Half Hollow Hills CSD Elementary Science
Christian Fogarazzo Director of Science
Unit: Animals Grade: 1 Standards: Standard 4 (The Living Environment): Students will understand and apply concepts, principles, and theories pertaining to the physical setting and living environment and recognize the historical development of ideas in science. Key Idea 1: Living things are both similar to and different from each other and from nonliving things. Performance Indicator 1.1: Describe the characteristics of and variations between living and nonliving things. Major Understandings: 1.1a Animals need air, water, and food in order to live and thrive. 1.1c Nonliving things do not live and thrive. Performance Indicator 1.2: Describe the life processes common to all living things. Major Understandings: 1.2a Living things grow, take in nutrients, breathe, reproduce, eliminate waste, and die. Key Idea 2: Organisms inherit genetic information in a variety of ways that result in continuity of structure and function between parents and offspring. Performance Indicator 2.2: Recognize that for humans and other living things there is genetic continuity between generations. Major Understandings: 2.2a Plants and animals closely resemble their parents and other individuals in their species. Key Idea 3: Individual organisms and species change over time. Performance Indicator 3.1: Describe how the structures of plants and animals complement the environment of the plant or animal. Major Understandings: 3.1a Each animal has different structures that serve different functions in growth, survival, and reproduction. • wings, legs, or fins enable some animals to seek shelter and escape predators • the mouth, including teeth, jaws, and tongue, enables some animals to eat and drink • eyes, nose, ears, tongue, and skin of some animals enable animals to sense their surroundings • claws, shells, spines, feathers, fur, scales, and color of body covering enable some animals to protect themselves from predators and other environmental conditions, or enable them to obtain food • some animals have parts that are used to produce sounds and smells to help animal meets its needs
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the characteristics of some animals change as seasonal conditions change (e.g., fur grows and is shed to help regulate body heat; body fat is a form of stored energy and it changes as the seasons change)
Key Idea 4: The continuity of life is sustained through reproduction and development. Performance Indicator 4.1: Describe the major stages in the life cycles of selected plants and animals. Major Understandings: 4.1a Plants and animals have life cycles. These may include beginning of a life, development into an adult, reproduction as an adult, and eventually death. 4.1f Each kind of animal goes through its own stages of growth and development during its life span. 4.1 g The length of time from an animal’s birth to its death is called its life span. Life spans of different animals vary. Key Idea 5: Organisms maintain a dynamic equilibrium that sustains life. Performance Indicator 5.2: Describe some survival behaviors of common living specimens. Major Understandings: 5.2c Senses can provide essential information (regarding danger, food, mates, etc.) to animals about their environment. 5.2d Some animals, including humans, move from place to place to meet their needs. 5.2e Particular animal characteristics are influenced by changing environmental conditions including: fat storage in winter, coat thickness in winter, camouflage, shedding of fur. 5.2f Some animal behaviors are influenced by environmental conditions. These behaviors may include: nest building, hibernating, hunting, migrating, and communicating. 5.2g The health, growth, and development of organisms are affected by environmental conditions such as the availability of food, air, water, space, shelter, heat, and sunlight. Essential Questions: How do environmental conditions affect the behavior of animals? What are some types of behaviors that animals perform to increase their chances for survival? How do animals sense the world around them? How do environmental conditions affect the physical characteristics of animals? How do animals change during their life span? What are some factors that could influence the growth and development of animals? What kinds of physical structures do different kinds of animals have that increase their chances of growth, survival, and reproduction? Why do the offspring of organisms resemble their parents?
What do all living things need in order to live and thrive? How do we classify animals into different groups? Content (Students will know/ understand that…) I. Living vs. Nonliving Things A. Characteristics of Living Things: 1. Grow 2. Change and/or move on their own 3. Produce offspring (reproduce) 4. Take in nutrients 5. Breathe 6. Eliminate waste 7. Die B. Examples of Living Things 1. Animals 2. Plants C. Needs of Living Things 1. Air (Animals & Plants) 2. Water (Animals & Plants) 3. Food (Animals & Plants) 4. Light (Plants) II. Genetic Continuity Between Generations A. Life Cycle of Plants & Animals (Basic) 1. Beginning of life 2. Development into an adult 3. Reproduction as an adult (produce offspring) 4. Death B. Parents & Offspring 1. Young animals are very much, but not exactly, like their parents.
III. Classification of Animals A. Animals Can Be Grouped Based on their Characteristics 1. Where they live (habitat) 2. Physical features 3. Behavior
IV. Animals & the Environment A. Structures of Animals that Complement the Environment 1. Wings, legs, or fins à seek shelter and escape predators 2. Mouth (teeth & jaws) and tongue à eat and drink 3. Eyes, nose, ears, tongue, skin à sense their surroundings 4. Claws, shells, spines, feathers, fur, scales, color à protect animals from predators and other environmental conditions 5. Parts that are used to produce sounds à communicate with other animals from a distance 6. Seasonal conditions affect animal characteristics à shedding of fur, fat storage in winter, camouflage B. Animal Behaviors are Influenced by Environmental Conditions 1. Nest building – birds in the Northeast typically begin nesting in the Spring (warmer weather) 2. Hibernation – bears hibernate in the cold winter months 3. Migration – birds have a tendency to migrate south in the winter and north in the summer 4. Communication – done to attract mates, warn others of danger, to locate young, and establish dominance. 5. Hunting – animals search for food based on the seasonal availability. Ex: Black Bears eat berries in the summer when they are plentiful.
Skills (Students will be able to…) Students will be able to identify the characteristics of living and nonliving things. Students will be able to explain what animals need to live and thrive. Students will observe the life cycle of an animal (tadpole). Students will record data from an animal observation. Students will create a diagram of an animal life cycle. Students will compare and contrast the physical features of parents and offspring of several different animals.
Students will classify different animals into groups based on their characteristics. Students will demonstrate how animals are adapted to live in their habitat (blubber experiment). Students will demonstrate how seasonal conditions affect the characteristics of animals (arctic fox). Students will be able to explain how animal behaviors are affected by environmental conditions. Assessment Blubber Experiment Science Journal Entries Multiple Choice / Short Answer Test Resources STEM Lab Library Discovery Education Science See KUB List (Suggested Activities) Essential Vocabulary • Adaptation • Breathe • Camouflage • Egg • Enemies • Environment • Frog • Gills • Habitat • Hibernation • Hunt • Life Cycle • Lungs • Metamorphosis • Migration • Nutrients • Offspring • Predators • Shedding • Shelter • Tadpole