GPS SCIENCE UNIT PLANUnit Title: S4L2 Time Frame:

Subject/Topic: Survival/Extinction of Organisms Grades: 4 Designers: Huddleston/Kedron

Stage 1 ---Desired ResultsRelevant Standards and Elements:S4L2 Students will identify factors that affect the survival or extinction of organisms such as adaptation, variation of behaviors (hibernation) and external features (camouflage and protection).a. Identify external features of organisms that do not have these features (e.g. camouflage, use of hibernation, protection, etc.)b. Identify factors that may have led to the extinction of some organisms

Enduring Understandings:Students will understand that factors affect the survival or extinction of organisms Students will understand that individuals of the same kind differ in their characteristics, and sometimes the differences give individuals an advantage in surviving and reproducing

Essential Questions:How do an organism’s behavior, features, and adaptation affect its survival?

Students will know… Organisms use camouflage for protection Organisms hibernate for survival Organisms have external features they use for

protection A variety of factors lead to adaptation and extinction

Students will be able to… Explain the relationship between camouflage and

protection Describe how an organism must adapt to survive Explain how hibernation is beneficial to survival Define: survival, extinction, adaptation, hibernation,

camouflage

GPS SCIENCE UNIT PLAN

Stage 2---Assessment Evidence (Selected Response, Constructed Response, Performance and Informal)

Formative (quizzes, test, prompts, observations, dialogues, work samples, etc.)

Organism Adaptation MobilesStudents will create mobiles showing adaptations that plants and animals possess. Each side of the mobile will represent a different adaptation. Guide students:

1. Using a box, poke two holes in the closed end of the box and thread with yarn.

2. Cover each side of the box with construction paper to display one adaptation.

3. Illustrate each side to show the animal's and plant’s adaptation. The box should include the following: camouflage, mimicry, hibernation and protection.

4. Attach the note card describing each adaptation.5. Invite students to present their mobiles to the class, then take

them home to share with their families.

Ecosystems and Adaptations United Steaming video – After video, students will simulate or design a beak that is best for one kind of food source. See Harcourt textbook A section for more information on beak adaptations.

Summative:

Students will debate whether or not bears actually hibernate. Students will need to convince the judges of their point about this topic by sharing at least 3 reasons why they feel bears hibernate or bears do not hibernate. (Informal oral communication performance assessment)

Students will compare and contrast natural/environmental factors leading to extinction with human factors. Students will use a graphic organizer (A Venn Diagram) to compare and contrast these factors leading to extinction.

GPS SCIENCE UNIT PLANStage 3---Learning Plan (Direct Instruction, Experiential Learning, Independent Learning,

Indirect Instruction, Interactive Instruction)

Learning Strategies/Tasks/Experiences:GRASP Activity Goal:

Your task is to research your community and find an environmental problem Role:

You are an agent with the E.P.A. Audience:

You need to convince other people in the community that there is an environmental problem that is dealing with an animal which is endangered

Situation:The challenge involves working with others in the community and convincing them to help solve the problem

Product, Performance, and Purpose: You need to research your community and find an environmental problem. Then you will have to find solutions to the problem and enlist the public’s help in order to solve the problem

Standards and Criteria for Success:Your performance needs to include research about an environmental problem, research including harmful effects to the environment as well as possible solutions to the problem. Your work will be judged by classmates.

Learning Strategies/Tasks/Experiences:

GPS SCIENCE UNIT PLAN

When Food FreezesWhen winter's cold temperatures and ice arrive, food becomes scarce for animals in the wild. Reinforce this concept with students through this easy classroom experiment. In advance, fill several ice trays with water and drop a small pineapple chunk into each section. Allow the water to freeze. Then pop out the cubes and give one to each child. Ask students to smell their ice cubes. Can they smell the pineapple? Challenge them to eat the pineapple chunks out of their ice cubes. How difficult is this task? Use this activity to discuss how wintry conditions make it hard for animals to find and get to food. Then explain that, because of the low food supply in winter, hibernating animals eat all summer and fall to fatten their bodies. The stored fat provides fuel to help the animals survive during their winter hibernation, which can last as long as six or seven months.

Classroom HibernationDuring your unit, reserve some class time for students to "slow down" and take a short winter's rest. Appoint a special day and encourage students to bring in pillows, slippers, snack crackers, juice boxes, and favorite books, puzzles, or quiet games. Stock your class library with books about animals that hibernate, as well as other topics of interest to children. Then allow students to find a quiet private area in the room to "nest" during their hibernation. They can line their nests with snacks, personal items, and books from the class shelves. As they snuggle down, invite children to quietly engage in individual activities or to just put their heads down for a peaceful winter nap.

