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Students will be able to identify and explain how animals' physical characteristics help them survive in their habitats by analyzing at least 3 different animals and their adaptations.

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3.L.2.1 - Remember that plants and animals need air, water, light (plants only), space, food and shelter and that these may be found in their environment. 3.L.2.2 - Compare the survival needs of animals to plants.

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Students will demonstrate digital citizenship (ISTE 2) by researching animals responsibly online and communicate effectively (ISTE 6) by presenting their findings using digital tools.

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How do animals survive in the wild? Students will watch a short video about animals in different environments and discuss what they notice about how animals look different based on where they live.

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Habitats for Kids | Learn all about deserts, forests, grasslands, mountains, and more

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Students will vote on which 5 animals they want to study from a list of 15 options including local NC wildlife and animals from around the world. This gives students ownership in their learning journey.

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Classroom Poll Templates

Easily create a poll and let your students voice their opinions and let you know what they really think with our Classroom Poll Templates. Ask something insightful to get your students thinking or see if you can come to a consensus decision on something that might split opinions. Perfect for in-person, live, and remote learning, these classroom polls will entertain and engage students.

All of our poll Templates can be downloaded by anyone with a Mentimeter account. Simply login or register and get started right away with just a few clicks. Each and every one of these templates can be edited - depending on which plan you have. Paid users can edit everything about these templates while free users can do so within the limits of the free account.

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Free Classroom Polls - Templates & Examples

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Interact with your audience using real-time voting. No installations or downloads required - and it's free!

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Teacher will introduce the concept of adaptations using visual examples. Focus on physical features like beaks, feet, body covering, and body shape. Use the chosen animals from student survey as examples.

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In small groups, students will examine photos of the voted animals and identify 2-3 adaptations for each. Groups will use graphic organizers to record their observations and discuss why each adaptation helps survival.

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Animal adaptations graphic organizer | TPT

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Real-World Connection: Local Animal Research

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Real-World Connection: Local Animal Research

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Students choose a North Carolina native animal to research, connecting to local environmental issues. They'll investigate how human activities affect their chosen animal's habitat and survival.

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This article seeks to serve as a field-guide, central repository, and listing for the flora and fauna of the US state of North Carolina and surrounding territories.

Animal life

Mammals in North Carolina (not comprehensive):

Endangered, non-marine mammals in North Carolina:

In the mountains, there are small populations of bobcats and bears as well as re-introduced elk. Beaver, whose pelt trade was an important part of the North Carolina economy well into the 1800s, were hunted to extinction in 1897. Re-introductions began in 1939 and now beaver have returned to the entire state.
List of birds of North Carolina
Crocodilians:

Snakes without dangerous venom:

Snakes with venom dangerous to humans:

Lizards: North Carolina is home to 11 native species of lizard, and one introduced species.

Turtles:

Amphibians

Frogs are common in the marshy and wet regions of the Piedmont. The frog pictured at left is a Cope's gray treefrog ( Hyla chrysocelis) or gray treefrog ( H. versicolor). These two species cannot be differentiated except by their call or genetic analysis. However, H. versicolor is rare in the state and likely to not be pictured here. They are most abundant in some northern Piedmont counties. Other frogs of North Carolina include spring peepers, Pseudacris crucifer or Hyla crucifer. Common among Carolina forests, this frog lives in high branches of trees, although it is also seen on the ground and commonly on roadways.

Some common amphibians in North Carolina: two-toed amphiuma, common mudpuppy, dwarf waterdog, eastern lesser siren, greater siren, red-spotted newt, Mabee's salamander, spotted salamander, marbled salamander (state salamander), mole salamander, eastern tiger salamander, southern dusky salamander, dwarf salamander, four-toed salamander, Wehrle's salamander, eastern spadefoot, southern toad, Pine Barrens treefrog (state frog), Cope's gray treefrog, green treefrog, squirrel treefrog, gray treefrog, little grass frog, ornate chorus frog, upland chorus frog, American bullfrog, bronze frog, pickerel frog, southern leopard frog, wood frog

Freshwater: bodie bass, Roanoke bass, largemouth bass, rock bass, smallmouth bass, spotted bass, striped bass, white bass, blue catfish, channel catfish, flathead catfish, white catfish, brown bullhead, white perch, yellow perch, chain pickerel, redfin pickerel, American shad, hickory shad, pumpkinseed, redear, bluegill, flier, green sunfish, redbrest, warmouth, brook trout, rainbow trout, brown trout, garfish, bowfin, carp, crappie, freshwater drum, grass carp, kokanee salmon, muskellunge, tiger muskellunge, northern pike, sauger, eastern mosquitofish, smallmouth buffalo, walleye, the endemic Cape Fear shiner.

