Life Cycles at the Zoo!
Pre-Visit Lesson Plan and Extension Activities
Grade Level: Second Grade
Topic: Science
New York State Science Standards and Indicators:
NYS Standard 4: The Living Environment
Indicators: 1.1a, 1.2, 2.1a, 2.2, 3.1a, 4.1a, 4.1c, 4.1e, 4.1f, 4.1g, 4.2
Objectives:
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Students will describe the life cycles of birds and mammals, citing specific
examples, and compare and contrast to their own life cycle.
Students will compare and contrast the life cycles of bird and mammals,
delineating between live birth and egg-laying.
Students will determine if a life cycle will be successful under varying conditions
of food, water, space, and shelter
Key Concepts:
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All animals undergo a life cycle, or a sequence of changes from birth to
adulthood.
All animals have a life span, or the length of time between birth and death.
Some animals lay eggs while some animals give live birth.
A life cycle’s success depends on available resources such as food, water, space
and air.
Materials:
Books:
See Me Grow, by Penelope Arlon (a Scholastic Discover More book)
What Will I Be? By Nicola Davies
Worksheet (attached): Life cycles
Paper
Drawing Materials
Writing Materials
Background Information:
Most animals, such as fish, amphibians, reptiles, and birds, hatch from eggs. Mammals,
with few exceptions, have live births. Bird and mammal life cycles differ in this respect.
All birds lay eggs. Most birds will incubate their eggs for a period of time before they
hatch. A group of eggs is called a clutch. When the chicks hatch out of the eggs, their
parents must feed them, keep them warm, and protect them before they are able to leave
the nest on their own.
Mammals, aside from monotremes such as platypus and echidna, give birth to live babies.
Many mammal babies are helpless, so their parent must care for them until they develop
enough to be on their own. Mammal babies also require their mother’s milk to being their
development and nurture them until they can eat real food.
All babies, whether they are birds or mammals, require appropriate food, water, and
space to develop and grow. Many animals lay more eggs or have more babies than will
survive in their given habitat.
Instructional Procedures:
Accessing Prior Knowledge:
Explain to students that they are going to draw a family album. Students should draw
themselves as a baby and right now, their siblings, their parents, and anyone else who
lives with them. Students could draw themselves playing with their siblings, eating their
favorite meal, their bedroom, etc. Students should label the parts of their album.
a. Have students bring in a baby picture of themselves to add to their album.
b. Focusing questions: How much have you changed since the day you were
born? Do you look the same as you did? The time between when you were
born and right now is a part of your life cycle. When you become an adult,
your life cycle is complete. Do animals go through a life cycle as well?
c. Discuss with students the life cycles they may already know, such as a frog’s
life cycle or a butterfly’s life cycle.
d. Discuss bird and mammal life cycles with the students. Humans are
mammals, so compare and contrast a human life cycle with another
mammal’s, such as a cat or a dog.
Developing Readiness:
1. KWL Charting: Create a KWL chart for bird life cycles and mammal life cycles.
Complete the charts after you return from your visit to the zoo.
Body of Lesson:
Guided Introduction: Let’s compare and contrast the ways that animals have babies and
grow.
1.
2.
Read the story, See Me Grow. Compare and contrast how different classes of
animals are born, develop, and grow.
Use the attached worksheet ‘Life Cycles’ to assess student understanding.
Practice: Students will make a ‘family album’ for a mammal or birds that they choose,
just like their own family album. Have students pick a bird or a mammal from the
attached animal sheet provided. Students should draw what they think their animal
looked like when they were born (if they choose a bird, they could draw the nest with
them as an egg in it; if a mammal, they could draw their mom in their den or burrow,
etc.), eating what that animal likes to eat, the animal’s siblings, the animal’s parents, etc.
Closure:
Discuss with students what they included in their animal’s family album. How is their
own family album similar to or different from their animal’s family album? Make sure to
include vocabulary words such as baby, adult, growth, nutrient, needs, and survival.
Read What Will I Be? By Nicola Davies.
Assessment:
Have students complete the bird and mammal life cycle worksheet. See attached.
Objective
Students will describe a
bird and mammal life
cycle.
Students will identify
animals that lay eggs and
animals that give live
birth.
Students will identify the
factors that affect a life
cycle’s success.
1-Poor
2-Good
Students cannot describe a bird
and mammal life cycle.
Students illustrate a bird and mammal
life cycle in the proper order.
Students are unable to identify
which animals lay eggs and
which give live birth.
Students are able to identify which
animals lay eggs and which give live
birth.
Students cannot identify that
availability of food, water, and
space effect the success of life
cycles.
Students use the words food, water,
and space to describe whether a life
cycle will be successful or not.
Extension Activities:
1. Give students crafting materials and have them create a bird or mammal life cycle
on their own. See example below.
2. Have students make a mammal baby announcement. See attached activity.
Resources:
Animal family albums:
Birds, Birds, Birds. Ranger Rick’s NatureScope, National Wildlife Federation.
New York: McGraw-Hill.
Chicken Life Cycle craft:
http://www.iheartcraftythings.com/2011/09/life-cycle-of-chicken.html
Mammal Baby Announcement:
Amazing Mammals Part 1. Ranger Rick’s NatureScope, National Wildlife
Federation. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Arlon, P. (2012). See Me Grow. New York: Scholastic Books.
Davies, N. (2012). What Will I Be? China: Candlewick Press.
Life Cycles
Name________________________________________________
Animal
Lays Eggs or Live Birth