Animal Camouflage: How Creatures Hide

Includes:
3 Mini Posters with: Disruptive Coloration, Concealing Coloration, Countershading, Disguise and Mimicry
Octopus Disguise Project - template for kids to design and hide in the classroom
Walking Stick or Katydid Disguise Craft - kids find a leaf or stick and create an insect hiding in its habitat
Concealing Coloration Scavenger Hunt - how-to instructions and recording sheet
Disruptive Coloration Savanna Scene - kids draw a predator and prey, showing how this coloration helps animals in the savanna
Butterfly or Moth Mimicry Project - template for kids to design a paper pet that uses mimicry (no Viceroy butterflies allowed)!
Countershading Ocean Scene - kids draw a predator and prey, demonstrating how this type of coloring helps animals survive

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1j412_QuHfQFyjORXk3lPEMOd4DzV3NKb/view?usp=sharing

Googie Math / Art

Free Download: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NP0t-fn9RroznPtcnbsyS_y43rpV9J6h/view?usp=sharing

Practice your money skills and get creative with Shel Silverstein's "The Googies are Coming," from Where the Sidewalk Ends. What is a googie? Who knows?! Have kids write a definition for a googie. Next have them make a snapshot image of a googie. Then kids add up the cost of certain children! Once they figured out the different costs, they become googies and choose 5 children (draw/ add up the cost). 

Note: Tell kids googies want children to play with, so no one gets scared!

Summer Design Drawing Challenge

Check out my post at We Are Teachers: 30 Day Drawing Challenge for kids (free printable)! Designs include: a kaleidoscope, tattoo art, sneakers, zoo signage and more! 

Click here for the free printable: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OkvAeYrASUpIkIpJtldtPmLBlGEV3ZSj/view?usp=sharing

Fraction Pictionary

This activity is from the Oregon Department of Education. Students play Pictionary with fractions! Divide students into teams. One child draws the fraction on the board. His/her teammates try to guess the image as well as the fraction! If their team guesses correctly they get a point. When drawing, children can divide single objects to represent fractions (shown above) and you could also thrown in multiple objects. For example, 2/5 dogs. A student could draw 2 dogs and 3 cats. Also, check out Fraction Charades!

Asymmetrical Starburst

Students explore geometry and art by creating asymmetrical starburst designs!

1. Draw a line segment 3 to 5 inches long in the center of the paper.
2. Make dots around the line segment. (No dots on the horizontal line)
10 dots (5 above, 5 below for younger students / 15-20 dots for older students)
3. Connect the dots! - but, in a pattern. (Connect one end of the line segment to a dot, back to the other end of the line segment) - repeat (end of line segment-dot-other end of line segment) - use a ruler

Note: To simplify this project have children make their horizontal line a different color or add bright colored dots to the end of the line segment. Then, they will be able to see where they draw their lines to.

Math Connection:
Visit I Love That Teaching Idea for questions to ask children while they are constructing!

Adapting Human Gear

Students think about the adaptations of animals and create a product for humans. Example: a glove that allows you to climb up walls. Children become industrial designers. They think of a problem and come up with a solution for a new product.

Next Generation Science Standard (First Grade): Structure, Function, and Information Processing

Use materials to design a solution to a human problem by mimicking how plants and/or animals use their external parts to help them survive, grow, and meet their needs.

Examples from NGSS:

turtle or acorn shell bicycle helmet, knee pads, backpack

animal tails and plant roots to stabilize a structure

plant thorns or porcupine quills to keep out intruders

exceptional eye sight or hearing to detect intruders

animal scales to protect from predators

Other Examples:

rattle to warn predators

beak to crack nuts

blubber to keep warm

gills to breath under water

change color to hide or communicate

etc

click here for templates: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LEHa0p38D0OZI7QQiDMqA_xfvPiSjDm0/view?usp=sharing

Color Communicators

Animal Adaptations: Students color a chameleon and pin it up somewhere in the classroom. Can you find their camouflaged chameleons?! - inspired by the Children's Museum of Houston Butterfly Hunt.

Why chameleons change color, not for camouflage, but to communicate - NatGeo

Visit Education.com for a chameleon color changing experiment!

Literacy Connection: The Mixed Up Chameleon by Eric Carle

Writing: What is your chameleon trying to communicate? For example, if he changed to blend in with the map, does he want to travel?

