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Unit Name: Animal Growth and Change

Lesson Number and Title: Lesson #1 – Animal Groups

Date: This would be an introductory lesson which the start date could vary whether you would like to begin your science with this outcome or another.

Subject: Science

Grade: 2

Time: An introductory lesson that would take roughly 3 (50 minute classes)

Parts of the Learning Cycle Involved: Engagement, Exploration, Explanation, Elaboration, and Evaluation.

Learning Objective and Lesson Purpose: Students will learn about the six different groups of animals which are Amphibians, Birds, Reptiles, Fish, Mammals, and Insects. They will be able to label specific animals under a specific animal group.

About / In / For the environment: For this lesson students will be learning About the environment. Students will be learning about the six different groups of animals. One of the biggest factors in grouping animals comes with their environment/habitat

Outcomes & Indicators:

Outcome AN2.1 Analyze the growth and development of familiar animals, including birds, fish, insects, reptiles, amphibians, and mammals, during their life cycles.

a) Pose questions about the growth and development of familiar animals.

f) Describe the characteristics common to each stage (e.g., birth, youth, adulthood, and old age) of the life cycle of familiar animals (e.g., dog, cat, beaver, frog, fish, bird, ant, wasp, and chicken)

Content Background:

- Credit for background content and activity idea for this lesson

This is a great resource for teachers to use if they have no previous knowledge of animal group/classification. Giving you big idea questions, enduring questions, essential questions, and outcomes covered, and everything else you may need for a lesson plan. It goes into background knowledge of how animals are placed in their respectable group Amphibians, Birds, Fish, Insects, Mammals, or Reptiles. It then describes why animals are placed in that specific groups, some specific vocabulary you cover with the students, along with assessment for both pre lesson and post lesson. Lastly there are some example lesson plans which work perfectly for introducing this unit to Grade 2’s.

There are at least five million species on Earth, and some scientists believe there could be double that number. A species is a group of animals that are more like each other than they are like any other group of animals. They can breed with each other but not with members of other species. A way of sorting through all those species is to organize them by similar properties, or characteristics. This process is called classification. The following is a list of properties for each group of animals.

Mammals

• Give birth to their young and feed them with milk.

• Have hair on at least part of their body.

• Have four limbs with digits ending in claws, nails, or hooves (except whales).

• Breathe with lungs.

• Are warm-blooded.

Birds

• Lay eggs with a hard shell.

• Are covered with feathers.

• Have a beak.

• Have two legs.

• Have two wings used for flying (ostriches and penguins are flightless).

• Have hollow bones.

• Are warm-blooded.

Reptiles

• Lay eggs with leathery shells or give birth to fully-formed young.

• Breathe with lungs.

• Are covered with scales.

• Have no legs or four legs with clawed toes.

• Are cold-blooded.

Amphibians

• Lay eggs, usually in a jelly-like mass in water.

• Breathe with lungs, gills, and/or their skin.

• Have smooth skin without coverings.

• Have four legs without claws or nails on toes.

• Are cold-blooded.

Insects

• Have three body parts: head, thorax and abdomen.

• Have a single pair of antennae on the head.

• Have three pairs of legs originating from the thorax.

• Often have wings and can fly.

Fish

• Lay eggs without shells in water.

• Breathe with gills.

• Are covered with scales or smooth, leathery skin.

• Have fins but no legs or toes.

• Are cold-blooded.

VOCABULARY

• classification: a systematic arrangement in groups

• species: a group of animals that are more like each other than they are like any other group of animals

• property: a special quality of something

• mammal: any of a class of warm-blooded vertebrates that include human beings and all other animals that nourish their young with milk produced by mammary glands and have skin usually with some hair

• bird: any of a class of warm-blooded egg-laying vertebrates with a body covered with feathers and forelimbs modified as wings

• reptile: any of a group of cold-blooded, air-breathing vertebrates (such as snakes, lizards, turtles, and alligators) that usually lays eggs and has skin covered with scales or bony plates

• amphibian: any organism that is able to live both on land and in water; especially, any of a class of cold-blooded vertebrates (such as frogs and salamanders) that in many respects are between fishes and reptiles

