In-depth Study Unit Topic or Title:
Essential Question(s):
Animal Adaptations
How do animals survive the test of time?
How has the relationship between humans and animals evolved over time?
Curriculum written by: Dan Ries
Content area:
Science, Language Arts
Grade level:
4
Summary of Outcomes: Students will learn how animals use their bodies to help them meet their needs. Students will learn
how the behaviors of animals help them meet their needs. Students will explain how animals of today compare with animals of
the past. During the unit students will be submersed in activities relating to animal adaptations. A traditional story, Mud Pony,
will be read. I want students to see the big picture of human and animal survival and how we are intertwined. Various sketches,
journal entries, and role playing activities will be used to assess the depth of knowledge. A food chain video conference and a
local expert will be invited into the classroom to expand our experience. The final product will include a personalized research
paper on a local wild animal of their choice. They will use an Inspiration web to help guide the research, draft their writing, use
peers to assess and revise the drafts, and ultimately grade their research according to a pre-formed writing rubric.
Content Standards Addressed
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4.1.1 Organisms have basic needs.
4.1.2 Each plant or animal has different structures, serving different functions in
growth, survival, and reproduction.
Long Term
Student Learning Targets
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Content knowledge, reasoning and skills
Literacy skills: Reading, Writing, Speaking
Citizenship
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I can explain how bodies of animals have adapted to
help them meet their needs.
4.1.1 Organisms have basic needs.
4.1.3 The behavior of individual organisms is influenced by internal and external
cues (such as hunger and environmental change)
4.3.1 All animals depend on plants, either directly or indirectly.
4.8.3 Species acquire many of their unique characteristics through biological
adaptations, which involves the selection of naturally occurring variations in
populations.
I can describe how behaviors of animals have
adapted to help meet their needs.
4.1.1 Organisms have basic needs.
4.1.2 Each plant or animal has different structures, serving different functions in
growth, survival, and reproduction. 4.8.4 Extinction of a species occurs when the
environment changes and the adaptive characteristics of a species are insufficient
to allow its survival.
4.8.5 The fossil record, through geologic evidence, documents the appearance,
diversification, and extinction of many life forms.
4.2.1 Plants and animals have life cycles that include a variety of stages.
4.2.2 Plants and animals closely resemble their parents.
4.2.3 Many characteristics of an organism are inherited from the parents of the
organism but some are not. (Nature/Nurture).
I can compare and contrast living things from the past
with living things from today.
Assessments
Possible sources of assessment
information
Communication of understanding
Final tests and products
Journal, Sketch, and Narrative Writing,
Problem Solving, or Collage
Eating like a Bird Activity with an exit
ticket to explain what they learned from
this role play.
Migration Challenge (dramatization) with
a small-group self assessment on
creativity, accuracy, and organization.
Buffalo Migration and the survival
adaptations of buffalo.
Reading of The Passing of the Buffalo
with a discussion…ending in a friendly
letter to President Grant (persuasive)
4.3.3 All organisms cause changes in their environment
4.7.3 Food webs identify the relationships among
producers, consumers, and
decomposers in an ecosystem.
4.7 Selects a topic, generates and organizes ideas, and chooses
appropriate language for his/her writing purpose
4.8 Recognizes the steps in the writing process: pre-writing/planning,
drafting, revising, editing/proofreading, and publishing
4.9 Responds to, revises, and edits his/her own and others’ writing
4.11 Revises writing by improving sequence, providing more
descriptive detail, or adding more variety of sentence types
4.13 Organizes and writes a report of information gathered from
various sources
I can choose a wild animal from western Montana
and describe how it has adapted to survive.
 I can determine what is fact and what is
opinion while I read.
 I can determine what is most important for my
animal for survival.
 I can summarize my findings and present
them to an audience.
 I can make connections with my own
experiences, with other texts, and with our
world when I read.
 I can help others improve their writing in a
positive and effective manner.
Research Paper on Chosen Animal
Peer and Self Revisions
Teacher Conference(s)
Final Rubric Grade Self/Peer/Teacher
Sequence of scaffolding lessons
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What sequence of steps will best engage, support and hold students accountable to reaching the above learning targets?
What student and teacher involved assessment for learning strategies and routines can you build in?
What instructional practices and protocols will you use?
Instructional Practices selected:
1. Hook – Blind Buffalo: (adaptations can include Salish animals and/or food chain references)
2. Body Adaptation – Brainstorm BK on basic needs of living things and make predictions. Popcorn read aloud
“Claws, Coats, and Camouflage.” Pair/Share predictions. Begin ongoing journals and review protocol of them.
Begin the Word Wall and I Wonder chart. All vocabulary will be hung on the word wall and the wonder chart will
be utilized when a student has a curiosity. All wonder statements will be addressed with during the day’s
closing meeting. Journal ways they can think of that humans have adapted to survive. Complete Bird role play
and employ exit ticket as to what was learned during this role play.