You could also do this activity with octopi or cuttlefish templates.

chameleon template

Note: You could also trace the shape of the chameleon on wax paper. Have students place the template over things to make the chameleon change. Check out Pieces by Polly

Action Verbs

Objective: Students will silently act out action verbs and try to guess what verbs their peers act out.

Objective: Wearing special verb investigator glasses, children will observe their peers playing, spy an action that represents a verb, write it, and draw a picture of it. 
Objective: Students will publish their writing using Little Bird Tales with guidance from an adult.

Acting Out Action Verbs (whole group)
One at a time, each child goes up to the front of the classroom and draws a card from a paper lunch bag. Next, the child acts out the verb on the card without saying a word. They can only move their body. The rest of the children try to guess what he or she is acting out. (list of verbs)

Verb Investigators (small group)
For small group instruction, children are called over to the work table to become Verb Investigators! They put on special glasses (crazy sunglasses that have the lenses popped out of them) that will help them observe verbs in action around the classroom. Wearing their glasses, they look around the room and observe their peers playing at each center. Once they spy an action verb, they write a sentence, "I spy _____." Then, they draw a picture of the verb.

Digital Publishing
Children collaborate and create a video story using Little Bird Tales with the teacher's guidance to publish their writing to share with their families. Here is a link to the tale we created on action verbs.

Reinforcement

Verbs in Space game on the SMART Board: (http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/grammar/verbs.htm)

Differentiated Assessment - This activity can be differentiated based on each child’s developmental level. Higher-level thinkers can act out more complex verbs. Children with difficulty can be given a simple verb to act out. During the small group activity, the students are challenged to find a verb. They must use their problem solving skills. Advanced children might find a verb that is not extremely noticeable. While other children could point out a verb that is obvious. Teachers can use scaffolding to help them find a verb in the classroom if needed. For example, “What is Joe doing in the games and puzzle area?”

After the lesson, students assess themselves using a rating scale: GREEN = I got it!, YELLOW = I'm getting it!, RED = I need some help! (printable) Click here for a teacher checklist assessment.

Text-to-Self Connection

T-Chart – Lola / Class (create after reading first few pages)

On the side that says Lola, write down all the food she does not like. Then, write down the food the students don't like on the other side. Continue reading the story. End of story: What happened after Charlie gave all the food Lola did not like fancy names? Next, go through the list of foods you made on the t-chart. Put a check mark by the names of children that never tasted the food they “do not like.”

Kids Compare

Lola didn’t want to taste _______. I don’t want to taste _______.

- Or – 

(children who tasted what they don’t like)

Is there a food you didn’t think you would like and you tasted it and loved it?!

Lola ended up loving _______. I didn’t think I would like _______, now I do!

Fancy Food Names

Come up with a fancy name for the food you do not like, just like Charlie did for Lola. Then, draw a picture that goes along with the new name you give the food you dislike. (ex: page of orange twiglets from Jupiter, cloud fluff, and ocean nibbles)

Text to Self Connection: Good readers think about how books relate to their own life. By comparing ourselves to Lola, we are able to understand the story better. Now that you have created cool names for the food you do not like, do you think you will taste it?

Extended Learning: Think-Pair-Share - Using a Venn diagram, compare foods that you like and dislike with a peer.

Click here for printables to go along with this mini lesson. 

Venn Creature

Kids mash two creatures together to create a new animal! After they create (draw or photoshop) their creature, have them name it and describe its special characteristics. Where does the creature live? Have kids describe its habitat. What does it eat? What eats it?! How is it adapted to its environment? 

You could also have kids construct their creature using model magic, once they finalize their sketch on their Venn diagram.

If kids need a little inspiration, have them check out Build Your Wild Self (click here for an example)!

Thaumatropes

Integrate art, math, science, as well as history by constructing a thaumatrope! Kids use their measuring skills and imagination to create a paper animation! "Thaumatropes are optical illusions that operate by switching between two images so rapidly that the images appear as one." - Molecular Expressions. Video by EllieBTECMedia

How to incorporate in your classroom:

Geometry - Have kids figure out the area of their circle or rectangle, as well as circumference and perimeter. You could also have them try making different shapes for their thaumatrope besides the basic circle, rectangle, or square.

Science - Create thaumatropes that go along with your unit (ex: weather: lightning and dark skies on one side and clear skies with puffy white clouds on the other). Also, states of matter: ice cube melting. They could also do a volcano erupting or a butterfly emerging from a chrysalis. Kids can get super creative with the project!

