Summer SAVY 2019: Session 2, Day 2 – Animal Adaptations (Rising 1st/2nd)

Posted by hallep on Tuesday, June 18, 2019 in Grade 1, Grade 2, SAVY.

We are really getting good at identifying adaptations that specific animals have and how those adaptions help the animal survive and thrive in their natural habitat. Our conversations now; however, are turning a bit more thought worthy as we are thinking of the implications of animals losing their habitat space, being relocated to different habitats where they are not so naturally adapted, and how can animals change to adapt to new environments and still survive.

To continue thinking like scientists, we had some fun with fruit! We read The Watcher, a book about Jane Goodall, and traced the scientific wheel of investigation and reasoning through her life and saw how she used the scientific process to learn about chimpanzees. We then used a real banana and pretended that we discovered this new thing and applied the scientific method to figuring out what it was and how we would name it. Each student had a chance to hold the banana and use one of their senses to investigate this mystery thing (one student jokingly said, we better not taste it since it could be poisonous, so we decided not to taste). One student broke the item in half and then discovered more information that wasn’t apparent from the outside. It was fabulous to see how we used the scientific method to explore this new item. We also wrote down more questions we might have about this new discovery, drew models and described in detail all we learned from our senses.

What about animal life cycles, we asked, after we explored a variety of life cycle models and inferred the steps in order of each life cycle. We grabbed our journals and saw live videos of the life cycles of mealworms, butterflies, praying mantis, and frogs. From there, we created two life cycle continuums, one about mammals and the other with animals that begin with eggs. All of a sudden students saw the connection to the concept of Change in terms of Change is everywhere, and Change is related to time!  We have been thinking more and more about habitats, animal adaptations, survival, and change.

Tomorrow, we will dive deeper into our overarching question, How does change impact animal survival including human decisions. Here is your think discussion question for tonight, if you have time.

List three ways the world would change if animals could talk. What animal would you want to talk with the most? Why? What would you ask that animal? What would you want to talk about with a household per such as a cat or dog? What would you ask an eagle? What three questions would you ask an elephant?

Karen Tyson