Conserving EnergyHibernation not only eliminates the need for winter food-gathering, but also lets an animal conserve its body energy by slowing down its heart rate and breathing. To help illustrate this, set a timer during a rest period and have students take their pulses during a one-minute interval. Ask them to write down the results along with descriptions of their breathing during this time. Then in an open area, have them perform vigorous exercises such as jumping, running, and hopping for several minutes. Afterward, have them sit and take their pulses again. How do the results differ? How does their breathing compare? Does rest or activity require more energy?

Temperature ExperimentWhile the average body temperature for a mammal is 99ºF, a hibernating animal's temperature drops to around 43ºF. This is less than half the normal temperature and only 11 degrees above freezing! The lower temperature reduces the amount of energy an animal must use to keep warm. To demonstrate, half-fill a plastic shoe box with warm water and have students measure the temperature using a thermometer. Have them stir in one ice cube at a time and take a temperature reading after each addition, until the water reaches 43ºF. Then invite children to place their hands in the water to experience the body temperature of a hibernating animal. Do they think they could sleep comfortably at this temperature?

A Place to Rest Mural In the weeks before hibernation or dormancy, animals prepare their winter beds. Where do they sleep during this time? To help students find out, ask them to brainstorm a list of hibernating animals, then select and research an animal from the list. (See Hibernation Resources.) Instruct them to write on note cards how their animals prepare their hibernation homes. Do they build nests? Line them with food? Dig burrows? As students complete their research, invite them to create a winter mural by drawing their animals in their hibernation homes on bulletin board paper. Students then can add mounds of snow, icicles, and other winter scenery. After each student has had

GPS SCIENCE UNIT PLAN

a chance to share his or her fact card with the class, attach it to the mural near the appropriate animal.

Making My NestPeople don't actually hibernate, but many reduce their activity and spend more time indoors during the short winter days. Invite children to imagine that they do hibernate. What kinds of supplies will they store up for a long winter's rest? What will they line their nests with? What will they keep on hand for wakeful times when it's too cold to go outdoors? Provide students with paper plates, fabric or paper strips, store catalogs, sales flyers, and magazines. Then ask them to create personal winter nests by gluing the strips inside the plate and adding pictures of selected items to line their nests. During a sharing time, invite children to tell the class about their nests and why they chose some of the items in them.

Hibernation ClocksHow do animals know when it's time to end their winter's hibernation? Scientists believe that animals may have internal clocks that arouse them when the weather becomes warmer. Invite children to solve simple word problems with a unique hibernation calendar-clock. To prepare, label each of 12 note cards with a different month. Attach January next to the 1 on a large class clock. Then attach February next to 2, and so on, until each clock number is represented by a month. Begin by pointing the minute hand to 12, then move the hour hand from one number to the next. Each time, ask students to name the hour and the corresponding month. When they have a clear understanding of how each clock number corresponds to a month of the year, present the word problems below. Let students use the classroom hibernation clock to solve them individually, then review and discuss their answers as a class.

1. January is at 1:00. At which number on the hibernation clock is November? (11:00)2. Bear slept from 9:00 to 3:00 on the clock. During which months did Bear sleep? (September,

October, November, December, January, February, March)3. Squirrel gathered food from 6:00 to 10:00. Name the months that Squirrel spent preparing for

winter. (June, July, August, September, October)4. Groundhog slept from November to February. At what time on the hibernation clock did

Groundhog wake up? (2:00)5. Bat went into a cave to hibernate at 10:00 and woke up at 4:00. How many months did Bat

hibernate? (six months)6. Raccoon slept from 10:00 to 1:00. Then Raccoon slept from 2:00 to 5:00. How many total

months did Raccoon hibernate? (six months)

Extinction

Illustrate the history of the decline of a species through a collage or computer design. Make a pictorial timeline showing the factors that affected the species' population (for example, commercial hunting, the ivory trade, and habitat loss for elephants), either by hand or with your computer. Draw or find images in magazines or on the Internet, scan pictures from books and magazines into a document, or use mixed media, such as objects, torn paper, or fabric pieces. Place the objects or pictures on your timeline to portray the factors leading to the species' decline. Portray changes in the species' population over time by using pictorial images or mixed media.

GPS SCIENCE UNIT PLANCamouflageStudents can play camouflage game. http://www.eoascientific.com

AdaptationsAnimal Adaptations scavenger hunt that is to be completed in the computer lab.

