What Helps an Animal Survive?

Transcription

1 The African Savannah is the largest grassland in the world, and it is home to an exciting, diverse population of plants and animals. By studying the Savannah, we can explore the food chain, beginning with tufts of grasses and other plants that grow for a short season, and see how the plants sustain an amazing community of plant eaters, predators, scavengers and decomposers. You will use drawings to show the adaptations that each type of wildlife uses to survive on the Savannah. Your drawings will be on a recording sheet and should include a word to help explain your drawing. 1 of 20

2 Suggested Grade Span K 2 Task The African Savannah is the largest grassland in the world, and it is home to an exciting, diverse population of plants and animals. By studying the Savannah, we can explore the food chain, beginning with tufts of grasses and other plants that grow for a short season, and see how the plants sustain an amazing community of plant eaters, predators, scavengers and decomposers. You will use drawings to show the adaptations that each type of wildlife uses to survive on the Savannah. Your drawings will be on a recording sheet and should include a word to help explain your drawing. Big Ideas and Unifying Concepts Evolution and equilibrium Form and function Interdependence Life Science Concepts Evolution, diversity and adaptations Populations and ecosystems Regulation and behavior Structure and function Science in Personal and Societal Perspectives Concepts Natural hazards Populations, resources and environments Mathmatics Concepts Comparison of attributes or effects Diagrams Graphs, tables and representations Measurement 2 of 20

3 Time Required for the Task Approximately 45 to 60 minutes. Context My first graders have spent 12 weeks on an in-depth study of the continent of Africa. They have been investigating the diverse habitats and wildlife on this continent, which includes mountains, jungles, desert, savannah and shrub land. The first graders have concentrated on the African Savannah in order to better understand the characteristics, interdependence and survival adaptations of many of the predator and prey species found there. What the Task Accomplishes This investigation task demonstrates how well the children can apply their skills in observing and gathering information from a variety of data sources (such as nature videos, nonfiction books, magazines and newspaper articles). From our earlier theme on raptors/owls, students are also able to draw upon their prior knowledge about how wild animals use their five senses to survive. Building on prior learning has helped students to become better predictors about a variety of wildlife adaptations and make clearer connections about the interrelationships among the many forms of life, including humans, on the savannah and their impact on the environment. How the Student Will Investigate This task lends itself to integrating many components of multiple intelligences. After watching nature videos and listening to a variety of nonfiction literature, the children were engaged in movement activities to model a variety of predator/prey relationships. Musical instruments were used to represent a variety of wildlife that are characteristic of the African Savannah. It is easy to take grass for granted, so in cooperative groups, a variety of grasses were grown, observed and measured in the classroom. The children discovered that gazelles, wildebeests and zebras do not compete for food because each prefers a different part of the grasses. (Zebras eats tops, wildebeests eat middle, and gazelles nibble close to the ground.) Students worked in partners to research endangered animals to find out their location, features of the animal s habitat, specific threats to its survival and what steps are being taken to protect the animal. Some of these were the African elephant, black rhinoceros, Nile crocodile, leopard, cheetah and mountain gorilla. Posters and dioramas were constructed in cooperative groups to show the rainy season and dry season," and then connected to classroom presentations. The children practiced responding to pictures that I would hold up, in a type of I Spy game, showing different predators, prey, scavengers and decomposers. The child needed to identify the wildlife and provide two survival attributes of the animal. When I showed a picture of a cheetah, for example, the child needed to say: I spy a cheetah. Its spots help it to be camouflaged on the Savannah, and its legs allow it to run fast after its prey. Sometimes we combined this activity with no words and used pantomime to demonstrate the attributes in a different way. 3 of 20

4 I created different recording sheets for my students. In order to provide for the spread in abilities and interest levels and to sample a variety of predator and prey, the children had two sheets to record on. The first sheet provided six wildlife examples to be completed (front and back). On this task, children were asked to draw and label two survival attributes for each animal. The second sheet was a blank sheet for drawing at least two examples of animals that we had studied, as well as for drawing and labeling two survival attributes of each animal. Interdisciplinary Links and Extensions Science/Social Studies Grow and/or examine the following in the grass family: wheat, rice, corn, oats, sugar cane, bamboo, Kentucky bluegrass and buffalo grass. Find out which are food sources for people, domesticated grazers and/or wild grazers. Go on a grass safari into a grassy lot or field to look for different kinds of local grasses. Do they see waist-high grasses? knee-high grasses? anklehigh grasses? Does the field or lot look like it has been mowed? What colors do they notice? Do they see some grasses growing in clumps, like in Africa? Do they see any sign of animal life? Ask the children to find similarities among a group of animals called ungulates (hoofed mammals). What are the differences in size and habitat, or between wild and domesticated? Use the following list: rhinoceros, moose, camel, giraffe, wildebeest, buffalo, horse, deer, zebra and sheep. Mapping and graphing provide other ways to describe information. In Africa, the Savannah is huge in relation to the whole continent. Look at the size of countries, the locations of major mountains and rivers, and at populations. Children can make a chart about the weather on the Savannah and study the inches of rain each month from data the teacher has provided. Language Arts Make clue cards for the children to manipulate that include an important fact about plants, animals and physical features in Africa. Show how to use reference materials and classroom books to write and illustrate brief reports. Make a slide show for a parent night; each child can make a slide of special interest for a classroom presentation. Investigate endangered animals and create a partner project to share the information with another classroom. Make a big book that incorporates sound words to represent the sounds you might hear on the Savannah, such as hyena s loud laughter, or pounding hoof beats of a herd of zebras. Have children imagine that they are a radio or TV reporter speaking about an endangered animal. What kinds of questions will you need to ask, and how could you help this species around the world? Movement/Music I provided examples earlier in this lesson for how to extend this in the classroom. An added extension is showing students how to make a grass whistle. Also you can gather recycled materials from families to make other homemade musical instruments to represent the movements of animals and weather conditions (such as making a rain stick ). Find out if there are students and adults who have traveled to different parts of Africa and invite them into the classroom to provide demonstrations. 4 of 20

