Teacher Resources
Unit Overview
Animal Predators is a webquest in which students explore how energy moves through an ecosystem, understand how animals are interconnected in an ecosystem, investigate the roles that animals play within their ecosystem, and learn about their behavioral and physical adaptations needed to survive and thrive in their role as predator or prey.
Target Grade: 4th Grade
Learning Objectives:
Students will be able to:
Materials / Preparation:
Computers
Internet Access
Unit Duration:
Depending on the students, each task may require 2 - 3 class periods.
Target Grade: 4th Grade
Learning Objectives:
Students will be able to:
- explain how animals get their energy from food.
- provide examples of herbivores, carnivores and omnivores.
- identify characteristics that help predators obtain their food.
- create model predators and describe the predator / prey relationship.
- identify various defensive strategies used by prey to escape from predators.
- identify and describe the needs of plants and animals.
- define an adaptation as a specialized physical characteristic or behavior that helps an animal of plant survive.
- explain that plants and animals are specially adapted for survival in their particular habitat.
- give example of specialized physical characteristics that may help different organisms survive in a specific habitat.
- classify a collection of organisms based upon different characteristics.
Materials / Preparation:
Computers
Internet Access
- Task 1: Design a Predator: craft materials, paper, crayons, glue
- Task 2: Build a Food Chain: access to a printer, or printed copies of the worksheet: Food Chain Cards, scissors, glue
- Task 3: Predators: Do We Really Need Them?: N/A
- Task 4: Most Wanted Predators: access to a printer for the student's Most Wanted posters
Unit Duration:
Depending on the students, each task may require 2 - 3 class periods.
Assessment
The teacher should check student notes and answers to research questions written in their notebook for accuracy and for any misconceptions. Students should discuss their findings after completion of their research, and the teacher can monitor student understanding and progress. In Task 2: Build a Food Chain, the teacher should check to make sure the sun and then a producer are placed first. In addition, the arrows should be facing in the direction of where the energy goes.
Use the following rubrics to determine how well students completed their produces for Task 1 and Task 4:
Task 1: Design a Predator Rubric
Task 4: Most Wanted Poster Rubric
Use the following rubrics to determine how well students completed their produces for Task 1 and Task 4:
Task 1: Design a Predator Rubric
Task 4: Most Wanted Poster Rubric
NYS P-12 Common Core Learning Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy
Reading Standards:
1. Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
2. Determine two or more main ideas of a text and explain how they are supported by key details; summarize the text.
4. Determine the meaning of general academic and domain specific words and phrases in a text relevant to a grade 4 topic or subject area.
7. Draw on information from multiple print or digital sources, demonstrating the ability to locate an answer to a question quickly or to solve a problem efficiently.
Writing Standards:
2. Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.
a. Introduce a topic clearly, provide a general observation and focus, and group related information logically; include formatting (e.g., headings), illustrations, and multimedia when useful to aiding comprehension.
b. Develop the topic with facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples related to the topic.
d. Use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary to inform about or explain the topic.
e. Provide a concluding statement or section related to the information or explanation presented.
6. With some guidance and support from adults, use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others; demonstrate sufficient command of keyboarding skills to type a minimum of two pages in a single sitting.
1. Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
2. Determine two or more main ideas of a text and explain how they are supported by key details; summarize the text.
4. Determine the meaning of general academic and domain specific words and phrases in a text relevant to a grade 4 topic or subject area.
7. Draw on information from multiple print or digital sources, demonstrating the ability to locate an answer to a question quickly or to solve a problem efficiently.
Writing Standards:
2. Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.
a. Introduce a topic clearly, provide a general observation and focus, and group related information logically; include formatting (e.g., headings), illustrations, and multimedia when useful to aiding comprehension.
b. Develop the topic with facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples related to the topic.
d. Use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary to inform about or explain the topic.
e. Provide a concluding statement or section related to the information or explanation presented.
6. With some guidance and support from adults, use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others; demonstrate sufficient command of keyboarding skills to type a minimum of two pages in a single sitting.
New York State Science Standards
Standard 4: The Living Environment
3.2a Individuals within a species may compete with each other for food, mates, space, water, and shelter in their environment.
3.2b All individuals have variations, and because of these variations, individuals of a species may have an advantage in surviving and reproducing.
4.2b Food supplies the energy and materials necessary for growth and repair.
5.2c Senses can provide essential information (regarding danger, food, mates, etc.) to animals about their environment.
5.2g The health, growth, and development of organisms are affected by environmental conditions such as the availability of food, air, water, space, shelter, heat, and sunlight. Describe the factors that help promote good health and growth in humans.
6.1a Green plants are producers because they provide the basic food supply for themselves and animals.
6.1b All animals depend on plants. Some animals (predators) eat other animals (prey).
6.1c Animals that eat plants for food may in turn become food for other animals. This sequence is called a food chain.
6.1d Decomposers are living things that play a vital role in recycling nutrients.
6.1e An organism’s pattern of behavior is related to the nature of that organism’s environment, including the kinds and numbers of other organisms present, the availability of food and other resources, and the physical characteristics of the environment.
6.1f When the environment changes, some plants and animals survive and reproduce, and others die or move to new locations.
6.2a Plants manufacture food by utilizing air, water, and energy from the Sun.
6.2b The Sun’s energy is transferred on Earth from plants to animals through the food chain.
7.1a Humans depend on their natural and constructed environments.
7.1b Over time humans have changed their environment by cultivating crops and raising animals, creating shelter, using energy, manufacturing goods, developing means of transportation, changing populations, and carrying out other activities.
7.1c Humans, as individuals or communities, change environments in ways that can be either helpful or harmful for themselves and other organisms.
3.2a Individuals within a species may compete with each other for food, mates, space, water, and shelter in their environment.
3.2b All individuals have variations, and because of these variations, individuals of a species may have an advantage in surviving and reproducing.
4.2b Food supplies the energy and materials necessary for growth and repair.
5.2c Senses can provide essential information (regarding danger, food, mates, etc.) to animals about their environment.
5.2g The health, growth, and development of organisms are affected by environmental conditions such as the availability of food, air, water, space, shelter, heat, and sunlight. Describe the factors that help promote good health and growth in humans.
6.1a Green plants are producers because they provide the basic food supply for themselves and animals.
6.1b All animals depend on plants. Some animals (predators) eat other animals (prey).
6.1c Animals that eat plants for food may in turn become food for other animals. This sequence is called a food chain.
6.1d Decomposers are living things that play a vital role in recycling nutrients.
6.1e An organism’s pattern of behavior is related to the nature of that organism’s environment, including the kinds and numbers of other organisms present, the availability of food and other resources, and the physical characteristics of the environment.
6.1f When the environment changes, some plants and animals survive and reproduce, and others die or move to new locations.
6.2a Plants manufacture food by utilizing air, water, and energy from the Sun.
6.2b The Sun’s energy is transferred on Earth from plants to animals through the food chain.
7.1a Humans depend on their natural and constructed environments.
7.1b Over time humans have changed their environment by cultivating crops and raising animals, creating shelter, using energy, manufacturing goods, developing means of transportation, changing populations, and carrying out other activities.
7.1c Humans, as individuals or communities, change environments in ways that can be either helpful or harmful for themselves and other organisms.
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