Animals

This week we talked about Animals.  We started the unit off  talking about living and nonliving things. 

I passed around pictures of different things and the students had to sort them according to if they were living or nonliving.

Sorting living and nonliving.

Then we made a chart and listed things that were living and nonliving.

Next we decided what living things can do.

The next day we discussed what habitats are.  We watched a Magic School Bus video about habitats.  The students came up with an animals home is their habitat.

Then the night day we discussed how some animals are big and some animals are small.  We figured out the animals come in all sizes and colors.  The students then received a half piece of paper.  On one side of the paper the students drew a big animal.  Once they drew the big animal, they had to draw the animals habitat.  On the back of the paper they drew a small animal and that animal's habitat.  I used these drawings to know if the student were understanding what we talked about.  They did really well. 

Then today, we made a list of what the students knew about animals.

 Then we did a couple investigations.  The first investigation we learned why some animals have a hard shell and what the shell does.  I used playdough and made two circles.  One of the circles I put a clear cup over.  Then I smashed both of the "turtles."  The one with the covering stayed the same and the other one got smashed.

The next investigation was to learn what oily feathers do.

 We had two ducks made out of grocery bags.

 One duck was sprayed with PAM.  The other one was not.

Then I sprinkled water on the ducks. One duck got all wet while the other duck didn't.  We discussed this investigation.

Then we talked about how different animals are covered by different things.  Some are smooth, while others are furry.  Next we talked about animal homes and how some animals look like their parents.

Do you study animals with your class?