Animal Diversity

1 Animal Diversity

For 3rd Grade Students of The Indianapolis Public School District

A partnership program designed by the Indianapolis Zoo for The Indianapolis Public School District 2

The Indianapolis Zoo Animal Diversity Program

Welcome to the Indianapolis Zoo Animal Diversity Program! This program is designed specifically for third grade teachers and students in the Indianapolis Pubic School System. The lessons and activities are designed to meet the Indiana state mandated standards of learning. They explore how animals adapt to their environments in a variety of ways, creating the infinite diversity of the natural world.

Since we have only a few weeks to look at the animal world, we will narrow our focus and look closely at a relatively small group of animals. The animals in this group are ones that you and your students may see when you visit the Indianapolis Zoo as part of this program. You and your students will spend time observing the animals’ adaptations, either physical or behavioral, and categorizing them into different groups according to a series of criteria. Fun activities will lead you through the process.

During the program you and your students will complete nine interactive lessons, both in the classroom and out. Unit 4 will take place at the Indianapolis Zoo where your students will participate in a staff led workshop and a clipboard activity while visiting the exhibits. In Unit 9, a zoo staff member will visit your class with several animals that the students can observe up close.

You will find that the lessons are simple and easy to follow. We hope we have provided all the instructions and background information you need to teach the curriculum easily and with very little extra research. Every participating teacher is required to attend a training workshop at the Indianapolis Zoo where they learn how to teach the curriculum and receive additional classroom materials.

This initiative is conceived and created as a partnership between The Indianapolis Zoo and the Indianapolis Public Schools

In appreciation of Brendan and Susan Fox, as well as the Marian M. McConnell Family, for supporting this program. 3

Table of Contents

Unit 1: Meet the Family 4

Unit 2: What is an Animal Adaptation? 8

Unit 3: Diversity Happens! 11

Unit 4: Grouping by Physical Attributes 15

Unit 5: Grouping by Animal Behavior 19

Unit 6: Where in the World? 23

Unit 7: Habitat Groups 32

Unit 8: Let’s Design a Sorting Key! 38

Unit 9: A Sorting Key for Animals 42

Teacher Materials 2 sided Poster Beastly Bash Seating Chart (Unit 1) Sorting Group List (Unit 5) Trading Cards (Unit 1) Continent Map Packet (Unit 6) Folklore Packet (Unit 6) Adaptations Page (Unit 7)

Unit 1: Meet the Family

Background Information The natural world is complex and interesting. Plants and animals live in virtually every corner of the earth, all of them adapted to live in their habitat, within their food web, as a vital part of their ecosystem. Each animal is adapted to support itself with the optimal amount of food; water and shelter that it needs to survive in its habitat. As a result of this variety and specificity we, as students of Mother Nature are given the opportunity to learn about an infinite array of animals and their breathtaking beauty and diversity.

Since we have only a few weeks to look at the animal world, we will need to winnow down our focus and look closely at a relatively small group of animals. The animals in this group are ones that you and your students may see when you visit the Indianapolis Zoo as part of this program. During this program you and your students will spend time observing the animals’ adaptations, either physical or behavioral, and categorizing them into different groups according to a series of criteria. Fun activities will lead you through the process and allow your students to draw conclusions about which groups they belong in.

In Unit 1, you will be introduced to the animals that we will be working with throughout the program. Your students will play an animal guessing game to get to know the animals. All the time, we will be remembering that we humans are just another member of this wild world of animals. So, let’s meet the rest of the family!

Goals and Objectives 1. Students will be introduced to the Indianapolis Zoo program and the group of animals that they will be studying throughout the program. 2. Students will learn 3 simple facts about each animal in the study group. 3. Students will identify things that they are interested in learning about animals.

Time Needed One 30 minute class period

Materials Animal fact cards (one or two sets) Tape Beastly Banquet Table Chart (poster) Animal Labels

Teacher Instructions Preparing for the lesson… 1) Make animal cards – a) On cardstock, copy one or two sets of cards. b) Cut apart on the paper cutter. c) If desired laminate for durability. 2) Post the table chart – a) You will find the Beastly Bash Seating Chart on the back of the Sorting List poster. Post it the wall, bulletin board or any large flat surface so that the students can see it easily and fill in the chart successfully. 3) Make animal labels – a) Make a copy of the animal labels page. 5

b) Cut the labels out. Put them near the table chart for the students to use. Teaching the unit… Program Introduction 1. Introduce the Indianapolis Zoo’s Animal Diversity program and its goals. Explain that the program will be full of fun activities and will include an onsite visit to the Zoo as well as a visit from the Zoo staff to the classroom. Beastly Banquet Game 1. Explain that the class is going to a dinner party to which all different kinds of animals have been invited. There are animals flying in from all over the world for this exciting event. Unfortunately the animals will not know each other because many of them have never been outside of their habitat and don’t recognize the animals from other places. 2. The party will be held in the classroom. There will be music and dancing and yummy food for all; a real night of nights! Unfortunately, the guest list was lost and the party hosts don’t know who’s coming, what to order or who should sit with each other! 3. Show the students all of the animal cards. Some of them will be very familiar to the students. Others will be less familiar. Go through them one by one, name them and explain the category words like “habitat, adaptation,” etc. Discuss some of the more unfamiliar animals in depth. 4. Go around the classroom and tape an animal card on each child’s back. Don’t show the card to the student and tape it in the middle of the back so that each student can’t see their card. 5. Explain to the students that each of them has been given an animal to portray. The card on their back gives the animal’s name, where it lives, what it eats and a describing word. 6. The students are to ask each other questions to find out who they are and the facts listed on their cards. They can only ask yes or no questions to find out their identity. 7. If your students, as a group, are generally unfamiliar with the animals on the cards, you can adapt the activity. Give each child their card. Ask them to read their card and think about the category words, then proceed to the table chart and proceed with the activity. 8. Once they have guessed their identity, they take the card off of their back and go over to the table chart hung on the wall. 9. By looking at their facts, each student will have to decide where they should sit and tape the label with their animal name on the table chart. First they should look at what they eat to determine at which table they will find the food they will like the best. Second they should look at their list of predators to make sure that they won’t be eaten or attacked by the animal that will be sitting next to them. Third they might even get to choose to sit next to animals that live in the same kind of habitat they do (tree dwellers with tree dwellers etc.). 10. When the whole class has guessed their identity and filled out the chart, gather the class to discuss the results. Go around each table and make sure that the animals are placed properly. Randomly ask the students to justify their table placement by giving the reasons and the facts to support their decision. If there are any misplaced, ask the class to help place the animal correctly, using the facts listed on the student’s card. 11. When you are finished, explain that what the students have done is sort the animals according to a set of criteria. Through the next several weeks, the students will be sorting this same group of animals in different ways given different sets of criteria. They will see how scientists compare and sort animals to learn more about them.

