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Mi Casa Es Su Casa - Habitats

Animals everywhere you turn…Animals on the couch, your front lawn, and on your TV

Ch-ch-changes - Extinct, Endangered, and Adapted

Why Is that Cow Wearing a Suit? Animals Go to Work

Can Your Hamster Paint? Animals in Art

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	Ch-ch-changes - Extinct, Endangered, and Adapted Animals - Lesson Plan

Number of students: Students should be able to each have a computer. Two students per computer will work, but three becomes difficult.
Grade: 3 - 6
Subject: Language Arts, Science, Technology, Environment and Ecology, Math, Geography
Time: Total time is 120 minutes but lesson can be modified by excluding websites or craft.
Materials: Computers with internet access, brown and white dried beans.

Craft: Animal Banks
Craft Materials: (Items from www.ssww.com) Tzedakah boxes (CS507J), Craft foam sheets (AC825S), Wiggly eyes (AD479), Markers (SC964)
Craft Instructions: Have students make boxes according to directions included in shipping. Make the top of the bank look like an animal by cutting a foam mouth and putting it over the bank hole. Use the wiggly eyes and any other decorations students would like.

Book Give-away: Why? By Lila Prap ISBN: 1929132808

Concept: Adaptation, extinction

Content: Websites, class discussion

Special Needs adaptations: Students can be paired to aide special needs

Pennsylvania Content Area Standards and Assessment Anchors

Objective: Students should be able to determine quality of the websites.
Students should be able to describe different adaptations.
Students should be able to describe why an animals is endangered or extinct.

Anticipatory Set: Ask students if anyone has head of the Dodo Bird? Have them click on the Dodo Bird link at the top of the page. Read the selection about the Dodo and discuss how it adapted, became endangered, and finally extinct. This give students the opportunity to discuss all three concepts in one animal.

Procedure: I think the best way to begin this lesson is by looking at different kinds of adaptations, and why they occur. From there you can discuss how if an animal cannot adapt, they will become endangered and/or extinct. The introduction to adaptation is an activity taken from this website Animals and Adaptation (no author/date). Use brown and white beans to simulate the activity. Put the beans on brown construction paper to show the forest and how the brown beans would be hidden from predators. I think this simulation works well because kids might not think about how any particular animal may not have always been the way it is now. This simulation shows that well. From here you can go into the Adapted, Endangered, and Extinct links. Frequently, endangered and extinct are together on websites. Depending on the amount of time, the craft and games can be inserted to the lesson at any point.

1. After simulation, have students read about different kids of adaptations and then animals that have adapted. In the Adaptation in the Ocean link, only read the first two pages. For the right links, have students pick animals and share with the group how they have adapted.
Adapted What are the different kinds of adaptations? (Student created website) Adaptation in the Ocean		How have these animals adapted? Creatures all over the world have adapted! Find out how.
2. Have students browse through different continents and learn what animals are becoming endangered and why.
Endangered Take a tour of the world as you haven't before...by endangered animals .
3. Use the first link to begin to tie adaptation, endangered, and extinct together. Why is this bird still around? Then talk about fossils and how we can learn about extinct animals from them. How can we learn about animals still existing from fossils?
Extinct It's not really extinct?		What can we learn from fossils? Endangered or Extinct (Updated 2003) - You discover!
Closure: Use any or all of the questions below for closure.
Think about it... Why do animals some animals become endangered or extinct? How does adaptation occur? After reading about the different animals today, brainstorm the perfect animal. Give it five qualities that would help it survive. How have these trees adapted?		Games Animal Adaptations How fast can you match the animals to its adaptation? (Make sure you have on your speakers or headphones.) Build your own caterpillar and see if it would survive. Build a fish and see if it would survive. Creature Features - Check out these different animal games from Australia.
The branches on the pine trees grow so snow can easily slide off. The branches and needles are stronger so they don't break. The tree to the right has a big trunk with most of the leaves at the top. Leaves at the bottom would get no sunlight.