SC.2.L.17.1

 This lesson covers:

• A humpback whale’s basic needs and how they are similar to humans
• A humpback whale’s feeding habits and social behaviors
• Threats to humpback whales and how scientists work to protect them

Type: Lesson Plan

Type: Lesson Plan

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will act out an "alligator hole ecodrama" occurring during the dry season. Each student will play a role of an animal that depends on the alligator hole.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will read a book on the importance of American alligators and listen to-or act out a play which demonstrates the dangers of feeding wild animals.

This is lesson 1 in a series of 3 lessons. Animals in southern Florida are accustomed to their natural environment. They are wild animals with the ability to exist without human intervention. It is detrimental to the American alligator for humans to feed and/or change their natural environment. In areas of southern Florida where American alligators are found, we occasionally hear about problem gators that have attacked dogs and sometimes people. In most of those cases, it is the people who fed the American alligator that are the problem. The American alligators soon begin to associate people with food. When people feed American alligators, they are actually doing it more harm than good. The American alligator no longer gets the balanced diet it would if it were getting its own food in the natural environment. Also, once the American alligator gets used to being fed by humans, it will no longer be able to find food on its own.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this MEA, students are asked to rank four enclosures for a new sloth exhibit at the city zoo based on a given set of data. Only one enclosure can be chosen to be built for the new exhibit.

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.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson introduces students to the natural resources available on Earth that help plants to grow. Students will complete worksheets and create informational booklets to support the topics.

Type: Lesson Plan

This Engineering Design Challenge is intended to help students apply the concepts of life cycles from SC.2.L.16.1 (Observe and describe major stages in the life cycles of plants and animals, including beans and butterflies), the understanding that all living things have basic needs from SC.2.L.17.1 (Compare and contrast the basic needs that all living things, including humans, have for survival), a knowledge of habitats from SC.2.L.17.2 (Recognize and explain that living things are found all over Earth, but each is only able to live in habitats that meet its basic needs) and practice working with money (MAFS.2.MD.3.8 solve word problems involving dollar bills, quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies, using $ and ¢ symbols appropriately) as they build and experiment with containers to meet the water needs of bean plants in all stages of their life cycle. It is not intended as an initial introduction to these concepts.

Type: Lesson Plan

This engineering design challenge is intended to help students apply the concepts of life cycles from SC.2.L.16.1 (Observe and describe major stages in the life cycles of plants and animals, including beans and butterflies), the understanding that all living things have basic needs from SC.2.L.17.1 (Compare and contrast the basic needs that all living things, including humans, have for survival), build on their knowledge of habitats, and practice working with money as they build structures to meet the needs of a tadpole. It is not intended as an initial introduction to these concepts.

Type: Lesson Plan

This MEA teaches students how to collaborate with their classmates to solve the problem of removing ants from their playground. They have the opportunity to analyze and compare data sets to clarify, explain and defend their findings in a written letter to the client. In addition, the lesson provides an opportunity to reinforce respect for all living things.

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.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson integrates science and reading utilizing authentic text to teach headings, comparing and contrasting basic needs of animals as well as observing needs of animals.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson is a fun way to introduce factors that influence the growth of living things. The students read The Garden by Arnold Lobel. Then the students plant seeds to discover what makes them grow.

Type: Lesson Plan

This model eliciting activity is based on the book The World According to Humphrey by Betty G. Birney. In the story, Mrs. Brisbane's class spends a fun filled school year with their class pet, a hamster named Humphrey. In this MEA, Mrs. Brisbane needs the students' help getting Humphrey ready for the summer. First, the students need to design a cage for Humphrey and create a shopping list of all the supplies he will need to make it through the summer months. Then they need to sort through all of the applications Mrs. Brisbane receives to choose the best summer home for Humphrey the hamster.

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.

Type: Lesson Plan

This resource kit is designed to facilitate K-2 teachers in the development of a unit of instruction that is focused on diversity, adaptation, and classification of living things. Complete with background information for teachers as well as engaging activities and lessons for students, this kit contains exemplary materials includes recommendations for informational texts that align with standards for English language arts.

Type: Lesson Study Resource Kit

Explore the needs of living things, including plants and animals, as you complete this interactive tutorial.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Biology lesson plans for a Living Things Unit of study.

Type: Resource Collection

In this activity, students will demonstrate how changes in an environment can affect the survival of an animal.

Type: Teaching Idea

In this activity, students describe an antarctic food chain through the use of song.

Type: Teaching Idea

In this activity, the students will use number and listening skills as they reinforce their understanding of dolphin behavior using echolocation. As the students listen to the teacher read a story about a dolphin's adventure they can either connect dots or plot points on a graph to figure out what the dolphin gets to eat at the end of the story.

Type: Teaching Idea