Assessment This unit is easily assessed using the table charts that the students completed. Anecdotally assess your students’ ability to understand the facts and apply them to correctly finding a place to seat their animals. Students should be able to explain their thinking and reasons behind their placement.

Extensions Ask your students to come up with a perfect dinner party menu for their animal. There should be an appetizer, a main course, a side dish and a dessert. Ask each student to present their menu to the class. 6

Hand out drawing supplies and ask the students to draw a picture or write a short story about the Beastly Banquet. Imagine what it would be like. Could there really be a banquet like this one? What funny things would happen? How would it turn out?

Animal List

White’s Giant Yellow Headed Tree Frog Marine Toad Amazon Parrot

Ostrich Walrus Common Raven

White Stork Bald Eagle Chilean Flamingo

Grand Cayman Madagascar Red Blue Iguana Hissing Cockroach Spitting Cobra Bottlenose East African Reticulated Dolphin Crowned Crane Giraffe

African Elephant Amur Tiger Baboon

Meerkat Red Kangaroo Red Panda

Polar Bear Kodiak Bear Llama

Radiated Tortoise Ring Tailed Lemur Giant Day Gecko

Eastern Box Turtle Ball Python

8 Unit 2: What is an Animal Adaptation?

Background Information Animals come in all shapes and sizes. Each species is specially adapted to survive in its unique ecosystem. Animals can adapt in two general ways. Their bodies can adapt to outside stimuli i.e. warm fur in response to colder air temperature. Or they can change their behavior patterns in response to changing stimuli i.e. storks begin to nest on the roofs of houses because there are fewer tall trees in their ecosystem. These changes in behavior or body form are called adaptations. Adaptations are the things that animal species have on their bodies or the way they act in order to optimally succeed in their environment. Some small behavioral adaptations can become endemic in a species in as few as a couple of generations of individuals, where physical adaptations take thousands of years to evolve into the species. These adaptations are what makes animal species different from each other, even among closely related species.

In this unit, students will be introduced to animal adaptations. Through a few simple investigations, several examples of adaptations will be illustrated.

Goals and Objectives 1. Students will learn what an adaptation is and be able to give 3 examples. 2. Students will be able to give examples of 3 physical adaptations. 3. Students will be able to give examples of 3 behavioral adaptations. 4. Students will learn that like all animals, humans have adaptations. They will be able to give 3 examples of human adaptations.

Time Needed One 30 minute class period

Materials Pictures of 5 animals cut from magazines mounted on construction paper Masking tape Space big enough for students to complete some simple physical experiments

Teacher Instructions Preparing for the lesson… 1. Animal Pictures – a. Cut 10 pictures of animals from an old nature magazine. They can be pictures of any kind of animal, but each animal should be represented only once. They should be full body shots as opposed to head shots only so that the students can identify the animal’s adaptations. b. Mount them on construction paper for strength. c. Laminate them if you would like to in order to preserve them for continued use.

Teaching the Unit… Program Introduction 1. Gather the class. Tape the animal pictures next to each other on the chalk board so that all of the students can see and compare them. There should be space under each one for you to write a list of student answers. 9

2. Ask the students to look at the pictures and identify the things on the animal’s bodies that help them survive in their habitat. Lead them off by identifying some yourself. Examples: Tiger’s big teeth and claws for hunting, elephant’s trunk for reaching the ground and high in trees to get food, tree frog’s sticky feet for holding onto vertical surfaces. 3. As the students name the adaptations, write them on the board under each animal so that you will accumulate a list for each. 4. Explain that these things are adaptations, things that animals have on their bodies that help them survive in their ecosystem. 5. Start with the first animal and then ask about what actions the animals might have that help them survive. Examples: Birds build specific kinds of nests dependent on where they live, wolves hunt in packs, zebras live in herds for safety from predators. 6. Explain that these are also adaptations. The way a species of animals acts can also help them be successful (find food, have babies, stay alive) in their ecosystem.

Adaptation Experiments You will lead your class through a series of simple, quick experiments that illustrate some animal and human adaptations. You can present them in any order. 1. Kangaroo Hop a. Ask your students to stand next to their desk. b. Tell them to bend over so that their torso is at a 45 degree angle to their legs. c. Now ask them to hop a few steps. d. Was that hard or easy? e. Still bending over, ask them to hop on one foot for a few steps. f. Was that hard or easy? g. Now ask them to elongate their non-hopping leg behind them in the air and try to hop again. h. Was that harder or easier than without their leg extended? i. Animals that travel on two legs either have bodies that stand vertically straight like humans do, or they have a long tail to help them balance in a horizontal position like a kangaroo or a songbird. 2. Monkey Thumbs a. Go around the room to each child and tape each of their thumbs tightly to the rest of their hand. They shouldn’t be able to wiggle their thumb or use it in any way. b. When all are taped, ask them to perform a normal, easy task that they would complete in the course of their regular day. Examples might include picking up a pencil, buttoning or zippering or putting their papers away. c. Ask them what it is like to have no thumbs. Was it easy or hard to do? d. Explain that all of the higher order primates (of which humans are a member) have opposable thumbs or thumbs that rotate and are used for grasping. Some even have opposable toes! These opposable digits are helpful when climbing trees, grasping branches and foraging for food. e. Ask the students to take off the tape and try the same task again. Was it easier or harder? f. Ask the students to extend all of their fingers on one hand and touch their thumb to each of the other fingers on their hand one at a time. Explain that they are showing off their opposable thumbs! Lower order primates (like tamarins and marmosets) and other kinds of mammals don’t have the ability to touch all of their fingers. 3. Binocular Eyes a. Divide your class into groups of three. b. Ask each group to choose one student to be the prey animal. That person should stand with his/her back to the rest of the group. 10

c. The other two should try to sneak up on the prey from behind and tap him/her on the shoulder. If the prey sees them coming, s/he should turn around to catch the predator before s/he “strikes”. This should be pretty easy to do, especially if the predator comes from directly behind the prey. d. Next ask two members of each group to team up to become a prey animal. They should stand back to back with their arms linked tightly. Students should stand with their eyes facing forward, not turning their heads from side to side. e. Ask the third member of each group to be the predator and try to sneak up on the prey animal without it noticing. It will be much harder to do this successfully. f. Ask the students which way it was easier for the prey to see the predator coming. Explain that animals who are hunted by others (like deer, rabbits, zebras etc.) have eyes on the side of their heads to see predators coming from behind. This is especially true of animals that graze. Animals that are predators and hunt for their food (like owls, tigers, bears etc) have eyes facing the front of their heads so that they have better depth perception and can more easily attack a moving target in front of them. g. Ask the students if they know which humans have? Why do they have forward facing eyes? Do we hunt for our food? Did we ever?