M &M Survival Challenge:

Introduction

Nature can be brutal. The harsh reality is that if you are not a hunter, then you are being hunted. What do animals do to keep from being eaten? Some animals develop defense mechanisms, like porcupine quills or the plated armor of an armadillo. Other animals develop yucky tastes on their bodies, or poisonous mucus coatings.

This pattern of animals developing strategies to survive is called adaptation, and it is a mechanism for evolution. You may have heard the famous phrase, "survival of the fittest," that Charles Darwin used to describe this natural phenomenon. In order to survive in nature, you need to be fit, and fitting in to your environment is very important to avoid being eaten!

The most common way that animals can avoid being eaten by a predator is by an adaptation called camouflage. Camouflage is a set of colorings or markings on an animal that help it to blend in with the surroundings and increase its chance for survival. The surrounding environment that the animal hides in is called the habitat, or the place where the animal lives.

Each animal needs to adapt to a unique habitat, and animals adapt in all kinds of different and interesting ways. Katydids, which live in green leafy trees, have adapted to their habitat by having a bright green body shaped like a leaf. Chameleons, which change habitats often in the colorful jungle, have adapted a way of changing their skin color to match their immediate environment. Decorator crabs have adapted by learning how to cover their shells with debris to blend in with their habitat.

Here is a game you can play with your friends to learn about adaptation. Get a box and fill it with clothes for different kinds of weather: a sun hat and sun glasses, rain coat and umbrella, winter coat and hat, sweater, etc... Have one person announce a habitat (like the rainforest) and race to see who can find and put on the proper outfit (like the raincoat and boots) to adapt to that habitat. Who is the fastest? How do your made-up adaptations compare to natural adaptations that wild animals use in their natural habitats?

In this experiment, you will test how adaptation and survival work by using M&M candies as your prey. You will hunt for the M&M's in different colored "habitats" to test whether some M&M's do better in some habitats than others. Then you can discover which M&M's are best suited to survive in each habitat.

Terms, Concepts and Questions to Start Background Research

To do this project, you should do research that enables you to understand the following terms and concepts:

predator prey

GPS SCIENCE UNIT PLAN habitat environment survival adaptation camouflage

Related how-to info:  Background Research Plan & Bibliography

  Review of Literature  Variables & Hypothesis

Bibliography

Armstrong, Wayne. "Wayne's Word: Photos of Ecological Adaptations." Wayne's Word, Escondido, CA. [12/28/05]http://waynesword.palomar.edu/lmexe10b.htm

Staff. 2005. "Darwin for Kids and Families." American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY. [12/28/05]http://www.amnh.org/education/resources/exhibitions/darwin/families/

Staff. 2005. "What's it Like Where You Live? Biomes of the World." Missouri Botanical Garden. St. Louis, MO. [12/28/05]http://mbgnet.mobot.org/

Materials and Equipment

colored construction paper plastic baggies one large package of M&M candies stopwatch some friends who like to eat M&M's

Experimental Procedure

1. First you will need to prepare 6 groups of "prey" by counting and placing equal numbers of M&M candies into separate plastic baggies.

2. In each baggie, place 10 M&M's of each color into the baggie: 10 brown, 10 red, 10 yellow, 10 green, and 10 orange. There should be a total of 50 M&M's in each baggie.

3. Prepare different "habitats", 6 large pieces of construction paper in a series of different colors: white, blue, red, yellow, green, or brown. If you have small sheets of construction paper, you may want to tape together 4 sheets of paper to make one large piece for each color.

4. Gather together a pack of 2-4 predators. This can be anybody who likes to eat M&M's as much as you do: a friend, brother, sister, mom, dad, grandparent, etc.

5. Explain to your predators the rules of the game:"First, we will pour one of our bags of M&M's on a colored sheet of paper. Then I will set the timer for 10 seconds. When I say go, I will start the timer and we will pick up and eat the M&M's until the timer beeps. Then we will stop eating. I will count the number of M&M's of each color that are left. Then we will do it again for the rest of the colors of paper."