5 Mathematics Some of the activities listed under the science and social studies section for growing and measuring types of grasses and rainfall on the Savannah also integrate math skills. People all over the world use their fingers for counting, and African people have their own special ways of counting. For a counting book, each child can illustrate the Swahili counting words from one to ten using different art techniques. Mankala is a wonderful partner game to teach young children, and with an art teacher s help they can make their own Mankala boards from egg cartons and paper mache. Old buttons, shell collections, pennies or macaroni can be used for the counters. Problem-solving tasks can easily be created to challenge these thinking and communication standards. An example might be: I spy 24 legs at the water hole. There are mammals, insects, birds, reptiles and amphibians at the water hole tonight. There are more prey than predators. What creatures are at the water hole tonight? Teaching Tips and Guiding Questions As teachers, we can capitalize on our students natural curiosity, teaching them about the incredible chain of life on the African Savannah. Questions can extend critical thinking for children. Some of these questions might be: What types of grasses provide people with food? What types of grasses grow on the African Savannah? What problems are many of the world s natural grasslands facing? How does the amount of rainfall affect the growing season of the grasses on the Savannah? What does the color of the grass tell about the amount of rainfall that the grass has been getting? How do fires play a role in the cycle of life on the Savannah? What strategies do wildebeests, zebras or impalas use to protect themselves? What similar and different hunting traits do lions, cheetahs, leopards and hyenas use? How does an ostrich use its speed and feet? Is there any other bird with similar attributes? How do the hippo and crocodile use water to their advantage? How has illegal hunting affected the wildlife? What is being done to control this? How do we use national parks in the United States compared with African countries such as Kenya, Tanzania and Botswana? Different grazing animals, such as gazelles, wildebeests and zebras, do not compete for the same food (do not eat the same part of grass). How does this help survival? What might happen if they did? How does being part of a large herd offer protection on the Savannah? Which ungulates are grazers? browsers? How do size and body characteristics make a difference in choice of food? Imagine how the great prairies looked 200 years ago. How have they changed? What wildlife and cultures were plentiful then? How has this changed today? 5 of 20

6 Concepts to be Assessed (Unifying concepts/big ideas and science concepts to be assessed using the Science Exemplars Rubric under the criterion: Science Concepts and Related Content) Life Science Structure and Function: Students identify characteristics of organisms (for example their body structures, use of senses, behaviors), use prior knowledge, and classify and compare living organisms as plant eaters, meat eaters, scavengers or decomposers. Students observe that each organism has different structures that serve different functions in growth, survival and reproduction. Life Science Regulation and Behavior: Students understand that all organisms have basic needs air, water, food. Students observe that all animals depend on plants, that some eat plants and others eat animals that eat plants, that animals can survive only in an environment in which their needs can be met and that different environments support different types of organisms. Life Science Populations and Ecosystems: Students describe or show examples of food chains/habitats and effects on a population experiencing environmental changes (interdependence). Life Science Evolution, Diversity and Adaptation: Students observe anatomical differences in organisms. Students understand that all organisms are living systems; that each distinct structure has a set function that serves the organism and that species acquire their unique characteristics through biological adaptations. Students understand what to look for (size, shape, texture, structure) when observing organisms. Science in Personal and Societal Perspectives Populations, Resources and Environments: Students observe that human activities have an impact on natural systems and that changing human behaviors can lessen the impact on ecosystems. Science in Personal and Societal Perspectives Natural Hazards: Students observe that events such as earthquakes, landslides, wildfires, floods, etc., can change or destroy wildlife habitats. Mathematics: Students make precise measurements and compare attributes or effects. Students use graphs, tables, representations and diagrams appropriately. Skills to be Developed (Science process skills to be assessed using the Science Exemplars Rubric under the criteria: Scientific Procedures and Reasoning Strategies, and Scientific Communication Using Data) Scientific Method: Observing habits and attributes of African wildlife, predicting the adaptations of each animal by looking at illustrations and using prior knowledge, hypothesizing, recording data by illustrating appropriate survival adaptations, drawing conclusions about a 6 of 20

