Habitats and Adaptations – 4th grade- Lesson Plan

Objectives: Students will learn:

1. What is a habitat. 4 components of habitat: food, water, shelter, space.
2. Importance of habitat to wildlife (habitat loss as a problem)
3. Different types of habitats in Cincinnati (typical wildlife and plant species)
4. Local wildlife species
5. How parks provide habitat
6. How animals are adapted to their habitats
7. Human impacts on habitats
8. Use skills of scientific inquiry processes

Pre-visit: Our School is a Habitat Activity (Objective 1)

Fall Visit:

Topic: Introduction to park and habitats (Objectives 1,2,4,5,8)

1. INTRODUCTION (10 min): We will be visiting with your class three times this year. How many of you live close to here? How many of you have been to this park before? Today we are going to be doing lots of fun things to learn about habitat in your park. Because we have lots to do, we need to establish some ground rules. First, I expect you to listen when I’m talking. Stay with the group. Raise your hand if you want to speak. Follow directions. Set other expectations of behavior as needed.
2. ENGAGE (10 min): Put around 10 pill bugs in an empty terrarium jar. Tell kids that we are giving them some pet pill bugs to take care of during the school year. The jar is their “pill bug palace.” It contains everything the pill bugs need to survive. Let kids react. Is this going to be a good home for these pill bugs?
3. ENGAGE (10 min): Introduce the concept of habitat (animal’s home) and what it must include. Cover the 4 components of habitat (food, water, shelter, space). Play “Habitat Samurai Sword” activity. (Objective 1)
4. EXPAND (20 min): Once symbols are learned, students will simulate habitat carrying capacity by participating in “Oh, Deer” activity from Project WILD. (Objective 2, 5, 7)
5. EXPLORE (25 min): Divide into small work teams of 2-3 students. Assign a leader to several small teams. Part 1 – use the “Habitat Study Plot” side of the worksheet and have each team explore a small plot for habitat needs. Part 2 – use the “Habitat Scavenger Hunt” side of the worksheet and move together throughout park to find things listed. (Objective 1, 5)
6. ENGAGE (5 min): Have students tell you what they found. Where did you find the animals?
Did you see any animals eating? What do you think is important in a habitat?
7. ENGAGE (5 min): What do you need to do to the pill bug palace to make it a good home for the pill bugs? Have students gather some soil, bark, wood chips, leaves to put in pill bug palace.
8. If time, present the taxidermy bat to the class. How do bats live in Cincinnati without caves? What do they eat? (Objective 4, 6)
9. Conclusion: Discuss post-visit project and hand out teacher evaluation.

 

Winter Visit for Habitats and Adaptations:

Topic: Animal adaptations as responses to habitats. (Objectives 3, 4, 6)

1. REVIEW (5 min): Components of a habitat, extended activities completed with pill bugs, and what animals they remember finding during park explorations. What is an adaptation? How were these animals adapted for their habitat? (Objective 1, 3)
2. ENGAGE (15 min): Adaptation Mingle Activity. Each student is given one clue card. Students must mingle and find others with adaptations that match one of three animals: duck, squirrel and snake. When all clues are grouped together correctly, the letters on the back of the cards will read the name of the animal’s habitat: wetland (duck), meadow (snake) and forest (squirrel). Each group will read off their clues and have other students guess the animal. If time, a harder set of mingle cards can be used for animals living in small habitats: earthworm, crayfish, millipede and spider. (Objective 4, 6)
3. EXPAND (15 min): Bring out taxidermy specimens of duck, snake and squirrel. Students use observation skills to discover other adaptations of these common park animals. (Objective 4, 6)
4. EXPLORE (20 min): Adaptation Artistry activity from Project WILD. After naturalist demonstrates an example, students are grouped into teams of 2-3 students and will create an animal using their imaginations and art materials. They must answer on a worksheet: name of animal, animal’s food, animal’s habitat and how animal is adapted to food source and habitat. (Objective 6)
5. ENGAGE (10 min): Several teams share their created animals and its adaptations.
6. ENGAGE (20 min): Students participate in comparing human tools with adaptations of local wildlife; for example: hammer – woodpecker, trowel – mole, swim goggles – frog, raincoat – duck, gloves with claws – squirrel, ear plugs – snake, binoculars – opossum, and camouflage coat – most animals. (Objective 6)
7. Conclusion: Discuss post-visit projects and hand out teacher evaluation.

 

Spring Visit for Habitats and Adaptations:

Topic: Students walk to a park located near their school to learn about positive and negative human impacts on habitat. (Objectives 2, 4, 5, 6, 7)

1. REVIEW (5 min): What were the results of your post-visit activity? What is a habitat? What
are some examples of local habitats? What is an adaptation and give an example?
2. EXPLORE (throughout program): Class is split into 2 teams. Each team will make a map of
the park to use with a post-visit activity. All natural and man-made features should be noted on
the map.
3. ENGAGE (10 min): Have you visited the park recently with your class, family, or friends?
What seasonal changes have occurred in the park since Fall? How does local wildlife prepare
and adapt to Spring? Ask students to give examples; end of hibernation, migration, nesting,
molting/shedding winter coats, etc. (Objective 6)
4. ENGAGE (20 min): Beyond seasonal challenges, wild animals encounter challenges daily to meet
their needs in a habitat. Students will participate in a modified version of “How Many Bears…"
activity from Project WILD. See attached instructions. Debrief: Did every Raccoon survive?
What challenges (limiting factors) kept raccoons from getting all everything it needed? How
many raccoons can live in this park? (Objective 2, 4, 6)
5. EXPAND (35 min): Can humans impact a habitat?…In what ways? Let’s look around the park
and discover what positive impacts we can make today. Students participate in a service project
to improve the park for wildlife habitat. Service projects may include invasive plant removal,
litter cleanup or planting flowers. (Objective 7)
6. Award Ceremony (5 min): Since this is the last visit for the school year, certificates of
achievement are presented to each class. In addition, to recognize the individual effort of
participation in the service project, each student will receive a “Green Team” sticker and pencil.
7. Conclusion: Discuss post-visit project and hand out teacher evaluation.

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4th Grade State Science Learning Outcomes Met by the Habitats Module

The Habitats Module meets the below Science Learning Outcomes for 4th Grade. The numbers correspond to each state requirement. To avoind confusion the true learning outcome number is provided, and the learning outcomes not met by this module have been deleted.

 

1. Create and/or use categories to organize a set of objects, organisms or phenomena.

2. Select instruments, make observations, and/or organize observations of an event, object, or organism.

3. Identify and/or compare the mass, dimensions, and volume of familiar objects in standard and/or nonstandard units.

5. Analyze a series of events and/or simple daily or seasonal cycles and predict the next likely occurrence in the sequence.

6. Evaluate a simple procedure to carry out an exploration.

7. Identify and/or discuss the selection of resources and tools used for exploring scientific phenomena.

8. Evaluate observations and measurements made by other persons.

9. Demonstrate an understanding of safe use of materials and/or devices in science activities.

11. Identify characteristics of a simple physical change.

14. Identify and/or describe the relationship between human activity and the environment.

15. Identify evidence and show examples of changes in the earth's surface.

16. Demonstrate an understanding of the basic needs of living things.

17. Identify ways in which organisms react to changing environments.

18. Distinguish between living and nonliving things and provide justification for these distinctions.