Saltwater: albacore, amberjack, Atlantic bonito, bank sea bass, barracuda, bigeye tuna, blackfin tuna, black drum, black sea bass, blacktip shark, bluefish, bluefin tuna, blue marlin, blueline tilefish, butterfish, cobia, croaker, dolphin, flounder, gag, gray triggerfish, gray trout, hammerhead, hickory shad, hogchoker, hogfish, humping mullet, king mackerel, knobbed porgy, lizardfish, little tunny, mako shark, menhaden, northern puffer, oyster toadfish, pigfish, pinfish, pompano, red drum, red grouper, red snapper, sailfish, scamp, sea mullet, searobin, sheepshead, silver perch, silver snapper, skate, skipjack tuna, spadefish, Spanish mackerel, speckled hind, spottail pinfish, spot, speckled trout, stingray, striped bass, swordfish, tarpon, tiger shark, vermillion snapper, wahoo, white marlin, white grunt, yellowfin tuna, yellowedge grouper, yellowtail snapper

Invertebrates

Various insects, jellyfish, millipedes, centipedes, freshwater crayfish, and freshwater mollusks.

General interest: Birds: Reptiles and amphibians: Butterflies:

Images for kids

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Wildlife of North Carolina Facts for Kids

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This article seeks to serve as a field-guide, central repository, and listing for the flora and fauna of the US state of North Carolina and surrounding territories. Mammals in North Carolina (not comprehensive): Endangered, non-marine mammals in North Carolina: In the mountains, there are small populations of bobcats and bears as well as re-introduced elk.

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Student pairs will create a digital presentation about their chosen animal using Padlet, Flipgrid, or another approved platform. They must include habitat, adaptations, and one real-world threat to the animal.

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The popular tool has features that teachers in any subject can use to help students connect with each other and share their learning.

Olaf Doering / Alamy Stock Photo

The video-sharing tool Flipgrid, as we all know, is popular in schools-so popular, in so many countries, that its rapid rise been attributed to "Flipgrid Fever." The tool has been free for educators to use for over a year now after being acquired by Microsoft.

One of the main things going for Flipgrid is its ease of use. Teachers set up an account and create grids, which act as communities for students to work in. Within each grid the teacher creates prompts called topics, and students post video responses to the prompts and replies to each other's videos. Most of the videos are quite short, just a minute or two long, and the tool is simple enough that kindergartners use it.

9 New Ways to Use Flipgrid

1. Sharing book reviews: With Flipgrid's new augmented reality (AR) feature, classrooms and classroom libraries can use the video QR code to create an engaging way for students to share book reviews. After a student records their review, the teacher can print the QR code and tape it on the book, and the student's classmates can use their devices to scan the code and watch the review as a way to help them decide if they'd like to read the book.

2. Practicing world language skills: Flipgrid makes it possible for teachers in different districts and different countries to collaborate. For world language teachers, this creates opportunities for students to practice their speaking skills with a larger group than just their class. Students can post videos to get practice with the vocabulary they're learning, and instead of being limited to practicing with the people in their physical classroom, they can engage and build their skills with other students around the world studying the same language or have conversations with native speakers of the language.

3. Increasing accessibility for all students: Flipgrid has expanded many of its accessibility features to ensure that all students can participate. Students can use closed captioning when viewing videos, which also generates a full transcript for each video. Microsoft's Immersive Reader can be used within both the closed captioning and any text within a topic to read the texts aloud and break up words into syllables for easier decoding.

4. Inviting outside speakers: Using Guest Mode, teachers can invite guest speakers to participate in classroom discussions. Guests can watch student videos and post their own videos. This option provides a way for experts in a field to share their knowledge asynchronously, with students posting videos of their questions for the expert to answer at a convenient time in a video response. STEM teachers, for example, could invite engineers or scientists to discuss their careers and research and to answer student questions.