• insect: any of a class of arthropods (such as butterflies, true bugs, two-winged flies, bees, and grasshoppers) with a three-part body clearly divided into head, thorax, and abdomen; three pairs of jointed legs; and usually one or two pairs of wings

• fish: a cold-blooded vertebrate that lives and breathes in water and typically has a long, scaly, tapering body, limbs developed as fins, and a vertical tail fin

Processes Developed: Students will be learning how and why animals are grouped and classified into animal groups. This will be done in a variety of ways. Students will have videos, worksheets, and other activities. Ways they will be processing this knowledge is through:

Classifying - Students will be taking animals of their choice and classifying them into their specific animal group.

Organizing - Students will be taking their animal choices and organizing them after they have color/drawn them. Next they will classify them before organizing them into each group.

Communicating - Student can communicate which animals they have chosen for their favorites. They can also discuss how they grouped/organized their animals.

Adaptive Dimension: For the main activity portion of this lesson students will be required to have writing skills and be able to draw/color a picture out of their own imagination. For the writing aspect of the lesson if students cannot fully write words then they can visually draw or color words that need to be described. In the activity we will be describing characteristics of each of the animal groups with words but if they cannot do so visually and verbally will work fine. Instead of writing the word furry they could visually color what they think is furry. If it needs to be done verbally it could be done as a class with you the educator writing down everyone’s ideas. If students cannot come up with their own favorite animal then you as the teacher can have options in place for your students to choose from. So they don’t become stressed or frustrated by not being able to think of an animal or being able to draw it.

Cross Curricular Competencies (CCC’s):

Developing Thinking (Related to CEL of Critical and Creative Thinking)

K-12 Goal: Think and learn creatively

- Show curiosity and interest in the world, new experiences, materials, and puzzling or surprising events

- Experiment with ideas, hypotheses, educated guesses, and intuitive thoughts

- Imagine and create central images or metaphors for subject area content cross disciplinary ideas.

K-12 Goal: Think and learn critically

- Analyze and critique objects, events, experiences, ideas, theories, expressions, situations, and other phenomena

- Distinguish among facts, opinions, beliefs, and preferences

- Apply various criteria to assess ideas, evidence, arguments, motives, and actions

- Apply, evaluate, and respond to differing strategies for solving problems and making decisions

Developing Literacies (Related to CELs of Communication, Numeracy, Technological

Literacy, and Independent Learning)

K-12 Goal: Construct knowledge related to various literacies

- Acknowledge the importance of multiple literacies in everyday life

- Understand that literacies can involve words, images, numbers, sounds, movements, and other representations and that these can have different interpretations and meanings

- Examine the interrelationships between literacies and knowledge, culture, and values

- Evaluate the ideas and information found in a variety of sources (e.g., people, databases, natural and constructed environments)

Interdisciplinary Connections:

Arts Education Outcome: CP2.8 – Students will be visually representing the two animals they choose for homework. Using their drawing skills to do so.

Language Arts Outcome: CR2.3 – Students will be using their writing skills to name the animal they have colored/drawn for homework for the worksheets

Prerequisite Learnings:

As the first lesson students will require the ability to write short sentences or words to describe an animal. They must also possess the ability to draw/color their animal of choice. Beyond that the ability sort animals by characteristics described.

Materials / Equipment / Safety:

For this introductory lesson students will require their basic writing utensils. Paper for students to draw/color their animal will be precut for students to have more time for the activity. Have access to a laptop and projector so students can watch the video on animal grouping to review for the activity. No safety precautions for this lesson.

Advanced Preparation:

For the lesson this will be the third and last day of the first lesson plan. On the first two days we will be exploring worksheets, watching a short film to describe animal grouping, and discussing what animal groups are and how we place them in their respectable group. For the third and final lesson we will have the basic knowledge of animal grouping. To prepare for the final day of the first lesson teachers will have to have the amount of student’s worth of white sheets cut out the same size for students be to draw/color on. Also have the 6 animal group words cut out and ready to be placed on the board. Make sure any markers, pencil crayons, or crayons are ready for students to use if they do not have access to their own. Make sure there is enough space for all of your students to be if they are not in their desks. Enough open space for six different groups to be standing within the classroom.