6. Put the first habitat down in the middle of your group of predators. Make sure everyone can reach the paper.

7. Pour one of your bags of M&M's out onto the paper. Make sure that all of the M&M's are on the paper.

GPS SCIENCE UNIT PLAN8. Set your timer for 10 seconds. 9. Say, "GO!" and start the timer. When the timer beeps, everyone should stop eating M&M's. 10. Count the M&M's that are left on the paper and record the colors left in a data table like the one shown

below:

Habitat Red M&M's

Brown M&M's

Green M&M's

Yellow M&M's

Orange M&M's

Starting Number 10 10 10 10 10

White Paper          

Yellow Paper          

Red Paper          

Green Paper          

Blue Paper          

11. Repeat for all of the other colors of construction paper "habitats." 12. Look at your data. Do you notice any interesting patterns between the color of the paper and the color of

the M&M's that are eaten? What is different about the white "habitat" than the other colored habitats? How do you think this same survival strategy would work in the wild?

Related how-to info:  Materials List & Procedure

  Conduct Experiment  Data Analysis & Graph  Conclusions  Display Board

Variations

In the wild, adaptation and evolution happen over several generations because only the fittest survive to make new offspring. There is a way to test this phenomenon with the M&M experiment. Pick one habitat and randomly toss a package of M&M's on it. After a round of predation, add one M&M of equal color to each M&M that is left, then repeat another round of predation. How many rounds does it take to get all the same colored M&M's?

Different animals have adapted to different environments and habitats. Take a trip to your local zoo and bring a notebook. Write down and draw pictures of any special adaptations you observe. Do animals in the zoo use camouflage? Do the zoo keepers do a good job of creating natural habitats? How do you think that the adaptations of zoo animals work in the wild? Do some kinds of animals have more adaptations than others?

GPS SCIENCE UNIT PLAN

Stage 4 – Resources

Leveled Books, trade books, big books, read-alouds, websites, textbooks, videos, student materials, teacher resources, etc.

www.unitedstreaming.comThere are several informative short video segments that explain adaptations, camouflage, and hibernation on the unitedstreaming website.

Animal Adaptations: 23 minutesAnimal Instincts: 7 minutesOcean’s Alive: 5 minutesEcosystems and Adaptations: 30 minutes – refer to activity in learning plan

Background Information on Hibernation

Background Information on Hibernation

Some animals hibernate over the winter, going into a very deep sleep. Hibernating animals usually retreat to a den, a burrow, or a hollow log for protection and shelter. During "true hibernation," the animal's body temperature drops, and its rate of breathing slows down. These hibernating animals are very difficult to awaken.

Most animals will eat large amounts of food before hibernating, adding body fat that will nourish them during the winter. Occasionally, hibernating animals will awaken periodically during the winter to eat. When most hibernating animals awaken in the spring, they are very hungry.

Some of the animals listed below are not "true hibernators," but they do become dormant over winter or go into diapause (a suspended state that some insects enter during cold, short days). For example, during cold winter months, some bears go into a dormant state in which their heart rate is extremely low, their body temperature is relatively high, they neither eat nor release bodily waste, and they can be roused (unlike "true hibernators"). In older scientific literature, hibernation used to refer only to low-body-temperature winter dormancy, but now that much more is known about this dormancy phase, some bears (like the black bear) are considered to be extremely efficient hibernators (some biologists refer to these animals as "super hibernators").

We have included bears in two sections:  hibernation and torpor.  This was the first time that we ever did research and found out that different books might have different information that doesn't agree about the same subject.  Most books say that bears are not "true" hibernators.  This is because they:

Have times through the winter when they wake up and walk around.

Don't have a big lowering of body temperature.

   Bears do sleep a lot of the winter but their body temperatures don't drop very much.  This is how the female can take care of her cubs that are born during winter.  True hibernators take a long time to wake up from their winter sleep but bears are alert and know what is going on around them.  They can get up right away.     In the fall, bears start to look for a winter den.  This den will be safe and somewhere that the bear doesn't go at other times of the year.  Bears like to make their dens in caves, hollow trees, banks of creeks or even big pipes.  Brown bears always dig holes for dens.  Sometimes they even dig tunnels

