Organisms
Lesson 14
Freshwater and Woodland Animals: How Do They Compare?
Students now begin to APPLY what they have been learning to compare the freshwater animals with the woodland animals.
3. Lesson set up and Management
INQA Scientific investigations involve asking and trying to answer a question about the natural world by making and recording observations.
INQC Scientists develop explanations, using recorded observations (evidence).
INQD Scientists report on their investigations to other scientists, using drawings and words.
INQF All scientific observations must be reported honestly and accurately.
LS3A Some things are alive and others are not.
LS3B There are many different types of living things on Earth. Many of them are classified as plants or animals.
LS3C External features of animals and plants are used to classify them into smaller groups.
- Students compare and contrast freshwater and woodland animals to understand the characteristics of plants as organisms.
- Students observe and record data based on their observations.
3. Lesson set up and Management
Materials:
- Create a large "Ways Animals Move" graph like the sample below and provide students with a 3"x5" index card or Post-it note upon which to draw different ways animals move.
Swim
Walk
Glide
Fly
- The Organisms Teacher's Guide suggests a way to make a class chart sized Venn diagram to record how Freshwater and Woodland Animals are alike and different during class discussion.
Instead make a box & T-chart for the class. It is much easier to make and record on and scaffolds student observations to be more usable in writing.
Box & T-chart in a student's science
notebook.
Student Management:
- Give student groups both the terrarium and aquarium to observe. Store the aquariums on a rolling cart to make it easier and less sloppy to distribute them to the class. Don’t have students carry the aquariums as they will spill.
- Have one child in the group serve as recorder and write group ideas about how the animals are the same and different on Post-its or note cards to be placed on the class chart during class discussion.
- Look for observations from students such as:
- Ways the animals are alike:
- They both grow.
- They both need air, water and food.
- They have babies.
- They are living.
- They need a place to live.
- They move.
- They eat.
- They can die.
- Ways the animals are different:
- Size.
- Shape.
- Color.
- The way they move.
- Where they live.
- Some make sound.
- They have differing body parts.
- They eat different kinds of food.
- Ways the animals are alike:
- The final activities for this lesson suggest that a class graph be made, documenting the ways animals move. Divide the class into four different groups and have each group draw/write about one of the observed animals' movement. Then add that group’s work to the chart. Reconvene the class to discuss all the groups' contributions to the chart.
Writing Support:
- Students could use the box & T-chart as a graphic organizer and then use a compare and contrast writing frame to organize their box & T-chart information into a scaffolded paragraph. When using the box & T-chart, in the "“differences" section for each statement about freshwater animals they should make an opposing statement about woodland animals such as the "freshwater animals float," or "“the woodland animals are on the ground." This gives them an easy compare/contrast sentence structure.
- Be sure not to over use this compare/contrast writing strategy. There are several places in the unit that it could be used, pick one.
Reading Support:
- Read aloud the book The Magic School Bus Hops Home by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen. It is a book about animal habitats and what animals need from their habitat.
Math Support:
- The Final Activities for this lesson suggest that a class graph be made documenting the ways animals move. Divide the class into four different groups and have each group draw/write about one of the observed animals’ movement on 3”x5” index cards or Post-its. Then add that group’s work to the chart. Reconvene the class to discuss all the groups' contributions to the chart. As homework, ask students to take a 3"x 5" card home and draw/write about another animal they know of and how it moves. Encourage them to think of animals in the zoo or other habitats. Add these to the class graph the next day.