Lesson Procedure

Engagement

DAY 1: To begin the lesson students will be introduced to the idea of animal grouping by the teachers. Using the example “you know what my favorite animals are?” At this point I will choose six different animals from all six of the different animal groups. I will tell the students how there are six different groups and ask if they know any, seeing if they have any previous knowledge. I will explain why each of the animals I have listed are placed in their animal group. After this introduction I will show them a video (which will get them actively Engaged) that furthers what I have explained to them. After we will discuss further what animal grouping is and then move on into depth of the first three groups which are Amphibians, Bugs, and Fish

Exploration

After we will discuss further what animal grouping is and then move on into depth of the first three groups which are Amphibians, Bugs, and Fish. Using websites, and worksheets. For a take home assignment students will be asked to pick one favorite animal from the three animal groups worked with today to color/draw on a white piece of paper I have prepared before class. This gets students thinking about the topic at home and actively has the parents involved and assisting their child.

DAY 2: Once the second day has begun students will be shown the video shown from the first day, which the students will enjoy because it’s done in sing along fashion which students will enjoy. After this we will review from yesterday and discuss the animals they chose from their homework assignment. Informing the students to keep it tucked away for tomorrow’s lesson. The rest of the class with be spent learning about the remaining three animal groups Insects, Mammals, and Reptiles. Reviewing the information covered in the video and possible completing a work sheet. For a take home assignment students will now pick a favorite animal from the three animal groups learned about today and color/draw it once again.

Explanation

DAY 3: The lesson plan I have prepared takes place in today’s lesson. As the teacher we will have been discussing how today will be an exciting day in our animal grouping lesson. To begin the lesson students will discuss the animals they have chosen from their homework activity. Then we will move on to the first part of the activity. Where we play the sorting game. This will be done quickly so we have enough time to complete the second and final activity for this lesson. We will discuss similarities we have in the classroom and create six different groupings we could be placed in (Example: short hair, long hair, girl, boy, student, teacher, ECT). We will then have students sort themselves into the groups and describe why they have been placed there.

Elaboration

We will discuss how this is similar to animal grouping. After realizing the similarity. Students will pull out the animals they have colored from the previous two nights of homework while I the teacher puts up the six different animal groups on the board. Next I will hand each student two little pieces of sticky tack. Next they will write which animal group their two animals are placed under on each of their papers and then they will be asked in rows to place their animals in the group they belong under using the sticky tack to do so on the board. After all have been placed we will read as a class some of the animals present on the board and why they fit under the group. This should be nearing the end of the class and the end of the first lesson.

Evaluation

Students will not have much time to evaluate themselves in class. But some evaluation could be done at home by students if they choose. Evaluating themselves on their ability to place their two animals in the proper groups. As a class we could discuss our personal abilities. It could also be done in class if we need to add an extra day to the first lesson or could be done before the second lesson begins.

Extensions /Modifications:

Lessons done throughout the three classes can be adapted in different ways. Adding to the workload on the first two days you could add or take away the amount of animal groups covered in that lesson. Another day of classes could possibly be added if needed. The first activity done on day three could be completed on day one to introduce the lesson in a fun and interactive way. A note could be sent home with student in their agenda so students have the assistance from parents. If they don’t have access to this help. I as the teacher will give assistance before the lesson begins. Students with special needs who may not be able to draw/color their own picture could be granted access to a computer and can print off pictures of animals they choose. Any extra assistance with sorting or anything else can be done by a teacher’s assistant or myself.

Assessment:

Students will be assessed at the beginning of each class on the second and third day to see if they completed the homework assignment required. Having a checklist for each day to either check or not check for the completion. Assessment will also be done on student’s ability to properly group their animal into its animal group, along with the ability to write the animal group on their own sheet of paper before placing it on the board. Their assignment will be handed in after for me to formally evaluate.

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