the teacher will discuss their findings as a whole class. She will then ask the students to independently answer the open-ended questions listed at the bottom of the table.
2. The teacher will introduce the vocabulary words as a whole group using the overhead. Students will copy these terms and their definitions into their Science Journals so that they may refer back to the definitions throughout the lessons. Students will complete independently the vocabulary puzzle using their journal if needed.
3. The teacher will assign each cooperative group a particular animal to research, finding structural characteristics as well as behavioral characteristics in that animal’s habitat. Each student will receive an index card to record their findings. The student may use resources from the media center as well as resources from the Internet (make sure all students have signed forms from their parents allowing the use of the Internet).
4. Using the chapter book, Stone Fox, the teacher will make a connection between the animals previously discussed and the Samoyed dogs that appear in the story. The teacher will ask students to list and describe at least three animal adaptations of the dogs using the text as a source to find information.

Assessment

• The teacher will use the open-ended questions completed by the students to check for understanding of animal adaptations.
• The teacher will use the rubric to assess the research of structural and behavioralcharacteristics.
• The teacher will verify student understanding, using the Stone Fox activity, where the student identifies animal adaptations cited in the text.
• The teacher will assess students’ knowledge of the vocabulary words by checking their completed vocabulary puzzle for 100% accuracy.

Supplemental information

For additional activities or resources for teachers to use, you may wish to visit Mrs. Dingman’s Internet Scavenger Hunts (scroll down to Ecosystems and their Interactions).

The teacher may also want to incorporate different animal adaptations videos from the Reading Rainbow Series.

Related websites

Rubistar: This free online tool will allow anyone to customize a printable rubric. You may want to use this to create your own rubric instead of the rubric attached to this plan.

Modifications

During the activity with the Stone Fox story, the teacher will need to pair up an English Language Learner with a non-English Language Learner in order to complete the assignment.

Alternative assessments

The assessments provided in this lesson are appropriate for advanced English Language Learners. No alternative assessment is needed.

Critical vocabulary

• environment
• adaptations
• survival
• habitat
• behavior
• body structure

Comments

This lesson plan was developed during the English Language Development Standard Course of Study lesson planning institutes hosted by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction and LEARN NC, June and July, 2004. It includes specific strategies, instructional modifications, and alternative assessments which make this lesson accessible to limited English proficient students. Please note that this lesson has been aligned with the goals and objectives of the N.C. English Language Development standards.