Assessment Make a simple questionnaire with these 4 questions on it. What is an adaptation? What are 3 examples of an animal body adaptation? What are 3 examples of an animal action adaptation? What are 3 examples of human adaptations? Give each student a questionnaire and ask them to fill it out. Assign each child a number that you have assigned to them and ask them to write it at the top of the paper. Collect the questionnaires, mix them up and re-distribute them so that each student gets someone else’s paper. Ask the students to grade the paper for a total of 10 points, one point for each correct answer. Collect the papers and record the scores, using the number key to identify the students by the numbers at the top of each page.

Extensions Ask a student to lie down on a sheet of butcher paper. With a marker, trace the outline of the child’s body. Ask students to add features and put clothes on your “human”. See if the class can identify any other adaptations that humans have. They could be physical (body) ones or behavioral (action) ones. As a class, label all of the human adaptations on the outline that the class can think of. Use string and index cards to point to the different adaptations on the human. Hang this to use as a great bulletin board display.

Unit 3: Diversity Happens!

Background Information In the animal world, variety is everywhere. No two animals are just alike and because animals all find different ways to cope with the challenges the other animals and plants throw at them, diversity happens. Over time, the ways that a species meets the challenges of finding food, warding off predators, and reproducing successfully changes as they experience changes in their environment. It takes many years of natural selection for physical changes to become apparent within a species, while behavioral changes can happen much more quickly.

Animal Adaptations can be defined as the ways that an animal species changes, either physically or in the way they act, to survive in its habitat. Adaptations are a response to conditional changes in an ecosystem. An ecosystem is made up of living and non-living things that are interconnected and survive in one area or place.

In this unit, the students will play a game to simulate how a species can change over time to adapt to its habitat. They will learn how different conditions in an ecosystem can change how a species adapts.

Goals and Objectives 1. Students will describe what an animal adaptation is and be able to describe how adaptations occur. 2. Students will learn how species change to adapt to conditions in their habitat. 3. Students will understand how species are connected in their ecosystem and that what happens to one species, provokes changes among other species.

Time Needed One 30 minute class period

Materials Sheets of different color construction paper that won’t blend in with your floor Green construction paper or a color that does blend in with your classroom floor Red construction paper Paper cutter Lunch sized paper bags (one per student) Marker

Teacher Instructions Preparing for the lesson… 1. Set up the classroom – this game can take place inside or out. a. If you choose to play it inside, move all of the chairs and desks to the side of the room so that you have plenty of space for students to move around on the floor. You can use a bigger room (like a gym, for instance) if you would like. b. If it’s a nice day and not windy, take your students outdoors to play, then you have no room setup work to do. 2. Prep for the Game – a. Find construction paper that matches the color of the floor where you will play the game. If you are going outside, use a green or tan to camouflage with the ground. They should blend in and be hard to see. For an environmentally conscience version, use dried pasta or beans for game pieces. That way, if you 12

are playing the game outside and the students don’t pick up all of the pieces, the pasta or beans left on the ground can be left to biodegrade. b. Cut construction paper into small pieces about an inch square. You will need 50 that are floor colored and 50 that are multicolored and 100 that are red. Set the red squares aside. They will be used for round two of the game. c. Scatter the multi-colored and camouflaged pieces of paper all over the playing field before your students get there so that they don’t know where you’ve dropped/scattered it. The papers should be spread evenly throughout the field colored and camouflaged pieces mixed together. d. Write each child’s name on a paper bag for identification.

Teaching the Unit… Program Introduction 1. Gather your students to the playing area. 2. Open your class discussion by defining what an adaptation is and how they occur to a species in an ecosystem. Define an ecosystem. See the Teacher Background information for these definitions. 3. Set the stage for the game by explaining that the playing field represents an ecosystem where lots of plants and animals live. The students will be pretending to be googlecks, imaginary animals that live in the ecosystem and eat smaller animals. 4. Hand out a bag to each student. Explain that the bag is each googleck’s stomach that each student will use theirs to carry their food in.

Playing the Game…Round 1 1. Ask the students to form a big circle all around the playing area. Ask them to place their bags at their feet. 2. Give the students their instructions. When you say “Go” they are to stroll around the playing area picking up the pieces of paper one at a time. No running allowed! Each time they pick up a square, they walk it to their bag and put it in, place the bag back on the ground and go find another square. 3. Time them for 15 seconds in a classroom, or 30 seconds in a gym or an open field. 4. When the time is up, yell “Stop!” and ask the students to return to their places in the circle. 5. Ask the students to sit down, empty their bags and count their squares. They should divide their squares into two groups, those that are camouflaged and those that are multicolored. Each student should have a number for the amount of squares they collected of each group. 6. Go around to each student and, using the calculator, total up the number of squares you get from each group for the whole class. You should have more multicolored squares than camouflaged ones. 7. Ask the students why they collected more of one group than the other (the camouflaged ones were harder to see). Explain that the squares represent a favorite food animal of the meat eater. Ask the students to guess what might happen to the prey animal over time if things were to continue as your class has simulated (More prey animals would be camouflaged colored). Explain that changes such as these happen over many, many reproductive cycles, as the most successful individuals (those that possess the camouflaged gene) are the ones that are sought out to breed with and pass on the successful trait to more and more babies who in turn pass it on to their offspring.

The Game…Round 2 1. Now collect all the squares, keeping the two color groups separate. Re-scatter the camouflaged squares and mix in 50 of the red squares all over the playing area (ask kids to cover their eyes or turn away from the playing area) and repeat the collection part of the activity. Set the multi-colored squares aside. 13

2. After the students have gathered the squares and counted them, suggest that this time, the red squares represents poisonous prey animals. If a meat eater ate just one, he or she throws up for 2 days and never eats another one again. 3. Discuss how this would have an effect on the ecosystem. Would the prey animals change over time to all become red (yes)? Why? (there would be more red prey animals left to reproduce with each other and pass on the trait to their offspring.)

The Game…Optional Round 3 1. Collect all the squares and re-scatter the red and camouflaged squares (50 red/50 camouflaged) on the playing area. 2. Repeat the gathering process. This time, cut your gathering time by half. If you’ve been allowing 30 seconds for gathering, cut it to 15. 3. When the students are finished, ask them to leave their bags on the sidelines and ask for 2 students to volunteer to count the squares left on the field. Counters should not touch the squares; just leave them on the field where they are found. One should count red squares, the other should count camouflaged squares. 4. When you have results from your counters, compare the numbers of the camouflaged squares to that of the red ones. Explain that your class had just simulated one prey animal reproductive cycle. Now you will simulate another. 5. Take the higher number of squares and double it. Add that number of that color square to the playing field. Now prey animals have bred! 6. What might happen next to the prey animal population? How about the googleck population? What would happen to them in response to the prey animals? (They might, over time develop an immunity to the prey animal’s poison.) How about the animals that eat the meat eaters? This is how diversity happens!

