Animals & Their Environment Level: 4th Grade Time Frame: Approximately 1 Quarter  Description:  Students learn that animals must gather food, avoid predators, and withstand environmental conditions to survive. They observe how body covering, body parts, and behavior help animals survive.

Overview Activity List Learning Objectives Standards Resources

Learning Objectives

Students will observe and know that:

• Animals can be sorted into groups in many ways using various features to decide which things belong in which group.
• Animals have body parts or structures that serve specific functions.
• All animals have a life cycle, but it is somewhat different for different animals.
• Insects have a life cycle that includes 4 stages: egg, larva, pupa, and adult.
• Insects have very different physical characteristics in the different stages of the life cycle.
• Most amphibians have a life cycle that involves metamorphosis (change) from eggs to adult.
• Amphibians like frogs have different physical characteristics in the different stages of the life cycle.
• Animals have physical features that help them live in different environments.
• Body covering is one feature that is very important in helping animals live in different environments.
• Structural features (bones, teeth, beaks, feet, etc.) are also important for helping animals live in different environments.
• The behavior of animals is influenced by internal cues (such as hunger) and by external cues (such as changes in the environment).
• Animal behaviors can help them live in different environments.
• All animals depend on plants. Some animals eat plants for food. Other animals eat animals that eat the plants.
• An animal’s patterns of behavior are related to the nature of that organism’s environment, including the kinds and number of other organisms present, the availability of food and resources, and the physical characteristics of the environment. When the environment changes, some animals survive and reproduce, and others die or move to new locations.
• All animals cause changes in the environment where they live. Some of these changes are detrimental to the animal or other organisms, whereas others are beneficial.
• Humans depend on their natural and constructed environments. Humans change environments in ways that can be either beneficial or detrimental for themselves and animals.
• Animals are found almost everywhere in the world. There are somewhat different kinds in different places.

Students will practice:

• Formulating questions on a specific science topic and choosing the steps needed to answer the questions.
• Collecting data for investigations using scientific process skills including observing, estimating, and measuring.
• Constructing charts and visualizations to display data.
• Using data to produce reasonable explanations.
• Reporting and displaying the results of individual and group investigation.

Standards

Illinois State Standards: Early Elementary- As a result of their schooling, students will be able to:

11A. Know and apply the concepts, principles, and processes of scientific inquiry.

• Describe an observed event.
• Develop questions on scientific topics.
• Collect data for investigations using measuring instruments and technologies.
• Record and store data using available technologies.
• Arrange the data into logical patterns and describe the patterns.
• Compare observations of individual and group results.

12A. Know and apply concepts that explain how living things function, adapt, and change.

• Identify and describe the component parts of living things and their major functions.
• Describe simple life cycles of plants and animals and the similarities and differences in their offspring.
• Categorize living organisms using a variety of observable features; categorize features as either inherited or learned.

12B. Know and apply concepts that describe how living things interact with each other and their environment.

• Describe relationships among various environments (e.g., predator/prey, parasite/host, food chains and food webs).
• Identify physical features of plants and animals that help them live in different environments (e.g., specialized teeth for eating certain foods, thorns for protection, insulation for cold temperatures)

National Science Education Standards- As a result of activities in grades K-4, students should develop an understanding of the following fundamental concepts and principles:

• Organisms have basic needs, for example, animals need air, water, and food. Organisms can survive only in environments in which their needs can be met.
• Each animal has different structures that serve different functions in growth, survival, and reproduction.
• Animals have life cycles that include being born, developing into adults, reproducing, and dying. The details of this life cycle are different for different animals.
• All animals depend on plants. Some animals eat plants for food. Other animals eat animals that eat the plants.An organism’s patterns of behavior are related to the nature of that organism’s environment, including the kinds and number of other organisms present, the availability of food and resources, and the physical characteristics of the environment. When the environment changes, some plants and animals survive and reproduce, and others die or move to new locations.
• All organisms cause changes in the environment where they live. Some of these changes are detrimental to the organism or other organisms, whereas others are beneficial.
• Humans depend on their natural and constructed environments. Humans change environments in ways that can be either beneficial or detrimental for themselves and other organisms.
• The behavior of individual organisms is influenced by internal cues (such as hunger) and by external clues (such as changes in the environment).

Resources

Champaign Community Unit School District #4 * Mellon Administrative Center
703 South New Street * Champaign, IL 61820 * 217.351.3800