Learning Features of Creatures Day 6 Research Project

I. General Information:
Grade Level: 1st
Discipline: Life Science
Unit Topic: Diversity of Life
Time Frame: 1-2 hours/2 days
Text: Creatures Features by: Steve Jenkins
Other Materials:
My Animal Report template
Science journals
Laptops (for student use)
Rubric group project

II. Essential Understanding/Questions:

What external features do animals have that help them live?
Can you compare and contrast different animals internal features?

III. Standards/Indicators

Grade 1 - Life Science - Diversity

Topic A. Diversity of Life
Indicator
- 1. Compare and explain how external features of plants and animals help them survive
different environments.
Objective
2. Compare similar features in some animals and plants and explain how each of these
enables the organism to satisfy basic needs.

RI2: Identify the main topic and retell key details of a text. (SC,1)
-Describe people, places, things, and events with relevant details, expressing ideas and
feelings clearly. (CCSS 1 SL4)

W2: Write informative/explanatory texts in which they name a topic, supply some
facts about the topic, and provide some sense of closure.
-Produce complete simple and compound sentences. (CCSS 2 L1.f)

IV. Lesson Objectives

Using the anchor text and companion books as guides, students will complete a research
project in groups on an animal they chose.

V. Evaluation/Assessment:
Assessment of Objectives
Formal assessment completion of group research project
Formal assessment presentation of group project
 Informal assessment working on research project with group

VI. Procedures:
Introduction
To introduce the lesson, the teacher will have students sit on the reading carpet. The
teacher will read the anchor text, Creatures Features, to the class; at the conclusion of the
reading the teacher will then explain the research project as the ending of the unit. The
teacher should have all the books used in the unit available to students so theyre able to
reference them at any time while conducting their research.
Teaching/Activities
1. To wrap up this unit, students will use their science journals to assist them in
completing a research project. Students will be broken into small groups, they will
decide what animal they would like to do their research on.
2. For the summative assessment in my unit will be group research projects. This
project will include researching an animal taught within the unit and finding the
what, where, why, and how of the animal and its attribute/s to help them
survive in the wild. This can include: where it lives, what attribute/s it has, how it
(attribute/s) help this animal survive, and finally why this animal has the
attribute/s it has. They will be using the template My Animal Report. If the
animal is endangered, the group should try to think of possible reasons why its
endangered and even think of ways we could help prevent it from going extinct.
This project would be authentic because of the real-world experiences it offers.
There are animals who are endangered all over the world, and when thinking like
a scientist, students can learn why this happens and what they could possibly do
to help prevent it.
3. While students are conducting their research, they will be required to use laptops
to find information on their animal. Because of the dangers of using Google or
other search engines, its important that the teacher monitors the students very
closely with what they use. The following sites are considered a safe, and kid-
friendly search engine site that they can use to find information on their animal.
a. www.kidrex.org
b. http://www.kidzsearch.com/
c. http://www.safesearchkids.com/
d. http://www.kidfriendlysearch.com/Science.htm
4. Students will have 2 days to complete their research project. The teacher should
allow ample time for students to complete their project; each day students should
have most of the afternoon to work.
5. To showcase their findings, each group will create a poster explaining their
findings. The poster will be a template with sentence starters so students are able
to include the what, where, why and how they researched. This poster can be
easily made; each group will receive a poster board and four sentence starters to
glue onto the board. The teacher should model this so students know where to
glue these on the board. The sentence starters are:
a. Our research project studied _____(animal).
b. The ____(animal) lives in _____(place/country).
 c. The ____(animal) has many features. They include ____ and ____ (name
2 features).
d. Its features help the animal with ____ and _____ (give 2 reasons).
e. We chose to research the ____(animal) because _____ and ___ (give 2
reasons).
If their animal is considered to be endangered, students should attempt to
explain why they think it is endangered.
f. The ___(animal) is endangered because _____.
g. We can help the ___(animal) from going extinct by _____.
After students complete their research, each group should illustrate their animal to
the best of their ability.

Closure
To close this unit and research project, students will present their findings and poster to
the class. Each group will have approximately 10 minutes each to present their findings.
They will be able to read off their poster and the sentences starters they completed. While
presenting, the teacher will complete the rubric for the group project overall.

References:

Jenkins, S. (2010). Bones. New York, NY: Scholastic.

Jenkins, S. & Page, R. (2014). Creatures features. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin
Harcourt.

Jenkins, S. (2014). Eye to eye. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin.

Jenkins, S. & Page, R. (2015). How to swallow a pig. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin
Harcourt.

Jenkins, S. (2003). What do you do with a tail like this. New York, NY: Houghton
Mifflin.

Scholastic (n.d.). My animal report template. Retrieved from

https://printables.scholastic.com/content/stores/printables/media/47/97804395037
47-073_p01_428x473.jpg

Rubric available at:

http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php?screen=ShowRubric&rubric_id=2687768
& *own creation