7 variety of species of wildlife, communicating findings, and raising new questions about other wildlife in their habitats on other continents. Other Science Standards and Concepts Addressed Scientific Method: Students describe, predict, investigate and explain phenomena. Scientific Theory: Students look for evidence that explains why things happen and modify explanations when new observations are made. Science in Personal and Societal Perspectives Populations, Resources and Environments: Students observe that human actions can cause changes in vegetation, ecosystems and/or entire landscapes and that resource demands can limit the growth of populations in specific ecosystems. Life Science Structure and Function; Regulation and Behavior; Populations and Ecosystems; Evolution, Diversity and Adaptations: Students describe and group animals by what they eat and where they live. They understand that organisms have basic needs for air, water and food - that they can survive only in an environment in which needs can be met, that different environments support different types of organisms and that all animals depend on plants in some way. Students understand that living things are found almost everywhere in the world and are interdependent. Students observe that each plant or animal has different structures that serve different functions in growth, survival and reproduction. Students observe species and many of their unique characteristics, acquired through biological adaptations, which include changes in structures, behavior and/or physiology that enhance survival. Science in Personal and Societal Perspectives Natural Hazards: Students observe that events such as earthquakes, landslides, wildfires, floods, etc., can change or destroy wildlife habitats. Students observe that human activities have an impact on natural systems and that changing human behaviors can lessen the impact on ecosystems. Suggested Materials Provide a variety of real-life photos from calendars and magazines like Ranger Rick, National Geographic and World. There are incredible literature resources fiction and nonfiction in personal collections and school libraries. Some of the titles that I used were: Cheetah, by Caroline Arnold Who Comes to the Water Hole? by Colleen Bare Tree of Life: The World of the African Baobab, by Barbara Bash Jambo Means Hello, by Muriel Feelings Life on the African Savannah, Ranger Rick Science Series (big book) The Whistling Thorn, by Helen Cowcher (big book) The Greedy Python, by Eric Carle 7 of 20

8 Africa Calling, by Daniel Alderman Animals of the Grasslands, by Sylvia Johnson Animal Camouflage, by Malcolm Penny Nature s Footprints in the African Grasslands, by Q.L. and W.J. Pearce Hunting and Stalking, by Malcolm Penny I also found activity books that contained good drawings of wildlife from the Savannah, which, were copied and mounted on file cards to use for cooperative group identification games and attribute sorting. The children also used the pictures to model each animal s unique body movements. African music and recycled materials were used by the children to make their own instruments to represent movements and sounds made by different animals. Lots of clay was provided for children to experiment and represent different African animals. My first graders took a field trip to a local university museum after spending three weeks examining the artifacts from Southern Africa kits. Local high school students who have visited countries in Africa for special studies, or staff from African imports stores, can provide wonderful classroom presentations, complete with artifacts, stories and slides. Possible Solutions The students drawings should demonstrate accurate conceptual understanding of two attributes/adaptations that each type of wildlife uses to survive on the Savannah. Each sample drawing should include a word to help clarify the drawing. Each child should record solutions for the six different wildlife samples provided. Each child should also illustrate and label two different wildlife examples that had been discussed at any time during our unit on Africa. This provides more evidence about a student s ability to make extensions and connections about interdependence and survival. Task-Specific Assessment Notes Novice This student s solution lacks evidence of scientific thinking and is not complete. Some drawings demonstrate incorrect survival information for the wildlife example. The student is unable to independently think of any examples of wildlife discussed during the unit. There is some evidence of conceptual understanding: the pack instinct of the African wild dog, the cheetah s running speed and the horns of the eland. Without further questioning, it is difficult to ascertain what the student knows. Apprentice Although this student s solution is lacking in some details and labeling, there is evidence of scientific reasoning and skill acquisition during the task. Several accurate depictions are included. The rhino drawings indicate adaptations of horns and running. The cheetah drawings indicate use of spots (camouflage) and claws. The eland indicates use of horns and hooves for running and kicking. This student does attempt two wildlife examples of his/her own by using the crocodile and spider. This student is able to demonstrate some aspects of the data drawn, but not all pictures are clarified. 8 of 20

9 Practitioner This student s solution is complete and shows evidence of scientific thinking and reasoning. There are two correct survival attributes for each example. This student uses both broader ideas (such as the use of pack hunting and camouflage) and specific anatomical attributes (teeth, horns). This student independently selects two wildlife examples and represents clear and accurate survival adaptations. Expert This student s solution is complete and well-labeled for each wildlife sample. Some scientific terms (camouflage, pack) are used. The student is able to demonstrate two survival adaptations/attributes for each animal, while showing extensions like group formation, camouflage, climbing and use of horns for defense. This student also demonstrates three wildlife samples independently, choosing the crocodile, lion and zebra. The zebra illustration shows three survival instincts that are appropriate, which provides more evidence of extended scientific thinking. 9 of 20

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