Assessment For assessment of this unit first anecdotally observe the game and whether the students caught on to the concepts presented. Were they able to answer questions and make the connections between the simulations and real life concepts? Did they ask thoughtful questions and make observances about adaptations?

Secondly, you can assess student knowledge about the concept of animal adaptation and diversity by creating a “question of the day” game to tell you which students know the concepts. Set up a station in the classroom where students can play the Diversity challenge. Write the following 5 questions on the board and provide index cards and pencils for students to answer the questions and submit them for a prize. The prize can be a piece of candy or a special privilege or a homework pass, something easy and fun for kids to get. Ask the students to take a few moments to write the answers to the questions on the index card with their name and put them in the envelope. This can be done individually in their free time during the day. Collect the submissions and reward those who got all of the questions right. Keep a record of the students who answered the questions correctly. Questions 1. What is an adaptation? 2. How do animal adaptations occur? 3. What is an ecosystem? 4. Give an example of how an animal species adapts to changes in its ecosystem. 5. Give an example of how an animal species adapts to changes in another species in its ecosystem.

Extensions Try another round of the game with another criteria/scenario. What happens to the two species if some of them die from a disease that effects meat eaters and the prey animals are left? How would you simulate that? Does that happen in real life? What other kinds of natural occurrences 14 might change an animal population in an ecosystem? What kinds of unnatural ones might occur? What would be the result?

What kind of animal are the meat eaters? What about the prey animals? What do they look like? Where do the live? Ask the students to draw pictures of these animals. They should consider their habitat, adaptations, food preferences, family growth habits, predators, and shelter needs. The students can draw pictures and describe their animals to the rest of the class.

15 Unit 4: Grouping by Physical Attributes

Background Information Probably the most obvious way to group animals is to sort them by their physical attributes. We know that if an animal has large ears it generally means that it has a good sense of hearing or if an animal has eyes on the top of his head, that it spends much of its time floating on top of the water. We know that animals that have sharp claws are good hunters or climbers and that those with prehensile tails live high in the trees.

In this unit students will be studying animals, their skeletons and skulls to learn how to sort them by their physical attributes. You and your class will visit the Indianapolis Zoo where Zoo staff will lead you through a series of skull and skeleton explorations to learn more about how animal body parts help them survive in their habitat.

Contact Angela McGolgin at 317-630-5110 to schedule your trip to the Zoo. When you schedule your Zoo field trip, you will also schedule the time for your Zoo Workshop. Zoo Workshops are held in the Education building, which is to the right of the admission booths.

Goals and Objectives 1. Students will learn to “read” a skull and identify simple animal adaptations by making observations about the animal’s skull. 2. Students will observe different physical characteristics of live animals and learn to group them accurately on these criteria. 3. Students will see live representatives of animals in the sorting group.

Time Needed 1 two hour field trip

Materials Clipboards Pencils

Teacher Instructions Preparing for the lesson… Contact the Indianapolis Zoo to set up your tour. To do so, call Angela McGolgin at 317-630- 5110. You will need to schedule your bus and gather chaperones. The Zoo requires one adult chaperone for every 10 students. They will have other guidelines and checklists for you to follow.

On your field trip… While you visit the Indianapolis Zoo, your class will have two different activities. You will have a 1 hour program in the Zoo Classroom that is specially designed for this program. In this program, your class will explore and discover animal skulls. Then your class will venture outside to visit the animals in the sorting group. There your students will make physical observations about the animals and sort the animals according to physical characteristics. It does not matter if your students visit the exhibits first or participate in the Zoo Workshop. One does not depend on the other.

Zoo Workshop You will meet a Zoo staff person at the Education Center which is to the right of the admission booths before the entrance to the Zoo grounds. There your group will be divided (if needed) and sent on to visit exhibits or go inside for their Zoo Workshop. If you have a large group, half of you will visit the zoo first and the other will go inside. Half way through the field trip, the groups will switch. Your Zoo staff person will direct you to as to the logistics and timing.

Activity Each student should have a clipboard, pencil and a worksheet to complete while they visit the Zoo. The handout will direct the students to animals on their sorting list and ask them to make observations about the animals’ physical characteristics. They will sort the animals by these characteristics in a series of “award winning” lists. At the end of the zoo trip, the students will have completed lists to show. Clipboards and pencils can be turned in to the Zoo classroom at the end of the field trip.

Assessment Check your student’s zoo handouts for accuracy and completion. All handouts, both from the zoo portion and the zoo workshop should be complete and accurate. Points can be assigned for each.

Extensions If you have a few minutes at lunch time or as you wait for your zoo class, play Animal Charades. Played just like regular charades, students act out an animal’s physical characteristics to give clues to the rest of the class who tries to guess the animal. The one who guesses correctly becomes the actor. Actors can use no sounds or words in their performance. This is a great way to cement animal adaptations in your student’s minds in a fun, spontaneous way.

Award winning Animals! Here is a list of the animals that we have been sorting in class. You will remember them from our Beastly Banquet Activity. They are all animals that you will see here at the Zoo. Some will visit your classroom later on, so they aren’t listed. Visit the following animals. Look at their bodies and adaptations. Once you see them, look at the Award sheet on the next page. See if you can find the list that they might belong to. If you already have all the blanks on the list filled in, see if you can add them to one of the other lists. If you can’t find a list for them, give them your own award in the given spot. Check them off the list once you have visited. Whites Tree Frog Encounters Giant Marine Toad Encounters Common Raven Forests East African Crowned Crane Plains White Stork Plains Bald Eagle Forests Ostrich Plains Chilean Flamingo Forests Grand Cayman Blue Iguana Deserts Madagascar Hissing Cockroach Encounters Red Spitting Cobra Deserts Kodiak Bear Forests Walrus Marine Mammals Reticulated Giraffe Plains African Elephant Plains Amur Tiger Forests Baboon Plains Meerkat Deserts Red Kangaroo Plains Red Panda Forests Polar Bear Marine Mammals Bottlenose Dolphin Marine Mammals Llama Encounters Giant Day Geckos Encounters Radiated Tortoise Deserts Ring Tailed Lemur Forests Eastern Box Turtle Encounters Ball Python Encounters Yellow Headed Amazon Parrot Encounters

Award Winning Animals! Your Name:

Best Swimmer Best Hunter

Best Wader Best Flyer

Best Eyes Best Ears

Best Smeller Best Fisherman

Best Lookout Best Jumper

Best Rock Climber Best Defender

Best Camouflage

Special Awards

Award ______Given to ______

19 Unit 5: Grouping by Animal Behavior

Background Information Animals can be grouped by studying their everyday behavior. We can compare their life processes to draw similarities between them, then group them together with others that spend their lives in the same ways. In this unit, students will work in small groups to categorize animals by studying their life processes. They will learn about the process, decide which criteria they would like to use to group the animals, then dramatically portray their animals to the rest of the class. The class will guess the criteria the group used.

