Schewe_Create a Creature

Create A Creature

Author(s):
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/lessons/17/g35/smcreatecreature.html

Grade Level: 4

Timeframe:
This lesson plan will take approximately 2 hours and 40 minutes. I would do this all in one session but it could be broken up into 2, 3, or even 4 sessions.
Lesson Description or Explanation

Students learn that animals undergo adaptations—changes to body parts and behaviors—that help them survive. In Activity 1, students learn how scientists name all living things—including animals and plants that lived in prehistoric times. In Activity 2, students investigate adaptations in modern and prehistoric animals. In the Closing Activity, students apply what they have learned to produce a drawing, a description, and a correctly named imaginary prehistoric sea creature.
This lesson is one in a series designed to accompany the National Geographic film, Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure. It was developed and reviewed with input from scientists, teachers and museum educators.

Indiana Curricular Standards:

Reading & Writing:
4.1.4 Use common roots (meter = measure) and word parts (therm = heat) derived from Greek and Latin to analyze the meaning of complex words (thermometer).
4.6.3 Create interesting sentences by using words that describe, explain, or provide additional details and connections, such as verbs, adjectives, adverbs, appositives, participial phrases, prepositional phrases, and conjunctions.
Science:
4.1.3 Explain that clear communication is an essential part of doing science since it enables scientists to inform others about their work, to expose their ideas to evaluation by other scientists, and to allow scientists to stay informed about scientific discoveries around the world.

ISTE Standards:

Basic operations and concepts
· Students demonstrate a sound understanding of the nature and operation of technology systems.
· Students are proficient in the use of technology.

Technology research tools
· Students use technology to locate, evaluate, and collect information from a variety of sources.
· Students use technology tools to process data and report results.
· Students evaluate and select new information resources and technological innovations based on the appropriateness for specific tasks.

Assessments: Formative/Summative:

To gauge whether the students understood what they are doing and learning I will use a combination of both formative and summative assessments. Students who master this lesson should have completed the Animal Adaptations (PDF, Adobe Reader required) handout with correct information about the animals researched (summative). They should also create a drawing of a marine reptile that has one or more adaptations. Their created animals should be named after an adaptation, a location, or a person. The focus of the drawings are the adaptations shown and the way the creature is named. Emphasize the functions of the adaptations, not how well the drawings are made (formative). Declarative sentences should accompany their drawings that accurately describe the adaptations. Students should be able to apply what they learned about adaptations (body parts or behaviors as a way to successfully survive in their surroundings) to modern animals. They should be able to give examples of adaptations from animals of which they are familiar.


Prior Knowledge:

Curricular Knowledge or Skills: Students must be able to relate to the concept of time and understand how a timeline uses labels to identify events and periods of time. They may also need to know how to look up and sort information in books that answers the questions they have.
Technology Knowledge: The students must know how to use the internet. They must be able to identify and open links as well as use search engines to find the answers to the questions they have

Technology:

Internet Resources: (please list URLs) http://www.nationalgeographic.com/seamonsters/
http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0512/feature3/multimedia.html
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/prehistoric
http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0512/feature3/index.html
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/seamonsters/educators/
Hardware: Computer with internet capability
Software: Internet browser, word processor

Procedure:

Opening:

Guiding Question: What body parts and behaviors help animals adapt to their environment? What can scientific names tell us about animal adaptations?
Try This First! -
Tell the students to write “marine reptile” on a piece of paper and then put their pencils down. Then have them try again, this time without using their thumb to grip the pencil. Point out that the thumb is a body part that provides an advantage when using a tool. Explain that writing and spelling words are learned behaviors. Both the thumb and the writing are examples of adaptations.
Development:
Activity 1: What’s in a Name? Students learn how scientists name a living thing in one of three ways: by reference to the location where an organism was found; in honor of a person with some connection to the discovery; or by reference to a unique body part or behavior.

Directions:1. Explain. Scientists use Greek and Latin words and scientific conventions to name plants and animals, including prehistoric marine reptiles. There are three approaches: to reference the location where an organism was found; in honor of a person with some connection to the discovery; or to reference a unique body part or behavior.
One way scientists name living things is by the location where the animal lived or was first discovered. The mosasaur, a “Meuse River lizard,” is named after a tributary of a river in the Netherlands, where the first known specimen was discovered. Ask students if they can guess where the Argentinosaurus was first discovered.
Answer: Argentina.

Group Activity. Brainstorm some names of imaginary prehistoric sea creatures if they were discovered in your local area. Write the names on the board.

2. Explain. Other dinosaurs are named after famous people or for the lucky person who found them. The Mosasaurus hoffmanni is named after C.K. Hoffman.
Ask students who Nedcolbertia is named after. Answer: Ned Colbert (Dr. Edwin “Ned” Colbert). Or Ricardoestesia? Answer: Richard Estes.