5. Building student portfolios: A teacher can create a grid for student portfolios. Within this grid, the teacher creates a topic for each student, and students post videos explaining their work, demonstrating a recently learned skill, or reflecting on an in-class experience. The teacher can share the link to a student's topic with their parents or guardians so they can view their child's work throughout the year. Since the topics can also be available to every student in the class, students can observe their classmates' work.

6. Adding annotations: When students record a video, they have the option to write directly on the video, and they can add sticky notes with additional text. For students in math practicing solving problems or students in chemistry learning to balance chemical equations, this feature is a great way to show their thinking.

7. Building a mixtape: The mixtape is a way to curate videos from any topic or grid in a single location. A teacher can select any student video and add it to the mixtape, which can be shared with the entire class. Collecting memories from throughout the year is a great way to take advantage of the feature: As the year progresses, the teacher can save interesting videos or important moments from different topics. Watching the mixtape as a class at the end of the year will help students recall what they've learned.

8. Sharing and celebrating work: Celebrating completed projects or finished assignments is often forgotten in the classroom due to time constraints, but Flipgrid makes it fairly easy and quick. Using the student-to-student replies option, everyone in the class can view and respond to each other's videos. For example, students in a history class could share a long-term project they have completed, walking through what they learned and what they created. Peers in the class compose video responses, providing positive feedback on the work completed. When I do this with my ELA students, I require everyone to comment on two or three classmates' projects from any of my sections.

9. Supporting absent students: Flipgrid can be a catch-up solution for students who are absent. The teacher creates a topic for work completed in class, and if a student is absent during a given class period, one of their peers can post a quick video about what assignments were completed in class so the absent students can quickly learn about what they missed.

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9 New Ways to Use Flipgrid in the Classroom

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The popular tool has features that teachers in any subject can use to help students connect with each other and share their learning.

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Advanced learners will compare and contrast adaptations between two animals from different habitats, explaining why similar animals might have different adaptations based on their environment.

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Students will use this graphic organizer as they research two different animals and their habitat, predators, diet, offspring, and more.

Updates:
5/17/2015
- Added a place for student name
- Added a place for students to write the name of the animals on the second page.

Reviews

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Thanks for the feedback, I have updated the product :)

Questions & Answers

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Animals: Compare and Contrast Graphic Organizer

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Students will use this graphic organizer as they research two different animals and their habitat, predators, diet, offspring, and more. Updates: 5/17/2015 - Added a place for student name - Added a place for students to write the name of the animals on the second page.

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Students needing additional support will use picture cards to match animals with their habitats and one key adaptation, with teacher or peer assistance as needed.

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Students will complete a quick 3-question exit ticket: 1) Name one animal adaptation we learned about today, 2) Explain how it helps the animal survive, 3) Draw or describe where this animal lives.

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Teacher will use a checklist during group work to assess student understanding of animal-habitat connections and their ability to identify adaptations through discussion and graphic organizer completion.

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Summative Assessment: Animal Adaptation Project

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Summative Assessment: Animal Adaptation Project

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Students will create a final project showcasing their chosen animal including: habitat description, 3 specific adaptations, how each adaptation helps survival, and one way humans impact this animal's environment.

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Students will provide constructive feedback to classmates' presentations using a simple rubric focusing on clear explanation of adaptations and real-world connections.

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Students will sit in a circle and share one new thing they learned about animal adaptations and one question they still have. Teacher will record questions for future lessons or research opportunities.

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Students will think individually about the most interesting animal adaptation they learned about, share with a partner, then several pairs will share with the whole class.

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Students will discuss: 'How can we help protect the animals we studied today?' This connects learning to environmental stewardship and student action in their community.

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Students will observe and record animals they see at home or in their neighborhood for one week, noting any adaptations they can identify. They'll bring observations to share next class.

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Students will interview a family member about their favorite animal and ask them to describe where it lives and how it survives. This connects home and school learning while practicing interview skills.

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Students will play an educational online game about animal habitats and adaptations for 15-20 minutes, then write 2-3 sentences about what they learned or found challenging.

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Do you know where the red-eyed tree frog calls home? Play this game based on animal habitats to learn! Explore the desert, coral reef, jungle, and marsh to discover where many animals live by matching each animal to their correct habitat!

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Advanced students or those wanting extra challenge can find a recent news article about animals and environmental issues, then write a summary connecting it to our lesson on adaptations and survival.