History - Check it out here!

Four different ways to construct a thaumatrope! All you need is cardstock, a hole puncher, glue/tape and one of the materials below. You can draw, use photos, or write messages to create your optical illusion!

Rubber Band (you need 2)

Wooden Skewer

Straw

String

Root Beer Float Science

Investigate the 3 states of matter with a tasty treat! Click here for the printable.
(Kids draw the ice cream, root beer, and foam in the mug. Then, they label: solid, liquid, or gas)

Pimp My Ride

Economics, comparatives, superlatives: Kid industrial design project from Inspire your Learners! Check it out here!

Pasta Angles

Show kids a couple of different pasta shapes. Can they find an angle? Then, have them design their own original pasta shape! Their new shape must include an acute, obtuse, or right angle. What will they call their pasta? Have them create an original logo and package for their pasta.

House # Math

This activity is from one of my favorite sites for real world math, Illuminations! Students create a three digit house number, using numerals 0 through 9. The three numbers they choose must add up to a certain sum. They can't repeat numbers in their combination or begin their combination with 0. For example, if their number has to equal 6, one combination might be 321. There are 14 combinations if the sum is 6. If the 3 addends must add up to 7, there are 18 combinations. Visit Illuminations for details and printables to go along with the activity.

Afterwards, incorporate measuring by having students create a "house that measures up" from Cathy Searcey. After kids make their "house plan," they head outside and draw a large version of their house using sidewalk chalk. (House dimensions: 6ft. x 6ft. frame, a 3ft. x 1ft. door, and two 1ft. x 1 ft. windows).

You could also explore geometry by having students design their very own clubhouse! Click here for details!

18 Flavors

Read the poem 18 Flavors by Shel Silverstein. Next, tell kids that they are going to become ice cream inventors! Pass out a template for a scoop of ice cream and lay out different colors of construction paper.  Each child decorates his scoop of ice cream to look like the flavor he invented. Then, have students cut out their scoops and write their name on the back. Place their scoops of ice cream at the math station, along with a paper cut out cone. Kids go back and measure the ice cream cone with different scoops. How tall is it with one, two, three, four, five, and so on. 

Optional: Hanging up next to the station, write the price of one scoop. Have kids purchase their scoops of ice cream before measuring them to practice their money skills.

Writing: Have kids write a recipe for the ice cream flavor they invented! What will they call their flavor?

Click here for ice cream fractions and here for Sweet Shop Math! Click here for the full lesson with free printables!

Koch Snowflake

Integrate art and geometry by constructing a Koch Snowflake. Students draw an equilateral triangle. Then, they keep adding smaller equilateral triangles to create a symmetrical snowflake. See this project in action here!

View a kid version over at 4 Kids 2 Guinea Pigs! - plus step by step instructions.

Visit Wonder How To: Math Craft to see how to construct a koch snowflake out of pennies!

Check out Hektor for 3-dimensional versions!

Idiom Math

Besides figuring out the meaning of idioms, integrate math into the lesson! 

Other examples: 
Dime a dozen - what does a dozen dimes equal ($1.20)
On cloud 9 - someone is on 1 of 9 clouds = 1/9
It takes 2 to tango - write the fraction of people (maybe 1 girl, 1 boy)
One jump ahead of (a frog). - write the fraction of the other animals in line.
Take five - write the fraction, five of what
Dressed to the 9's - how many 9's on a dress
Catch 40 winks - make an array
Feel like a million bucks - explore three addends, what would equal 1 million

Art and writing idiom activities - Minds in Bloom and Idioms by Kids. 
3rd Grade Grapevine has a free printable for kids to draw and write their idiom's meaning.

List of Idioms - Number, Money, Animal, Color, Food, Various

Ewww! POOF!

Have kids create their very own unique, one of a kind, magic potion! Kids name their potion, draw the ingredients in each flask, and write the ingredients. They write the number of each item needed in the small square boxes and the items on each line. For example, 5 zombie nails, 8 oz. of pink slime, and 7 fireflies. After they fill out their potion recipe sheet, they write about what happens when they combine their ingredients. POOF! - their potion turned into.....

Let's Rock Fractions!

Create a rock band of fractions! Afterwards, have your students create an avatar of one of the band members in voki!