Goals and Objectives 1. Given information about an animal life process, the students will identify criteria by which a list of animals can be grouped. 2. Students will learn to match animal behavior with criteria in order to categorize a group of animals. 3. Students will learn about different animal’s behavioral life processes. 4. Students will be able to communicate an animal’s traits nonverbally in dramatic form.

Time Needed One 30 minute class period

Materials Super Star Team assignments (one set copied and cut apart) Large poster of the animal sorting group list Writing supplies

Teacher Instructions

Preparing for the lesson… 1. Small Group Assignments – a) Make one copy of the small group assignments. b) Cut along the dotted lines so that each group will have an assignment to work from. c) Post the animal sorting group poster in the room where all of the groups can see it. d) Clear an area in your classroom to use as a stage for each group to perform. e) Choose two or three animals from the sorting list. Pull the animal’s fact sheets off of the Animal Diversity Web. Follow the link below and print out the fact sheets that you need. http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/about/overview.html

Teaching the Unit… Program Introduction 1. Gather the class and begin your discussion by randomly choosing an animal from the big list you have been using throughout the program. Ask the students about the animal and its behavior. Encourage the students to identify behavioral adaptations that they know of or that they are familiar with. 2. Compare the 3 animals that you have chosen. The idea here is for students to understand how animals might have all kinds of different ways of doing a very basic thing like eating, 20

sleeping, raising babies, etc. Explain that they will be comparing and contrasting animals and categorizing them according to different criteria. 3. Divide the class into 5 groups.

Super Star Game 1. Hand out the small group assignment sheets to the groups. Groups do not want to let anyone else know what their assignment is, i.e. who they are recruiting for. 2. Each group will become a team that will recruit different animals from the master list to join their team, similar to choosing teams for kickball or another sport. 3. Give the groups about 10 minutes to look at their assignments and identify what would make them a great team based on their assignment. For instance, if they are recruiting the team for feeders, they would want some grazers, some hunters, and some foragers on their team. They should write these down for reference. If there’s time, they should look at the posted list and write down some animals that they want to recruit for their team. 4. They then identify animals from the master list that meets their criteria. They should decide what their top choices would be and then those that would round out their lineup. All teams should recruit for all of the criteria they have identified. 5. Gather the class. Start the game by asking each team to choose a number or roll a dice to see which team can begin. Play goes to the team to the left of the one that goes first. 6. In turn, each team chooses an animal off the list. They don’t tell why they have chosen the animal. Internally the group should know what that animal brings to the team, i.e. it meets the criteria they are working from. As the animals are chosen, cross them off the list. The group adds it to their team list on their assignment sheet. 7. Go around the room until all of the animals have been chosen. 8. Give the students about 5 minutes to decide how they are going to present their team. Each team will read their list of animals and then give nonverbal hints (acting them out) so that the class can guess their criteria and their team. For example, if they are recruiting Feeders, they might pantomime hunting behavior, grazing, and filter feeding after reading their list. The pantomimes can be general, something that many of the animals do, or the specific adaptations that their recruited team animals do that met the criteria of the team. 9. The class will listen to the animals listed and then, through a series of nonverbal hints presented by the team, try to guess their team assignment and the criteria that they recruited by.

Assessment Assess this activity anecdotally for each team’s ability to create a good team of animals, group them correctly and get the class to guess their team criteria. Students should be able to justify their animal’s inclusion by the criteria, and discuss their choices. As the list becomes depleted, the teams should be able to figure out which category the animals should be put in, and be able to come up with a justification for it to be included.

Extensions Create an Animal Hall of Fame in your classroom. Ask each team to identify the one animal in each category that best illustrates the criteria and either draw a portrait or find a photo of the animal. Ask them to list 3 reasons why the animal is the best and create a label for the animal. For instance, the best runner might be the cheetah because it runs faster than any land animal, it has non-retractable claws for traction and a long tail to balance its body at high speeds. Frame the pictures and post them on a bulletin board and make your class’s Animal Hall of Fame.

Super Star Team Assignments Feeders What should we look for to build a great team?

Who should we try to recruit?

Our Team

Travelers What should we look for to build a great team?

Who should we try to recruit?

Our Team

Defenders What should we look for to build a great team?

Who should we try to recruit?

Our Team

Communicators What should we look for to build a great team?

Who should we try to recruit?

Our Team

Builders What should we look for to build a great team?

Who should we try to recruit? Our Team

23 Unit 6: Where in the World?

Background Information Name some African Animals! Name some from Australia! Penguins are from Antarctica! We learn to identify animals from the continent in which they are found. We learn this skill when we are very small. It is the subject of countless preschool children’s books and is reinforced by the folklore and culture of indigenous people around the world.

Zoos and Aquariums are often organized by continents. They build huge exhibits with names like “Animals of the Serengeti” or “Amazing Asia”. In this unit, we will be learning about the continents, their climate, topography, peoples, animals and cultures. In a map activity, students will learn about the continents and the animals that live there. They will read some samples of indigenous folklore and learn about the animal’s behavior and adaptations as depicted by the people who lived amongst them for millenniums. They will write their own folk story about some of the animals in the sorting group.

Goals and Objectives 1. Using a map activity, students will learn about the 7 continents, their climates, topography and the animals that live there. 2. Students will read folklore from one indigenous culture in each continent and discuss the animal’s behavior and adaptations depicted in the stories. 3. Students will understand that indigenous cultures use animal behavior and adaptations to illustrate life lessons and values. 4. Students will be able to group animals in the sorting group by the continent in which they are from. 5. Students will write a simple folk story in the style of a culture that they choose from those studied.

