After learning about and exploring plant and animal adaptations, students research local organisms with interesting adaptations and share findings with their classmates. Students identify adaptations globally by analyzing a documentary.

Educators Guide for this unit:
http://education.eol.org/lesson_plans/2-5_Adaptations_LessonOverview.pdf

Lessons in this unit:
Adaptations Activity 1: Adapting to the Environment
Adaptations Activity 2: Physical Adaptations
Adaptations Activity 3: Behavioral Adaptations
Adaptations Activity 4: Go Adapt!
Adaptations Activity 5: Create a Creature

Students explore the adaptations that allow beavers to thrive in aquatic environments, then make observations and inferences about the functions of diverse bird beaks.

Students discuss the migration of monarch butterflies as an example of behavioral adaptations, then act out the behavioral adaptations of organisms in charades.

Students synthesize their understanding of adaptations by playing a “go fish” style game to collect sets of organisms with physical and behavioral adaptations.

Educators Guide for this unit:
http://education.eol.org/lesson_plans/2-5_Adaptations_LessonOverview.pdf

Lessons in this unit:

Adaptations Activity 1: Adapting to the Environment
Adaptations Activity 2: Physical Adaptations
Adaptations Activity 3: Behavioral Adaptations
Adaptations Activity 4: Go Adapt!
Adaptations Activity 5: Create a Creature

Students apply their understanding of adaptations by designing their own organisms to survive in different habitats.

Educators Guide for this unit:
http://education.eol.org/lesson_plans/2-5_Adaptations_LessonOverview.pdf

Lessons in this unit:

Adaptations Activity 1: Adapting to the Environment
Adaptations Activity 2: Physical Adaptations
Adaptations Activity 3: Behavioral Adaptations
Adaptations Activity 4: Go Adapt!
Adaptations Activity 5: Create a Creature

Arctic Tern MigrationThe Arctic tern (Sterna paradisaea) makes an incredible migration each year. These small birds travel distances of more than 50,000 miles, from pole to pole, crossing through temperate and tropical regions along the way. Scientist Carsten Egevang used geo-locator tags to track some of these terns, and he shares their story with us in this Google Earth tour video.Grade/Age level Grades 5-8 (ages 10-14)Activity: Students watch a video about Arctic Tern migration and answer the comprehension questions. After the video, the class will discuss their answers as a group. Extenstion dicussion questions are available.Objectives:After watching the video, students will be able to:Describe how scientists designed a study to answer a question about arctic terns’ migration patterns and how technology was used.Demonstrate an understanding of the migration of Arctic Terns and the factors that influenced their migration.Infer the impact that the findings of these migration patterns may have on other areas of science and future studies.Image Credit: Tim Bowman, BioLib.cz. Public Domain.

Students explore the importance and process of classification. Students apply the concept of biological classification to a real hierarchy of birds, analyzing bird photos and organizing them into groups based on physical characteristics.

Students use EOL Species Cards to sort and make observations of animals, then use the RAFT writing strategy to create short presentations about the characteristics of each major group of animals.

After learning about and observing the differences between flowering and nonflowering plants, students go outside and search for plants in schoolyard, keeping notes and drawings of their observations.

Students apply their understanding of physical characteristics and biological classification of different organisms through a game of classification "Go Fish!"

After making observations and inferences about predator-prey relationships in their schoolyard, students work together to build food chains of the organisms they observe.

Students become “experts” and make creative presentations about the different ecological roles of producers, consumers, and decomposers at local and global scales.

After learning about food chains, students practice building food chains and design their own backyard food chains.

Students synthesize their understanding of energy flow and trophic relationships through “Food Chains Rummy,” a modified version of the classic card game using Species Cards.

Students become “experts” and make creative presentations about the different ecological roles of producers, consumers, and decomposers at local and global scales.

Students practice building food chains and webs, explore interrelationships in the EOL Food Webs Tool, then model the flow of energy in food webs.

Students model how a complex system operates and how some parts of a complex system have more leverage or influence on the rest of the system. Students relate this to the interconnectedness of food webs.

Students practice making observations, describing physical characteristics of organisms, and interpreting information. In pairs, students sit back to back; one student describes a creature and the other draws based on the partner’s description.

Educators Guide for this unit:
http://education.eol.org/lesson_plans/2-5_ScienceSkills_BioblitzSkillbuilderOverview.pdf

Lessons in this unit:
Biodiversity Skillbuilder 1: Meet a Creature
Biodiversity Skillbuilder 2: ID That Bird!
Biodiversity Skillbuilder 3: How Diverse is Biodiversity?
Biodiversity Skillbuilder 4: Modeling Classification
Biodiversity Skillbuilder 5: ID Using a Dichotomous Key

Students observe cutouts of birds around the classroom, sketch and describe field markings, and use field guides to make identifications.

Educators Guide for this unit:
http://education.eol.org/lesson_plans/2-5_ScienceSkills_BioblitzSkillbuilderOverview.pdf

Lessons in this unit:
Biodiversity Skillbuilder 1: Meet a Creature
Biodiversity Skillbuilder 2: ID That Bird!
Biodiversity Skillbuilder 3: How Diverse is Biodiversity?
Biodiversity Skillbuilder 4: Modeling Classification
Biodiversity Skillbuilder 5: ID Using a Dichotomous Key

Students explore biodiversity statistics by hypothesizing the number of animal species and comparing to scientific estimates.

Educators Guide for this unit:
http://education.eol.org/lesson_plans/2-5_ScienceSkills_BioblitzSkillbuilderOverview.pdf

Lessons in this unit:
Biodiversity Skillbuilder 1: Meet a Creature
Biodiversity Skillbuilder 2: ID That Bird!
Biodiversity Skillbuilder 3: How Diverse is Biodiversity?
Biodiversity Skillbuilder 4: Modeling Classification
Biodiversity Skillbuilder 5: ID Using a Dichotomous Key