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| The goals of the Quest for Survival Unit are for first graders to use evidence from investigations, as well as multiple text and media sources to investigate how plants and animals use their bodies to help them survive, grow, and meet their needs. They also investigate patterns in behavior of parents and offspring that help offspring survive, as well as similarities between parents and offspring. Lastly, students develop engineering designs that mimic the plant and animal parts and behaviors they’ve studied throughout the unit in order to complete an adventure course. |
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| In Lesson 1, students are introduced to the Puzzling Phenomena and Unit Driving Question. They also begin developing an understanding of how science works by watching a video of a scientist and how she engages in her work. In Lesson 2, they continue their observations of animals, by exploring models of animal body parts and how they are structured to function in ways that help the animals survive. In Lesson 3, students engage in similar explorations by observing different plant body parts and their function. Lessons 4 and 5 engage students in engaging another aspect of animal and plant body parts – how offspring are similar and different from their parents. In Lesson 6, students focus on animal behaviors and how offspring behave to communicate with their parents and how the parents respond. In Lesson 7, students build on what they learned in the previous lessons by writing scientific arguments answering the unit driving question. Lessons 8, 9, and 10 apply students’ learning about the structures and functions of plant and animal body parts to the research, design, and communication of solutions for completing an adventure quest. | Animals and plants have different external parts that help them survive, grow, and meet their needs. For example, turtles have shells that help them survive by keeping them protected. Some animals use camouflage to blend in with their surroundings. This can help predators hide while stalking prey or help prey hide from predators. Although animals often have to perform similar functions (eating, moving, etc.), they often have different structures that help them perform those functions. For example, some animals can run fast because of their strong agile feet and legs, other animals fly using wings, and others swim using fins. Although the primary function is to move, the structures these animals use are different. Plants similarly have different parts that help them survive (roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits, seeds). For example, the stem of a plant helps it survive because it holds the plant up and transports water and food throughout the plant. Offspring of animals (and even plants!) are really similar to their parents but are not exactly alike. For instance, some puppies have the same fur color as their parents, but others do not. Similarly, plants such as sunflowers, have similarly looking flowers to their parent plants, but not exactly the same size or color. Young animals also have different ways of signaling to their parents what they need to survive, and the animal parents have different ways to provide their offspring what they need to survive. For example, baby birds might chirp and open their mouths to signal to their parents that they are hungry. There is a lot that humans can learn from animals and plants about how they use their body parts to survive. For example, a bicycle helmet or body armor is very similar to how a turtle uses its shell to protect itself. Also, people use camouflage, just like animals and plants, when hunting or fishing or even playing hide-and-seek. Lastly, similar to arctic birds with feathers that keep them warm, people wear coats or use blankets filled with down-like feathers to keep them warm. Biomimicry is when humans design things purposefully based on ideas they get from nature. For example, the famous Japanese bullet train was designed based on the sleek and aerodynamic shape of the Kingfisher, a water bird that dives very quickly when hunting fish. |
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| MI: Common Core Essential Elements ELA (2015) Reading (Informational Text) RI.1.1. Ask and answer questions about key details in a text. RI.1.2. Identify the main topic and retell key details of a text. RI.1.3. Describe the connection between two individuals, events, ideas, or pieces of information in a text. RI.1.4. Ask and answer questions to help determine or clarify the meaning of words and phrases in a text. RI.1.5. Know and use various text features (e.g., headings, tables of contents, glossaries, electronic menus, icons) to locate key facts or information in a text. RI.1.6. Distinguish between information provided by pictures or other illustrations and information provided by the words in a text. Integration of Knowledge and Ideas. RI.1.7. Use the illustrations and details in a text to describe its key ideas. RI.1.8. Identify the reasons an author gives to support points in a text. RI.1.9. Identify basic similarities in and differences between two texts on the same topic (e.g., in illustrations, descriptions, or procedures). Production and Distribution of Writing W.1.5 With guidance and support from adults, focus on a topic, respond to questions and suggestions from peers, and add details to strengthen writing as needed. W.1.6 With guidance and support from adults, use a variety of digital tools to produce and publish writing, including in collaboration with peers. Research to Build and Present Knowledge W.1.7 Participate in shared research and writing projects (e.g., explore a number of “how-to” books on a given topic and use them to write a sequence of instructions). W.1.8 With guidance and support from adults, recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question. Comprehension and Collaboration. SL.1.2. Ask and answer questions about key details in a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media. Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas. SL.1.5. Add drawings or other visual displays to descriptions when appropriate to clarify ideas, thoughts, and feelings. Vocabulary Acquisition and Use. L.1.4. Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiplemeaning words and phrases based on grade 1 reading and content, choosing flexibly from an array of strategies.
a. Use sentence-level context as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase.
b. Use frequently occurring affixes as a clue to the meaning of a word.
c. Identify frequently occurring root words (e.g., look) and their inflectional forms (e.g., looks, looked, looking). L.1.6. Use words and phrases acquired through conversations, reading and being read to, and responding to texts, including using frequently occurring conjunctions to signal simple relationships (e.g., because). K-2-ETS1-1 Ask questions, make observations, and gather information about a situation people want to change to define a simple problem that can be solved through the development of a new or improved object or tool. K-2-ETS1-2 Develop a simple sketch, drawing, or physical model to illustrate how the shape of an object helps it function as needed to solve a given problem. Structure, Function, and Information Processing Structure, Function, and Information Processing 1-LS1-1 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. 1-LS1-2 Read texts and use media to determine patterns in behavior of parents and offspring that help offspring survive. 1-LS3-1 Make observations to construct an evidence-based account that young plants and animals are like, but not exactly like, their parents. Copyright © 2001-2015 State of Michigan | By the end of this unit, students will be able to: • Use evidence from investigations, media sources, and texts to develop an argument for how animals or plants use their external parts to survive, grow, and meet their needs. • Use evidence from media sources, and texts to explain how offspring animals and plants are similar to and different from their parents. • Use evidence from media sources and texts to identify ways that parent and offspring behavior help their offspring to survive. • Use their research on animal and plant structures to develop engineering designs that mimic those structures to solve a human problem.
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| | Each lesson begins with an essential question. Please see Lesson Planner tab.
Teachers provide students multiple opportunities to engage in the practice of Asking Questions and Defining Problems:
Asking questions and defining problems in K–2 builds on prior experiences and progresses to simple descriptive questions. - Ask questions based on observations to find more information about the natural and/or designed world(s).
- Ask and/or identify questions that can be answered by an investigation.
- Define a simple problem that can be solved through the development of a new or improved object or tool.
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| Assessment Statement #1: Students can use evidence to explain how certain external parts contribute to plant and/or animal survival (aligned with 1-LS1-1). Lessons 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, & 10
Assessment Statement #2: Students can identify patterns in parent and offspring behavior that keep the offspring alive (aligned with 1-LS1-2). Lessons 6 & 7
Assessment Statement #3: Students can make claims using evidence from media sources and texts that plant and/or animal offspring are similar but not exactly the same as their parents (aligned with 1-LS3-1). Lessons 4, 5, & 7
Assessment Statement #4: Students can plan and design a solution for a human problem by mimicking plant or animal external parts (aligned 1-LS1-1). Lessons 8, 9, & 10
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