Group Activity. Brainstorm some names of imaginary prehistoric sea creatures named after famous people and then after the students themselves.

3. Explain. The last approach is to name animals by their body part, behavioral adaptations, or by whole body descriptions. Example: Englishman Richard Owen coined the word Dinosauria from “dino,” (terrible) and “saur” (lizard). An Ichthyosaur is an “ichthy” (fish) + “saur” (lizard).

Group Activity. Write the following Greek and Latin word parts on the board. Ask students to invent names for imaginary prehistoric sea creatures using three word parts (prefix, root word, and suffix). List these names and descriptions of the animals on the board. Example: a “Megabiceratosaurus” (‘big two-horned lizard’).

Note: This activity has been simplified for young students. Scientists would not mix Greek and Latin word parts.

Greek and Latin Word Parts
bi—two
cephal(o)—head
cerat(o)—horn
ichthy—fish
mega—large
micro—small
odon or oden—tooth
ops—eye or face
ped or pes—foot
rex—king
rhino—nose
saur(us)—lizard
tri—three
tyrann—tyrant
uni—one
vor(e)—eating

Additional Greek and Latin word parts (PDF, Adobe Reader required) are available online.

Activity 2: How do Animals Adapt?Students are introduced to adaptations—changes in body parts or behaviors—that helped prehistoric marine reptiles survive in the Cretaceous period.

Directions: 1. Explain. Introduce the term “adaptation” to the students. An adaptation is a behavior or body part modification (change) that helps an animal survive where it lives. Explain that adaptations can occur through modified behavior (example: working in groups, swimming in schools to avoid predators) or modified body parts (example: chemical defense, camouflage, different limb shapes).
Ask students to brainstorm other examples.
Possible answers: modified body parts such as eyes (ability to see at night, ability to see far away, ability to see under water), keen sense of smell, large teeth, many teeth, claws, body size; modified behaviors such as playing dead, food selection, migration.

2. Discussion. Tell students that, like modern day animals, prehistoric animals also adapted body parts and behaviors in order to survive. In Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure, they will encounter incredible sea creatures that lived 82 million years ago. Ask the class to look for adaptations—body parts or behaviors—that helped these creatures survive.
View the film Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure.

3. Continue Discussion. Describe some of the challenges that the prehistoric marine reptiles faced in the film.
Possible answers: protecting their young, defending themselves, finding food.

4. Distribute Animal Adaptations (PDF) to each student. As a class, review the model of the giraffe. Next, have students participate in a guided classroom discussion or do library or online research to complete the rest of the handout.
Suggested Online Resources:
National Geographic: Sea Monsters—A Prehistoric Adventure
National Geographic Magazine: Monsters of the Ancient Sea
National Geographic: Animals—Prehistoric

5. Discussion. Ask students to discuss what they learned about adaptations in modern and prehistoric animals.

Closing:
Design-a-SaurusStudents create a drawing of a real or imagined prehistoric sea creature and name the creature after a place of discovery, an honored person, or an adaptation.

1. Review. Ask students to think of the different adaptations they have discussed or seen in the film. Review the three ways scientists name something that is living or was once alive—after a person, a place, or an adaptation. Tell students that paleontologists often draw animals that they study.

2. Start Activity. Tell students they are going to create a profile of a real or imagined prehistoric marine reptile. To complete the assignment, students should:
Draw the real or imagined animal.
Label one or more adaptations, noting how it helped the animal survive in its environment.
Draw and label a map of where it was found and who first discovered it.
Name the prehistoric marine reptile. If it is an imagined animal, create a name after an adaptation, a place, or a person. If it is a real animal, explain the origins of its name.
Write one or more declarative sentence(s) about the animal.

3. Student Presentations. Have students share their work with the class. Students should introduce their animal by name, describe the animal (including its body part and behavioral adaptations) and how those adaptations helped it survive in its environment, and determine if the animal is named after a person, a place, or an adaptation.

Differentiated Instruction

ESL:
The way I would support any ESL students is using the translation tool on google.com to enter in the resource websites listed for this lesson. This allows them to view the website in their native language.


Challenge/Extend:
For those students needing a challenge we would offer the same extension that the website suggests. We would present it something by saying something like, “Prehistoric sea creatures have been the subject of people’s imagination for a long time. The “Carta Marina” (Map of the Ocean) from 1572 includes images of imaginary prehistoric sea creatures. Tell me what you find in this map and how it could have been useful to people living in that era.” We would point out the art used on the map that shows sea creatures. We would also invite them to draw a map of their home, school, or even classroom that a visitor might use to help them find places of interest. Here is the link to the map and the story of its origin:
http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0512/feature3/zoomify/index.html


Special Needs:
We could adapt the computer by changing its settings such as the keyboard and mouse in addition to the screen display for those with visual, hearing, or fine-motor deficiencies. Because the students will be drawing, we could also support them by having the drawing tools or adaptations necessary for anyone to express how they want their creature to look.