Top Fives, 2022

Book Review:

This video provides a glimpse into some of the most unique animal adaptations of all time! It explains how animals all over the world have changed over time in order to survive and reproduce. Over years and years, these animals have adapted to harsh conditions and changing weather patterns. I was surprised to learn about all 15 adaptations! One of my favorites was the mountain goats. Mountain goats can scale the steepest mountains- mountains that humans would not be able to! Their hooves have  “soft pads that mold to the contours of the rocks surface like rock climbing shoes”. I can’t wait to watch the other videos that Top Fives has made on adaptations.

Rationale:

This is an amazing video to use as an extension activity. Students will get to learn about incredible adaptations while seeing them in action. I chose this video so that I could appeal to multiple learning modalities. I would also turn the captions on during the video so that students can follow along with the narrator. Students can take notes or doodles during the video of their favorite animals. Students can then further research an animal from the video and present their findings to the class! 

Instructional Goals:

Knowledge Building: Learning about new animals and their adaptations

CT.4.R.23 Reading Comprehension: After Reading: General Understanding: Summarize information, including main idea, most important text-based facts, details, and/or ideas, e.g., newspaper, magazine, Internet articles and content journals

Writing/Creating a visual one pager of their chosen animal:

CT.4.W.27 Writing Process: Plan: choose an appropriate written, oral or visual format based on audience and purpose.

Presenting in front of their peers about their chosen animal:

CT.4.OL.3 Listening/Speaking: Make oral presentations that show appropriate consideration of audience, purpose and information to be conveyed.

By Monika Davies, 2015

Book Review:

Have you ever wondered how animals survive in extreme temperatures? Adaptations by Monika Davies is jam packed with interesting facts about animals and how they adapt to survive in their environments. Animals may have to adapt physically or behaviorally in order to survive and reproduce. Davies does a wonderful job explaining how animals have adapted to oceans, deserts and even the sky. Even humans have had to adapt in order to survive! One of the most interesting facts in the book is that the smell of babies activates a part of the female brain related to cravings- no wonder why we find babies to be so sweet!

Rationale:

This book is perfect for use as an immersion text. It explains the difference between physical adaptations and behavioral adaptations with examples from several species. Davies also explains the importance of reproduction for survival and how animals go about finding a mate. Adaptations was written for ages 9-12 and it has so many interesting facts and beautiful photographs that will engage the reader. The author also explains key terms that will enhance the reader's scientific vocabulary. Additionally, the book has a table of contents, index and a glossary to help students find what they are looking for, and tips on how they themselves can help the environment!

Instructional Goals:

Knowledge Building: Students will be able to define and give examples of physical and behavioral adaptations

CT.4.R.23 Reading Comprehension: After Reading: General Understanding: Summarize information, including main idea, most important text-based facts, details, and/or ideas, e.g., newspaper, magazine, Internet articles and content journals

Note taking: Students will highlight and write notes about the most important and most interesting information in the book 

CT.4.W.28 Writing Process: Draft: complete a draft demonstrating connections among ideas.

Research: Students can choose an animal from the text or any other animal to do further research on. They can then create a visual one pager and teach their classmates about how that animal has adapted over time.

CT.W.4.7 Conducting short research projects to build knowledge by investigating different aspects of a topic

What if you had Animal Eyes?

By Sandra Markle, 2017

Book Review:

Have you ever wanted to know what it would be like to have some cool animal features? In this book you get to learn all about different animals’ eyes and how they help the animal to survive in its environment. It also hilariously lets us know what we would be able to do if we had an animal's adaptive eye feature. It has captivating photographs of the animals, and it also has entertaining illustrations of kids using animal adaptations in their everyday lives. If you had chameleon eyes, you could look in two different directions at once! 

Rationale:

This is a great book to capture students' attention! It could be used as a scaffold to get the kids excited about starting a new unit on animal adaptation. This book contains real photographs of animals and also hilarious illustrations that may appeal to different students. The book also allows them to make a connection to themselves and see what they would be able to do with specialized eyes. The author also includes a section at the end to teach about human eyes and what makes them special! Additionally, there are 6 other books they can read in this series for extension! (ex: What if you had an animal tail?)

Instructional Goals:

Analyze the text structure of this book. How do the author and illustrator use text features to support our understanding? RI.4.5 Reading Informational Text Describe the overall structure (e.g., chronology, comparison, cause/effect, problem/solution) of events, ideas, concepts, or information in a text or part of a text.

Compare and contrast the animals' different eye features.

CT.4.R.29 Reading Comprehension: After Reading: Developing an Interpretation: Recognize organizational patterns of text, e.g., main ideas and supporting details, compare/contrast, cause/effect, sequence of events.

Make your own set of animal eyes! Come up with a different way eyes could be adapted to help an animal survive. Draw a picture and write a description of what the eyes do.

CT.4.W.31 Writing Process: Publish/Present: publish and present final products in a variety of ways, including the arts and technology