3Rd Grade BHEEC Lesson Outline for Teachers

3rd grade BHEEC lesson outline for Teachers:

TEACHING How do different animal and plant characteristics provide advantages in surviving? POINT STANDARD Use evidence to construct an explanation for how the variations in characteristics among individuals of the same species may provide advantages in surviving, finding mates, and reproducing. [Clarification Statement: Examples of cause and effect relationships could be plants that have larger thorns than other plants may be less likely to be eaten by predators; and, animals that have better camouflage coloration than other animals may be more likely to survive and therefore more likely to leave offspring.] (3-LS4-2) Cause and effect relationships are routinely identified and used to explain change. LESSON Introduction/ rules/ tick/ poison ivy watch  Rules: stay on the trail, stay behind the leader, walk at all times, library voices, don’t pick plants, respect;(For adults) no phones/ electronics (photos allowed, but please silence phones and if absolutely necessary to use the phone please move far away from the group)  Introduction: Here at bunker hill we have a variety of habitats: forest, marsh, field; the plants and animals have to do things and have things to help them survive: What do we call those? (Adaptations) Can anyone think of an example of a plant or animal and an adaptation it might have? We’re going to start off with a walk to see if we can find some evidence of animal and plant adaptations. Start with a guided hike showing students different types of plant and animal adaptations.

Camouflage hike :Tell students that they will be hiking down a path looking for plastic animals that are about the size of my hand. Make sure they know not to point them out or tell anyone that they see them. This is every student for themselves. At the end of the trail, gather students in a circle and ask them if they can remember any of the animals that they saw. Hopefully they will have missed some of the well camouflaged animals and seen the bright animals, Discuss why animals would want to be camouflaged and what advantages being brightly colored might give (many brightly colored animals are poisonous)

Camouflage game. One student closes their eyes and cannot move from the spot they are standing. All other students must try to blend in to the surroundings. Why can some students be seen easily and others not? Discuss those behaviors/ traits of both the students and the forest plants. TEACHER pre and Pre-lesson: introduce the term adaptation. post lesson ideas  Video about animal adaptations: http://studyjams.scholastic.com/studyjams/jams/science/animals/animal-adaptations.htm  Adaptation activity: have students fold in their thumbs (or tape them down) then ask them to try to do some simple tasks like tie their shoe, zip a zipper, twist a bottle cap off, write their name. Thumbs are an important adaptation that we often take for granted! Post-lesson: reflect on your experience  Write thank you letters  Create a creature (could draw, make out of clay, make out of recycled materials…): explain what it eats, how it protects itself, how it gets food (what adaptations does it have to survive?)