GR. 1 SCIENCE UNIT

Lessons

1: Animals
2: Animal Charades
3: Animals Shapes
4: Animal Coats
5: Lunch Time
6: Animal Friends
7: Animal Sort
8: Off to Petland
9: Basic Needs for Pets
10: The Pet Vet
11: Staying Alive
12: Animal Habitats
13: Animal Adaptations
14: Animal Homes
15: Staying Alive
16: Animal Life Cycles
17: Animal Babies
18: Birds and Reptiles

LESSON 15 – STAYING ALIVE

Background:
Prey animals must keep as still as they can while hiding from their predators.

Objective:
Explain how animals are adapted to their environment.
Observing, describing or imitating how animals behave in their natural environment.

Quick Peek:
This activity is a lot of fun and the children see how difficult it is to be a prey animal!

Materials:
large piece of cardboard covered with white butcher paper
box of push pins
light source, such as a desk lamp
desk
stop watch
data worksheet

Method:

1. Set up the lamp with the light focused on the piece of cardboard you have hanging from the wall. Make sure the desk and lamp are steady.
2. One person at a time stands between the light source and the wall so that his/her full-body shadow is on the paper. Move the lamp until the shadow is as clear as possible. (It helps to turn the lights off in the classroom!) The student should be facing the wall, not the lamp.
3. The student should stand perfectly still, with hands at sides and feet together.
4. Make several points with the push pins on the edge of the shadow.
5. Time how long it takes until the shadow moves from any of those points.
6. As soon as the person moves, record on the data sheet the amount of time he/she has been able to stand perfectly still.
7. After each student has had a chance to "hide from their predators", discuss the results. Who stood still the longest? Why do you think so? Who stood still the shortest time? Why do you think so? *This activity also lends itself well to a mathematics lesson!
8. Have students draw a picture of an animal of their choice and explain how it would look if it had to stand still while a predator was looking for it. Have them draw a picture of the predator as well.

*Excellent book to read with this lesson: Animal Defences by Malcolm Penny