Time Needed Two 30 minute class periods

Materials World Map (the pull-down kind that hangs in front of the class) Color copy acetate of postcard Copies of Continent Packet (Teacher Materials) Overhead projector Copies of the Continent Map Packet (one copy per student) Continent Characteristics (one copy per student) Crayons or markers Folklore Packet (one per student) Story Helper Handout (one copy per student) Writing supplies Writing rubric (one copy per student)

Teacher Instructions

Preparing for the lessons… 1. Day 1: a. Make a copy of the Indiana postcard on acetate for projection (if needed) b. Make copies of the Continent packet. Each student should have a copy of the entire packet. 24

c. Set up overhead projector. d. Make copies of the Continent Characteristics handout for each student 2. Day 2: a. Copy and assemble a folklore packet for each student. b. Copy story helper handout (one copy for each student)

Teaching the Unit… Day 1: Program Introduction 1. Gather the class to begin discussion. 2. Pull down your world map. See if the students can name the 7 continents. Give some examples of characteristics of the different continents and identify the large cities to give the students context. Map Activity 1. Distribute a copy of the Continent Characteristics to each student. 2. Project the postcard on the overhead. Discuss the postcard and the funny pictures and symbols on the map. Explain that the purpose of these postcards is to make people want to visit the place. The artist who designed the postcard put the little pictures on the map to tell the viewer what it’s like in that place. 3. Explain that the students will make their own map of the continents based on these campy postcards. Students should read the characteristics for each continent and fill in the map of each continent with little pictures or symbols to depict what it’s like to visit that continent. When looking at the map, the viewer should have a good idea of what it’s like on the continent and the animals and people who live there. If you’re pressed for time, you can assign each student an individual continent to work on and then assemble your own world maps. 4. As an extension, you can ask your students to cut out their continents and glue them to a large piece of paper to assemble their own individual world maps. Day 2: Folklore Activity 1. Hand out the folklore packet to each student. 2. Discuss native culture with the students. Who are native peoples? Where do they exist? Why do they write stories? Who are the characters in their stories? What can we learn about real animals that live in that continent by reading folklore about them? 3. Assign each student a continent or story to read. Students should take a few minutes to read their assigned story. 4. Hand out the Story Helper handout. The students should take a few minutes to fill in the story helper. It will help them identify style and characters for their story. 5. Discuss the stories and the animals depicted there. How did the native peoples illustrate the point of the story using animals as characters? 6. If you want to, you might decide to let the students break into small groups by story assignment at this point and talk about specific points of the story they were assigned. 7. Ask the students to create their own story from their assigned continent. Their story should include animals from the continent, and teach a lesson just like the folklore stories. It should be in the same style as the stories they read.

Assessment Assess this unit in two parts. First assess the map activity for accuracy, neatness and ability to communicate continent characteristics clearly. Secondly, use the writing rubric provided in this packet to assess the student stories.

Extensions Ask students to illustrate their stories and compile books. Then distribute them to younger grade classes to read. Or have a read along time and ask your third graders to read their stories to kindergarteners, one on one.

Ask each student to research the animals in their story and present their story and the animals (with accurate facts) to the class. They could present their animals as character bios that tell the “story behind the story”. 26

Indiana State Postcard 27

Continent Characteristics

North America Large mountains, the Rockies and Sierras are found in the western part of the continent. The far north is in the Arctic Circle and is very cold all the time. In the Midwest, there are flat grassland plains. The Mississippi River runs down the middle of the country from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. The east coast is very sandy and flat with lots of beaches. In the South west there are hot deserts. In the far south it is hot all year and the plants are tropical. There are big cities on the east and west coasts. Bison, wolf, Kodiak bear, fox, cougar, walrus, polar bear, deer and elk are examples of some North American animals.

South America The northern part of the continent is covered in steamy rainforest. There is a huge river called the Amazon that is found in Brazil. The equator runs through the top half of the continent. There it is hot all the time. There are lots of beaches and small islands in the northern part of South America. Lots of people vacation there. On the Pacific side there are high mountains all along the coast. It is cold there. The tip of South America is close to Antarctica where it is cold. Tamarins, squirrel monkeys, tapir, jaguar, boa constrictors and macaws are examples of some South American animals.

Africa The northern part of Africa is made up of hot deserts. The equator goes through the middle of the continent. There are mountainous rainforests on the western side and the flat Serengeti Plain on the eastern side. The southern part of Africa has flat grasslands. The Atlantic Ocean is to the west and the Indian Ocean is on the east coast. There are beautiful beaches on the east coast. The north east area of Africa is where most of our oil comes from. Elephant, lion, giraffe, rhino, baboon, gorilla, ostrich, cheetah and crocodile are examples of some African animals.

Asia Asia is the largest continent. The Pacific Ocean is on the east coast. The Indian Ocean is to the south. There are wet rainforests in the southern part of Asia. There are lots of islands in the east. There are tall mountains in the central parts. The Himalayas are in the western central area. They are the world’s tallest mountains. There are cold highlands in the north and east. The northern part of Asia is in the Arctic Circle. It is cold there all year. Tiger, orangutan, python, snow monkey, musk ox, and panda are examples of some Asian animals.

Europe Europe is in the northern part of the world. It is cold there in the winter. There are mountains in the central part of the continent. There are areas in the far northern area where it is light all day and night in the summer and dark all day and night in the winter. There are lots of beaches in the southern part of Europe that border the Mediterranean Sea. The southern part is near Africa. It is warm and sunny there. Elk, boar, stork, hedgehogs, bear, moose and deer are examples of European animals.

Australia Australia is the smallest continent. It has deserts in the west. It has mountains in the Northern central part. Rainforests are found along the eastern coast. The Great Barrier Reef is found off the northeast coast of Australia. The Southern part is very dry with large lakes in the center. Koala, kookaburra, kangaroo, cockatoo, emu and platypus are examples of Australian animals.

Story Helper You have just read a great story from one of the world’s continents. All of the stories are ones told by native people from that continent. Answer the following questions about your story to help you get ideas about how to write a folk story of your own.

What story did you read? What continent is it from?

Give a brief summary of the story:

What Native people include this story in their folklore?

What animals were in the story?

Which ones are in our Sorting Group?

Did the animals in the story do anything or act in a way that would give us clues to their natural adaptations?

How did the storytellers use the animal’s natural adaptations or behaviors to show an important part of the story?

What in the story gives you clues about the people who tell it?

Use the answers above to help you write a story. Use the other animals from the sorting group that live on this continent as characters.

Writing Rubric

Use the following rubric to assess the folklore writing activity.

NAME 5 4 3 2 1 Met Excellent Good Criteria Fair Poor The story idea was creative I could tell from the story which continent the author was writing about. The author used animals from the assigned continent in their story. The author used the animal’s characteristics or adaptations to tell the story. The story was neatly presented and grammatically correct. The story was well illustrated. The story was written in the same style as the assigned folklore example.

TOTAL ______

32 Unit 7: Habitat Groups

Background Information Animals are specially adapted to their habitats, no matter where in the world they are. Jungle animals from Asia have similar adaptations to animals that live in South American Jungles. Animals from the grasslands of Africa have similar adaptations to American prairie dwellers.

