CC Afterschool: Science of Animals

Lesson 7

Science of Animals

Science Standards Addressed:

· Identify major parts of living things; describe their functions and observe their differences (arms, wings, and legs of animals)
· Observe and describe similarities and differences in appearance of animals and how they resemble their parents.
· Observe life cycle patterns of animals.
· Observe differences within animal families.
· Observe inherited characteristics in animals (type of fur, number of legs, type of eyes).

My dad was doing a Halloween Science Show at another school, so Mrs. Sanchez was there to help out.

15 minutes

As the children arrived we played the songs Animal Fair, by Laurie Berkner, Five Little Monkeys, by the Learning Station, and How Much is that Doggie in the Window, by Patti Page – hints of the science to come.

Next we had a snack that once again was a hint of the science to follow –
Animal Crackers!

During snack, we talked about how nutrients meet specific needs of our bodies (carbohydrates provide energy, milk has calcium for bones and teeth).

Madison read The Caterpillar and the Pollywog, by Jack Kent

– about a caterpillar that is always bragging that she will turn into “something else.” This impresses the polliwog. He wants to turn into some thing else too. He watches the caterpillar turn into a butterfly, but does not notice that he in turning into a frog at the same time.

and The Very Hungry Caterpillar, by Eric Carle

– about a caterpillar who eats and eats until he is too full and too fat to eat any more. The caterpillar builds a cocoon and turns into a butterfly. This book teaches a little bit about the life cycle of a caterpillar.

10 minutes

Animal Name Game

Each person in the team thought of an animal whose name begins with the same letter as his or her first name, or ANY animal if that was too difficult. Then we went around the circle, introducing ourselves by our animal name and first name. Anteater Annie, Monkey Mike, Cobra Conner etc. We played again, but this time the challenge was for the first person to say their own name, the second person says the first person’s and their own name, the third person says the first two people’s name and their own name, and so on…until the last person says everyone’s name in order ending with their own name.

That was too hard for the youngest kids, so the group decided to
say everyone’s name in order out loud – success!

15 minutes

Mission: Classification

We gathered plastic animals from the self-directed science area in the afterschool program: sea life, reptiles, forest animals, snakes, polar animals, Australian animals, farm animals, insects, African animals, spiders, Asian Mountain Animals, even PEOPLE!

First we asked the kids to divide the pile of animals into only two piles based on only one characteristic that they observed. That totally didn’t work. Instead, the kids just made their own piles with lots of combinations of traits. So, it worked out OK.

We kept asking them to divide piles into smaller piles – every time based on similarities and differences that they observed. We discussed the similarities that animals from the same family have and their differences from other animal families (sharks vs. whales – reptiles vs. insects). We kept playing until all animals were divided into small animal groups.

Some of the piles included:

Sea Animals

Animals with 4 Legs

Insects

Humans

and even black and white-colored animals.

15 minutes

X-Rays & What’s Inside Animals Cards

We gave them these cards that looked like normal pictures of animals...
until they held them up to the light!

We explored and observed these cool "x-ray" cards by holding them up to the window and letting the light shine through.

We gave them pieces of an x-ray of the human body and asked them to put it together.

There were a bunch of broken bones x-rays – ouch!

15 minutes

Life Cycle Game

First, we talked about the life cycles of plant and animals and looked through some life cycle books. The kids knew the egg developed into a caterpillar and the caterpillar developed into a butterfly, but couldn’t remember that the butterfly lays a caterpillar egg to make a CYCLE - Egg, Larvae, Pupa, Adult, Egg - repeat.

We gave each child a plastic or inflatable animal as part of a life cycle. Their challenge was to form a CIRCLE that correctly represented the life CYCLE of the animal they were given.