 Eating like a Bird
 Falcon Expert
Vocabulary: Basic needs, adaptation
3. Behavior of Animals – Begin with the fish training activity. Record keeping will be necessary throughout the
unit to acquire the data needed. Each group will be assigned the 4 vocab and will randomly get one word to
master in the Frayer Model. Read Aloud “The Mud Pony.” Each small group will use the determining
importance sheet to record the big ideas developed by the author. Inferences will be made from these ideas.
Connections will then be made to the migration of the Plains Indians with the buffalo. I will challenge the groups
to brainstorm, create, and organize a reenactment of this situation in the past. All groups will be assessed by
themselves, peers, and the teacher in the areas of creativity, accuracy, and organization. The rubric will be
comprised of up to 3 points for each area, completed by all at the end of their skit, and finally averaged out.
Journal regarding the pressures/responsibility of grading other people’s work.
 Train a Fish
 Video Conference on “Food Chains” – Food Chain Wheels!
Vocabulary: instinct, hibernation, migration, learned behavior
Inquiry
Blind Buffalo
Comprehension
Determining Importance Think Sheet
Making Connections Think Sheet
Spirit Read from Passing of the Buffalo
Vocabulary Development
Salish Animal Vocabulary on Word Wall
The ______ eats the _______.
Frayer’s Model
Vocab to Actions
Unknown Vocabulary (context clues)
Oral Participation Protocols
Extended think time (no hands discussion)
Popcorn reads
Pair Share
I Wonder…
Represent-to-Learn
Bird Role Play
4. Living things of the Past and Today – Hand out the story “The Passing of the Buffalo” and the making
connections think sheet. Spirit read after teacher reads it aloud. Students will finish their sheets, pair/share the
TS and TT connections they have and work together to form any TW they can think of. We will debrief as a
whole group and discuss the big ideas behind the buffalo slaughter. We will complete the lesson with a friendly
letter that persuades the president at that time to rethink the policy and implement alternative measures.
Journal free write on how this lesson adjusted your opinion on the buffalo and/or westward expansion.
Vocabulary: fossil, extinction
5. Research, write, and present “Your” Animal – Students will begin their process by choosing a wild animal
specific to western MT. The research map will be completed in a pre-designed map I made in Inspiration.
Research will be done using our library coupled with search engines accessed through the teacher’s website.
The research map will include spaces to credit the sources of their research. When the map is complete and
they feel on a fist to five that they can teach the class about their animal they may start the drafting process.
The students will draft, self-revise, make corrections, peer-revise, make corrections, teacher conference,
edit/proofread, and publish/present. Presentations may be read or presented in an electronic format depending
on their time management.
Mr. Ries exemplar on Peregrines and Student/Teacher Constructed Rubric
Resources: (e.g. Anchor Texts, District adopted materials, Supplementary resources, Web-sites)
Texts
Harcourt Science Text
Migration by Hughes
Claws, Coats, and Camouflage by Goodman
Project Puffin by Kress
Mud Pony by Cohen and Begay
Keepers of the Animals by Caduto and Bruchac
Websites
Producer or Consumer? (http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/web_games_trivia_animal.htm)
Food Chains (http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/content/animals/kidscorner/foodchain/foodchain.htm)
Guests
University of Colorado VC; “Food Chains”
Jay Sumner, Peregrine Falcon Expert
Kurt Cunningham Project WILD Coordinator
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks
River Honoring in May
Migration Challenge
Food Chain Video Conference
Write-to-learn
Journal
Determining Importance
Making Connections
2011 Unit Presentation
Hook: Blind Buffalo
Essential Questions
1.
How do animals survive the test of time?
2.
How has the relationship between humans and animals changed over time?
Long-Term Learning Targets
 I can explain how bodies of animals help them adapt to their needs.
 I can describe how behaviors of animals are adapted to help them meet their needs.
 I can compare and contrast living things from the past with living things from today.
 I can choose a wild animal from western Montana and describe how it has adapted to survive.
Assessments
Journal prompts and free writes; Vocabulary word wall; I wonder wall; exit tickets for bird role play; small group
self-assessment by rubric; persuasive friendly letter; self and peer revisions; student-teacher conferences;
quiz; observation; stand or sit; fist to five; smile/frown; red-yellow-green; snowball
Successful Practice
The biggest success I had this year has been getting comfortable with my learning targets, referring to them
consistently, and using the think aloud model as a successful tool.
NEW INSIGHT
Insight I have gained about the impact of ongoing formative assessment is that it is just that…Ongoing; I need
to continually assess my students in a variety of ways and adapt my instruction because of the data I get.
With the right environment, students can also learn a lot from self and peer assessment.