GPS SCIENCE UNIT PLAN

to the den.     When they make their den, they drag in leaves and tree branches for a bed.  The den will be big enough for the bear to move around and stretch but small enough that the bear's body heat warms it.  When it begins to snow, they crawl inside to sleep.  The snow will lay over the den and help to hold the bear's body heat inside.     During hibernation, a bear's eyes will be open when it is awake but it might be groggy.  Its body gets a little cooler but not as cold as other hibernating animals.  Since it mostly sleeps and lays around, the body fat that it stored in the summer and fall lasts longer.  It doesn't take too much body fuel to sleep.  Its body does lots of things while it is in hibernation.  It makes its own water and recycles wastes.  Bears won't drink or get rid of wastes for a few months.  They will lose about eight pounds a week during hibernation or torpor.  The weight they lose will be from stored fat and not muscle.  This means that when they leave the den in the spring, they are still strong.   In Spring, they will wake up and leave the den.  They will be thinner and very hungry.   Here's something interesting.  Bears don't get rid of wastes--or go to the bathroom--for a few months.  The urine is broken down inside their bodies and reused as protein to help the bear keep its muscles healthy.  A 'plug' of feces, hair, and nest stuff forms at the end of the bear's digestive tract.  This comes out when the bear leaves the den and goes to the bathroom.  Disgusting, but interesting.   Polar bears can go into hibernation at any time of the year.  They will do it if they can't find food.  This allows them to adapt to having no food.  Most polar bears don't hibernate but some pregnant females will.  They make their dens in the fall, give birth during the winter, and stay there until spring.  The temperature inside the den can get 40 degrees hotter than the air outside just because of the bear's body heat.    Bears aren't like birds that migrate, or move away from bad weather.  They won't leave their area to find a warmer place.  They adapt to the climate around them by sleeping through the cold season.    Scientists disagree on whether bears hibernate, but all think they do go into a torpor.   Torpor is a sleep where the animal is a little alert but kind of drowsy or sluggish.    

Background Information on Factors Leading to extinction1. Natural/environmental factors: climate change, extreme geological activity, huge

meteors colliding with the Earth

Human factors: pollution, cutting/logging, expansion/per capita resource consumption, hunting

Website with information on extinction:

http://www.bagheera.com/inthewild/extinct.htm

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Plants

Factors leading to extinction

Fires

Trails, which open and dry out the forest

Trampling by visitors

Fragmentation of nearby habitat. Roads and other development may have prevented pollination or the dispersal of seeds by invertebrates.

Weeds. The rapid growth of 64 exotic plant species crowded out native species.

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

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GPS SCIENCE UNIT PLANFourth Grade-Factors that Affect Survival or ExtinctionELA4W2 The student demonstrates competence in a variety of genres.The student produces informational writing that: report - procedures _correspondence

Exceeds Meets Does Not Meet Points Teacher Commentarya. Captivates the reader by a. Engages the reader by a. Lacks a clear content &establishing a clear establishing a context, Focus and does not engagecontext, creating a definite creating a speaker's voice, the reader.speaker's voice and & otherwise developingdeveloping reader reader interest.

involvement.

b. Extends and develops a b. Develops a central b. Fails to develop acentral question that question about an issue or central question about anconveys a perspective on situation. issue or situation.

an issue or situation.

c. Develops an exceptional c. Creates an organizing c. Creates little or noorganizing structure structure appropriate to a organizing structure.appropriate to a specific specific purpose, audience,purpose, audience, and and context.

context.

d. Includes many d. Includes appropriate d. Includes few or no factsappropriate facts and facts and details. and details.details.e. Excludes ALL e. Excludes extraneous e. Includes extraneousextraneous details & details & inappropriate details & inconsistencies.

inconsistencies. information.

f. Uses a wide range of f. Uses a range of f. Uses few strategiesappropriate strategies such appropriate strategies such when providing facts &as providing many facts & as providing facts & details, describing ordetails, fully describing or details, describing or analyzing the subject, &analyzing the subject, & analyzing the subject, & narrating a relevantnarrating a relevant narrating a relevant anecdote.anecdote. anecdote.g. Draws from multiple g. Draws from more than g. Draws from a singlesources of information one source of information source of information suchsuch as speakers, books, such as speakers, books, as speakers, books,newspapers, & online newspapers, & online newspapers, & onlinematerials. materials. materials; or no sources

used.

h. Provides a sense of h. Provides a sense of h. Provides no sense ofclosure with a well closure to the writing. closure.developed ending thatshows how the problem

worked out.

i. Independently plans, i. ELA4W4 Consistently i. Fails to utilize the stepsdrafts, revises, edits and uses a writing process to of the writing process topublishes writing. develop, revise, and create text.

evaluate writing.

j. Uses understanding and j. ELA4Cl Demonstrates j. Makes surface featurecontrol of the rules of the some understanding & Errors that interfere withEnglish language to control of the rules of the the writer'sachieve great clarity and English language with communication with theexceptional style. minimal grammar and reader.

usage errors.Exceeds = 30 Meets = 15 – 29 Does Not Meet = 10 -14A = 24 – 30 B = 20 – 23 C = 15 – 19 D=14 F=10-13

GPS SCIENCE UNIT PLAN

GPS SCIENCE UNIT PLAN