In this activity, students will learn what an animal needs to survive in a certain habitat, and will categorize the animals in our sorting group by their habitat. Given a habitat description, the students will “pack their bags” to spend a month living there. They will identify what the animal needs to survive and then match the animal with the habitat.

Some great information about Biomes (habitats) can be found on the following websites: http://www.kidcyber.com.au/topics/biomes.htm - kid friendly http://www2.ups.edu/biology/museum/worldbiomes.html - teacher friendly

Goals and Objectives 1. Students will learn about major animal habitats around the world. 2. They will identify what traits or adaptations animals need to survive successfully in a specific habitat. 3. By studying an animal’s adaptations, Students will categorize animals according to habitat criteria. 4. Students will understand that all animals that live in specific habitats around the world possess similar physical and behavioral adaptations.

Time Needed One 30 minute class period

Materials World Map Habitat descriptions (copied and cut apart, one description per student) Animal cards used in Unit 1 Adaptation page (one copy per student) Suitcase handout (one copy per student) Glue Scissors

Teacher Instructions

Preparing for the lesson… 1. Make copies of Habitat descriptions and cut apart. Every student should have one description to work from. 2. Make copies of the Suitcase handout and Adaptations page. One of each per student. Teaching the Unit… Program Introduction 1. Gather the class to begin discussion. See if the students can name some animal habitats. See how many they can name and then get more specific. In other words, they may name “ocean”. Lead them to name other ocean habitats like coral reefs, deep sea, shoreline, etc. 33

2. Using a large world map, choose one of the habitats that your students have discussed and identify all of the places on the map where that habitat exists. Choose an easy one to do: i.e. Tropical Rainforests exist all around the equator on all of the continents that touch the equator. Remember that the students will remember what habitats their continents had from the last activity. 3. Pass out the habitat descriptions. Each student should have one to work from. Give the students a few minutes to read their description.

Pack Your Bags Activity 1. Distribute the suitcase handout, and the adaptation page, one to each student. The Suitcase handout will have a picture of an open suitcase in one area of the paper, a space to glue adaptations, and a space to draw a picture. The adaptation page will have lots of pictures of animal adaptations from animals all over the world. The adaptations are labeled for clarity. 2. Explain that the students will be pretending to pack for a month long camping trip to their habitat. They will read their description, and think about what they would need to survive there. On their trip, they will live off the land. They will not take food, but will gather it in the habitat. The students should list the contents of their suitcase provided in the open suitcase picture. They should think carefully about what they would take, and whether it would help them survive for the entire month. 3. Next ask them to look through the animal adaptations. They will choose the animal adaptations that are similar to the things they packed in their suitcase. For instance, if they packed a heavy coat for warmth, then they need to find the adaptation “warm fur”. They cut out the applicable adaptations and glue them in the space provided on the handout. 4. Finally provide a list of the animals in the sorting group. You might write it on the board, reference the poster included in the packet, or provide a few decks of the animal cards used in Unit one for students to reference. 5. The students will find animals that possess the adaptations that they thought that animals need to live successfully in their habitat. They need to identify at least 4 animals that fit in their habitat. Students should write down the animals in the space provided so they can remember them. 6. In the Picture space, students will draw a picture of their animals in their habitat. The habitat should be identifiable in the picture and the animals should be clearly rendered. 7. Follow up with a class discussion in which students share their work with the rest of the class.

Assessment Assess this activity for accuracy and completeness. Students should complete the entire handout and have successfully chosen animals that have the adaptations necessary for survival in that particular habitat.

Extensions Students could write stories about their pretend camping trip or complete a mocked up postcard telling others about their trip and the habitat they have visited.

Students could design a travel brochure to entice others to visit their habitat. They could include pictures, marketing copy and itineraries to choose from.

Habitat Description Cards – copy and cut apart

Tropical Rainforest Hot, humid all year round Plains/Grasslands Rainy season and dry season Change of seasons - hot and dry Lush, thick vegetation with very in summer and cooler in the tall trees winter Trees grow to be as high as Flat land 100-240 feet tall, as tall as a 20 Can see for far distances in all story building directions Dark and hot on forest floor and Grasses and small isolated trees sunny and breezy in the canopy for vegetation Hard to see far distances – too Isolated water sources like thick with plants watering holes Most of the food is up high in the trees though some fruit falls down to the ground Near water source like a river

Ocean Deciduous Forest Underwater all the time Change of seasons – Summer, Water can be very cold or Spring, Fall, Winter warmer depending on the Air temperature and weather weather or season conditions change a lot over a Light on the surface, darker, year deeper down Lush thick vegetation in the tall Can get oxygen either by treetops, much easier to see on breathing air or water forest floor Only visible vegetation found on Floor covered in leaf litter the ocean floor close to shore Found on northern rolling hills Lots of tiny plants and animals and mountains float near the surface Near source of water like a river

Tundra Marsh Cold all year round Wet and muddy all year round Flat rocky and icy land All land is under shallow water Icy and frozen during winter, and sits on gloopy mud thaws out in summer Flat land but tall grasses can Sun shines all day and night in make it hard to see anything summer and is dark all day in further than a few feet ahead winter Lots of plant life, both in and Is made up of land masses in out of the water and around ocean waters Can have salt water, brackish Can see for miles in all water or freshwater directions Borders and flows into a major Almost no vegetation except water source like a river, ocean some lichen and short grasses or lake Lots of animals around in Can be found in all climate summer, very few in the winter zones from tropical to tundra

Let’s Go on a Trip! Pretend that you are going on a long trip to your wild habitat. Look at your habitat card. What would you need to pack in your suitcase? You will need enough stuff to stay for a whole month. Write a list of the things you will pack in the suitcase below.

Things I need to

pack to spend a month living in my habitat.

Cut and glue the adaptations that animals that live in your habitat need to survive. Get ideas by looking at what you packed in your suitcase!

Draw a

Draw a picture of one of the sorting group animals that lives in your habitat. Be sure to show its adaptations and show what your habitat looks like.

38 Unit 8: Let’s Design a Sorting Key!

Background Information Dichotomous keys are tools used to classify things. They allow people to determine the identity of items in the natural world, such as trees, wildflowers, mammals, reptiles, rocks, and fish. Keys consist of a series of choices that lead the user to the correct name of a given item. "Dichotomous" means "divided into two parts". Therefore, dichotomous keys always give two choices in each step. They are the easiest keys to develop and don’t require the person using them to know all of the possible characteristics of the subjects to classify them.

