Cluster Resources

Vetted resources educators can use to teach the concepts and skills in this topic.

Original Student Tutorials

Real and Make-Believe with Rhymes: Plants: Learn that some books portray plants with characteristics and behaviors they do not have in real life, in this interactive tutorial.
Real and Make-Believe with Rhymes: Animals: Learn how some books portray animals with characteristics and behaviors they do not have in real life with this interactive tutorial.
5 Senses: Smell: Learn about the sense of smell and be able to name the nose as the main part of the body that collects smells, in this interactive tutorial.
5 Senses: Taste: Learn about the sense of taste and be able to name the tongue as the main part of the body that collects tastes in this interactive tutorial.
5 Senses: Hearing: Learn about the sense of hearing and be able to name the ear as the main part of the body that collects sounds, in this interactive tutorial.
5 Senses: Sight: Learn about the sense of sight and be able to name the eyes as the main part of the body that collects sights and images, in this interactive tutorial.
5 Senses: Touch: Learn about the sense of touch and be able to name the skin as the main part of the body that collects touch in this interactive tutorial.

Lesson Plans

Flora and Fauna in Florida: Students will learn about the Florida state flag and understand that it represents the state of Florida. They will learn about the visual elements of the flag by observing representations of living organisms and discussing their similarities and differences in this integrated lesson plan.
What Makes "Sense"? A Study of Rules and Laws: Students will explore how the five senses help us make careful observations of rules, behaviors, and consequences to produce learning in this integrated lesson plan.
National Bird Debate Part 2: Students reflect on the Founders’ decision to name the bald eagle as our national bird and symbol. They form their own opinion about whether bald eagles or wild turkeys would make a better national symbol and express their opinion with supporting reasons or facts. Students consider their classmates’ arguments before voting as a group to make a decision whether bald eagles or wild turkeys would make a better symbol for a country in part 2 of this integrated lesson plan.
National Bird Debate Part 1: Students use information from the book, The Bald Eagle by Norman Pearl, to compare the look and behavior of bald eagles and wild turkeys. They explore early debates over the bald eagle as our national symbol as a way to differentiate fact from opinion in part 1 of this integrated lesson plan.
Signs, Signs, Everywhere a Sign:
- Students will review the five senses and related body parts and then develop symbols that represent the senses. Students will then apply their understanding of symbols to study important US symbols in this integrated lesson plan.
I SEE SUNSHINE: Students will review the five senses and related body parts and then develop symbols that represent the senses. Students will then apply their understanding of symbols to study important symbols of the state of Florida in this integrated lesson plan.
Gr. K Lesson 2-Everglades Animals: Students will revisit the Everglades discussing the similarities and differences between some of the animals that were presented in lesson one. They will continue to color and build their Everglades class book. Students will draw and write the similarities and differences using a Comparing Everglades Animals worksheet.

This is lesson 2 in a 3 part series.

Lesson 1- What is the Everglades

Lesson 3- Who lives in the Everglades
Gr. K Lesson 1-What is the Everglades?: Students will be introduced to the Everglades, learning about this special place for plants and animals that is unlike anywhere else on Earth. They will watch a presentation on some of the animals that live in the Everglades and start working on their Everglades Class Book.

This is lesson 1 in a seres of 3 lessons.

Lesson 2- Everglades Animals

Lesson 3- Who Lives in the Everglades
Real or Not? Understanding Animal Characteristics: In this lesson students will learn about characteristics and behaviors of animals. They will recognize that sometimes books, movies, or other media portray animals with characteristics and behaviors they do not have in real life. Students will participate in a gallery walk to discuss observations of animals and decide whether the characteristics and behaviors are real life or not. Students will then write observations of an animal and create characteristics and behaviors that are not real life.
Observing Pumpkins with the 5 Senses:
In this multi-day lesson, students make observations of pumpkins using their five senses- seeing, smelling, tasting, touching, and hearing. Students visit a pumpkin patch, observe pumpkins up close, and investigate pumpkin seeds and pumpkin puree. They practice naming each sense and the body part connected to it. Students work in groups to create a poster showing their sensory observations of a different food item and share their findings with the class.
Spring Festival Flower: In this MEA, students will help pick a flower that will be the focus of the Spring Festival. They will practice counting pictures and representing the number of pictures with a written numeral.
Zoo-rrific!: Students will be asked to choose a new animal for a zoo. They will be asked to rank four animals from best to worst, based on popularity, food needs, danger to zookeepers, etc.

Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. MEAs resemble engineering problems and encourage students to create solutions in the form of mathematical and scientific models. Students work in teams to apply their knowledge of science and mathematics to solve an open-ended problem, while considering constraints and tradeoffs. Students integrate their ELA skills into MEAs as they are asked to clearly document their thought process. MEAs follow a problem-based, student centered approach to learning, where students are encouraged to grapple with the problem while the teacher acts as a facilitator. To learn more about MEA’s visit: https://www.cpalms.org/cpalms/mea.aspx
Calling All Authors!:
In this lesson, students explore how plants and animals are alike and different through movement-based partner activities using picture cards. Students record their observations using drawing, dictation, and simple sentence frames, then study nonfiction books to learn about basic book features. They create their own informational books, complete with a front cover, title page, and back cover. Finished books are displayed in the school library to celebrate young authors.
The Five Senses: The five senses are essential to understanding the world around us. What body parts relate to each of the five senses? How do we use the five senses to discover new information? Students will encounter these questions and more as they explore the five senses and their corresponding body parts through observation and conversation.
Real or Make-Believe?: How do you know if an animal is real or make-believe? What characteristics and behaviors do real animals possess? How does the media portray animals with characteristics they do not have in real life? Students will encounter these questions as they explore the differences between real and make-believe animals. This lesson will help you to identify what characteristics and behaviors classify an animal as being real or make-believe.
Have You Ever Met a Tree?: In this lesson, students practice making observations of a tree. Students discuss how the trees they observed are alike and different.
Clown Fish: Students will compare and contrast traits of real clown fish and Nemo, from the cartoon movie "Finding Nemo".
Whose Baby is That?: This inquiry-based 5E lesson provides an initial look at categorizing items into 2 categories. Visuals of animals are used to begin the classifying/categorizing of animals and their babies. Students will practice categorizing in pairs and will be given the categories to use. They will then explain the placement of each item in the category. The teacher will ask guiding questions and facilitate the lesson to ensure comprehension of the material.
Vegetables…in Cupcakes?!: In teams, students will make decisions about how to select the best bakery based on various cupcake characteristics (e.g., taste, smell).
Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom.
Did You Hear That?: This lesson focuses on different sound qualities and being able to distinguish the different qualities. This lesson explains how vibrations cause sound to be produced. How sound travels is also explored during this lesson. These concepts are explored while children solve an engineering design challenge through guided inquiry.
Using Book Orders for Real and Make Believe: Students will use Scholastic book order forms (or magazines) to sort animal pictures into two categories, real and make believe.

Teaching Ideas

Birds' Bills: Students will compare and contrast different kinds of birds' bills and categorize pictures. After drawing the bills in each category, they will then compare the bill types with common household items.
Harbor Seal Visor-SeaWorld Classroom Activity: In this activity, students will be able to describe the senses used by a harbor seal.
Sharing What We Know About Organisms: Students discuss living and nonliving organisms, including plants and animals.

Unit/Lesson Sequences

Exploring the Five Senses: This unit explores the five senses and their respective related body parts. It shows how observations of the natural world are made using our senses.
Ladybugs: These lessons explore the characteristics and behavior of ladybugs, and to create their own paper model of a ladybug.
Touching and Fair Tests with Pill Bugs and Earthworms: This unit shows students how to humanely handle pill bugs ("roly polies") and earthworms while observing their characteristics. Students will explore the types of conditions that each bug prefers to live in (eg., wet or dry, dark or light).
Comparing Plants, Animals, and Seeds: These lessons compare and contrast plants versus animals and seeds versus plants in regards to both appearance and behavior/function.
Plants and Animals in Media: These lessons show children how the media portrays plants and animals with characteristics that they do not truly possess in reality.

Cluster Standards

Cluster Information

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Cluster Resources

Original Student Tutorials

Lesson Plans

Teaching Ideas

Unit/Lesson Sequences