I have to tell you, despite my kids having cabin fever, this project's science has been among my favorite. Kids love learning about animals so that makes my job even easier.
We started our PBL with "The Mixed Up Chameleon". We since have read some other books. And wrote journal responses about the various structures and functions to be seen in these treasures! (I love these two books below and so did my kids! I highly recommend them for your classroom. Thank you for finding these Carrie.)
We started our PBL with "The Mixed Up Chameleon". We since have read some other books. And wrote journal responses about the various structures and functions to be seen in these treasures! (I love these two books below and so did my kids! I highly recommend them for your classroom. Thank you for finding these Carrie.)
After journaling and class discussion, I discovered that my kids did not have a strong vocabulary basis in animal structures, or body parts. I used graphics from this website to create a Go Fish Game. http://bogglesworldesl.com/animal_body_parts.htmhttp://bogglesworldesl.com/animal_body_parts.htm
My kids loved it! It was a noisy time in my room today, but for the first time in a long time, it was on task! Yay! Here it is below. If you decide you want to print it, print two of each page.
My kids loved it! It was a noisy time in my room today, but for the first time in a long time, it was on task! Yay! Here it is below. If you decide you want to print it, print two of each page.
As I continued planning for this project, I found a fun website from New York Zoos and Aquarium. It allows you to build your wild self. Afterwards, it explains all the structures you have. I had fun playing around with it myself. (Hence the amazingly strange picture at the top and below!) I know my kids are going to have a blast with this!
Tomorrow, we will be doing an activity from the website above. The students use different instruments to simulate the various types of beaks to pick up objects like rice or even marshmallows. Afterwards, the students will graph their results. And they will draw conclusion about where birds live with those style of beaks. A comment which leads us to another book, but that is a tale for another day!
So what do you do in your classrooms to teach adaptations?
So what do you do in your classrooms to teach adaptations?