When sorting things using a dichotomous key, you compare two groups of objects and ask your self questions about them. For example, if you were to sort grocery produce, you might ask “Is it a fruit or not a fruit? then “If it’s a fruit, does it have one seed or many?” then “If it has many, is it sectioned into parts?” Each question should narrow the scope and bring you closer to identifying the piece of produce. In this way, you can see that dichotomous keys are great for identifying living things, because not only do they identify the animal or plant, but they show the relationship of it to the rest of the group. Using our example, we know that an orange is a sectioned fruit that has many seeds, not just that it’s an orange.

In this unit, students will practice designing and using their own dichotomous (sorting) key using something very familiar; their own shoes and those of their classmates. Once they are used to working with dichotomous, or sorting keys, in Unit 9 they will be able to build a key that helps them sort animals into categories based on their taxonomic characteristics.

Goals and Objectives 1. Students will develop a 3 step dichotomous key for shoes. 2. Students will evaluate keys that made by other students and make changes on their own key based on student comments. 3. Students will gain practice and become comfortable with dichotomous keys.

Time Needed One 30 minute class period

Materials Shoes (one from about 10 students) Sorting Key Handout 2 (three copies for every small group) Pencils

Teacher Instructions

Preparing for the lessons… 1. Arrange your classroom chairs in a circle with a large area inside. 2. Make copies of the Sorting Key handout.

Teaching the Unit… Program Introduction 1. Gather the class to begin discussion. 2. Explain what a dichotomous key is. For the purposes of the students, we will call these sorting keys. Give some examples of ways to ask questions to sort things. Try sorting a simple set of 39

objects or people. Choose 5 objects or 5 students and, as a class, sort them using questions about the group. Questions for students might include sorting them on their gender, height, hair color, skin color, eye color, etc. Get as detailed as you can to eventually specifically identify the person or object. 3. Take off one of your shoes and put it in the center of the circle. Ask ten students to take off one of their shoes and put it in the circle with yours.

Designing the Sorting Key 1. Ask the students to look at the group of shoes and think of one characteristic that they can see that would divide the group of shoes into two groups. Decide on one characteristic or criteria that is clear and broad and easy to see. It should be a “yes or no question” i.e. sneakers vs. all other shoes. Divide the group of shoes into two piles according to the agreed upon criteria. The piles don't have to have equal numbers of shoes but, that they all have to agree on some obvious characteristic that will distinguish one pile of shoes from the other. 2. After the students have reached an agreement, ask the students to record the characteristic on the board. 3. Draw two horizontal lines some distance apart on the chalkboard. Label the lines with the agreed upon characteristics.

______

4. Return to the pile of shoes. Tell the students one pile will be pushed aside for the moment. Now they must again divide the pile of shoes into two distinct piles. Again, they will agree on the characteristic that distinguishes one pile from the other. After agreement is reached, add this information to the chalkboard sketch.

5. Continue the procedure to divide the shoes into two distinct piles and adding the information to the sketch until there is only one shoe with the identifying characteristic, at which point the shoe is identified and the owners name is added to the sketch.

6. Divide the second pile of shoes in the same manner as the first pile until all the shoes have been identified and a complete chart has been built on the board. 7. Push all the shoes back together in one pile. (secretly add a shoe from another student to the pile). 8. Have the students redeem their shoe one at a time. As they take their shoe from the pile, ask them to show the branch where their shoe was identified. 40

9. After all the shoes have been redeemed, the shoe added secretly will remain. Ask a student to follow the key until the shoe is identified. Students should discover that a key works only for identification of those items used in its' original construction. 10. Give each group a copy of the Sorting Key Handout. For homework, ask the students to try developing a sorting key for another group of objects. They could be cars in a parking lot, office supplies found in a desk, produce from the refrigerator or sporting equipment. The sorting group should have at least 10 objects in it.

Conclusion 1. Gather the class together in the classroom. 2. Hold a class discussion about the group’s experience with sorting keys. Help the students evaluate their experience and make some suggestions for how to design sorting keys for other kinds of objects or organisms.

Assessment This unit is very easy to assess. You should be able to clearly see the group work process in the shoe sorting activity. The finished copies of the student designed keys will show the progression of its development. The final key should be easy to follow and show creativity and accuracy.

Extensions Design a key yourself and fill in the boxes, but leave the questions blank. See if the students can figure out the criteria (questions) that you based your key on. Try an easy one, then try a complex one and see if the students can figure it out!

Let’s Make a Sorting Key!

42 Unit 9 – A Sorting Key for Animals

Background Information Now that your students are comfortable using dichotomous keys, they will design a simple one for sorting animals. In this unit, a Zoo Educator will visit your class bringing live animals for the students to study. The students will be charged with designing a key to sort the animals as they are introduced to the class. Students will lead the learning as they decide what criteria they should use and the Zoo Educator assists them in their task of designing a key.

At the end of the presentation, students will take the follow up Animal survey to assess their newfound knowledge of animals and animal diversity.

Goals and Objectives 1. Students will design a dichotomous key for sorting animals, using their adaptations for criteria. 2. Students will use their understanding of animal adaptations to compare and contrast animal species as they make observations and hypotheses. 3. Students will experience live animals in an intimate classroom setting. 4. Students will lead the learning in the classroom, using the Zoo Outreach staff and animals as resources to complete the activity.

Time Needed 1 hour ZooMobile Outreach Visit

Materials Copies of the sorting key handout used in Unit 8 (1 for each student) Pencils

Teacher Instructions Preparing for the lesson… Contact the Indianapolis Zoo to set up your Zoo Mobile visit. To do so, call Angela McGolgin at 317-630-5110. The Zoo will have guidelines and checklists for you to follow. Make sure you ask about any space and classroom setting requirements that the Zoo needs to accommodate the animals and plan accordingly.

When the Zoo visits you… When the Zoo Mobile staff from the Indianapolis Zoo visits you and your students in the classroom, s/he will have a program and activities planned for your students. In the program your students will design a sorting key to sort the group of animals that visit your classroom. Once the staff person introduces the program and gets the students started, it will be up to them as to which animals they see and when. Using all the new animal knowledge they have acquired, they will lead the learning in order to create their own sorting key. The program will become a sort of conversation between the students and the outreach staff person.

Assessment Check your student’s zoo handouts for accuracy and completion. Their sorting key should show that they have a good handle on the animal facts and adaptation observations and be able to make inferences about how the animals compare to each other.

Teacher Materials

This section includes props and manipulatives used to teach the Animal Diversity curriculum.

Contents: 1 two sided poster (folded) Beastly Bash Seating Chart – Unit 1 Sorting Group List – Unit 5 Fact cards – Unit 1 Continent Map Packet – Unit 6 Folklore Packet – Unit 6 Adaptations Page – Unit 7