Developmental Lesson Plan #3

Teacher Candidates: Meghan Artley Date: 10/23

Group Size: 20 Allotted Time: one 50-minute period Grade Level: 2nd
Subject or Topic: Lesson 3: Animal Adaptations - Inquiry

Common Core/PA Standard(s):

● 4.1.2.E Identify how living things survive changes in their environment.
● 4.1.2.D Identify difference in living things (color, shape, size, etc.) and describe
how adaptations are important for survival.

Learning Targets/Objectives:
● Students will be able to identify how bears and raccoons survive changes in their
environment through participating in the inquiry activity.
● Students will be able to use qualitative measurements to measure the temperature
and conclude how animal fur helps keep animals warm by filling out the data
measurement sheet.

Assessment Approaches: Evidence:

1. Hand Signals 1. Observational- Thumbs Up, Thumbs
2. Think, Pair, Share Down, Wave Signals
3. Performance-based 2. Observational
3. Collection of data measurement sheet

Assessment Scale:
1. Data measurement sheet
a. Advanced- Total of 8 completed timed measurements, a completed
hypothesis and prediction
b. Proficient- 6-7 completed timed measurements, a completed hypothesis and
prediction
c. Basic-5 completed timed measurements, missing a hypothesis or prediction
d. Below basic- 4 or below completed timed measurements, missing both
hypothesis and prediction
Subject Matter/Content:
● Prerequisites:
○ Animals in a deciduous forest need to adapt or change something about
themselves to survive during the different seasons. Deciduous forests
experience all four seasons.
○ Adaptations are a physical feature or behavior that helps an organism survive
in the environment.
○ Some animals in the deciduous forest migrate or hibernate to survive the
winter.
○ The control group is an experiment is the group where no variable is
changed.
○ The experimental group in an experiment is the group where the variable
changes.
● Key Vocabulary:
○ Physical adaptation- a physical feature of an organism that has changed over
time
○ Behavioral adaptation- something an organism does to survive
○ Hibernation- where an animal spends the winter sleeping or resting
○ Variable- the change occuring
● Content/Facts:
○ Black bears hibernate in the winter. They eat a lot before beginning
hibernation in order to create fat.
○ Fat keeps heat from escaping the body, so bears can stay warm during their
hibernation in the winter.

Introduction/Activating/Launch Strategies:
● Ask the students to think/pair/share some of the information they learned about
deciduous forests so far
○ If not covered, lead their answers to what animals live there, how they are in
our area, how they experience all four seasons
○ Review previous lesson by showing anchor chart on behavioral and physical
adaptations
● Ask the students what they do in the winter and how they stay warm
○ Ask them to think about how animals stay warm and that we will be
exploring that today
Development/Teaching Approaches:
● Show hibernation video to the class
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FonCq9YJJxw) and make anchor chart at
pauses
○ Stop at 0:58 to discuss definition of hibernation and to write it on the anchor
chart along with a small visual picture next to the words
■ Take suggestions from the students about what to draw to jog their
memory
● Possible answers: a bear, sleeping, a cave with an animal, a
snowflake, etc.
○ Stop at 1:24 to ask what the options are for animals to do while hibernating
and fill on anchor chart
■ Bears eat a lot before and store fat
■ Some squirrels occasionally collect and store food and occasionally
wake up to eat then go back to hibernating
○ Stop at 2:16 to talk about where animals may hibernate (caves, underground,
safe from predators) and about what happens to bears before and when they
are hibernating (eat a lot before hibernating, heart rate slows during
hibernation)
■ Fill on anchor chart
● Ask the students what else can be added to the anchor chart based on past
information learned and any other information from the video
○ Ask students how they feel about if they know the definition of hibernation
and what it means- hand signals
● Show two pictures on a Powerpoint- one of a bear and one of a penguin
○ Ask the students what they think these two animals have in common
■ Guide them to that both animals have fat/blubber to stay warm
● Other possible answers: both black, both animals
■ Discuss why two animals living in different climates have the same
adaptations
● Guide them to the reasoning of the cold
● Revisit the introduction when they were asked what they do to stay warm - coats
(have this questions on Powerpoint)
○ Why does this help?
○ Why do some animals have fat/blubber?
■ Talk with their tablemates
● Explain that today there will be an inquiry on fat helping animals stay warm - How
does fat help animals survive in cold environments?
○ Tell students that they will do an experiment where they put their hand in ice
water with no fat and then again with “fat” on it- vegetable shortening. Ask
the to think about the vocabulary they have used in the past when doing
experiments. Ask them what two groups there are in an experiment - the
experimental group and the control group. Give the definition of each group
and define a variable. Here are the steps of the inquiry:
■ Step 1: Students should predict which they think will be warmer on
their inquiry handout. They should write their name and the names of
those at their table. Students should work in pairs, or a group of three
if there are only 3 people at the table.
■ Step 2: Student will put their hand in the “control” mitt- a bag with
no vegetable shortening in it. They will, then, place their hand in ice
water and keep it in there until they are uncomfortable or until they
reach one minute. Their partner will use a stopwatch to keep track of
how long they keep it in the water and/or tell them when they have
been in the water for one minute. The partner should also place the
thermometer into the mitt while their partner’s hand is in it to record
the temperature of the water. Both students record the temperature on
their data sheet along with their observations.
■ Step 3: Student will put their hand in the “experimental” mitt- the bag
with vegetable shortening (animal fat) in it. This will be called the
Blubber Mitt. They will, then, place their hand in ice water and keep
it in there until they are uncomfortable or until they reach one
minute. Their partner will use a stopwatch to keep track of how long
they keep it in the water and/or tell them when they have been in the
water for one minute. The partner should also place the thermometer
into the mitt while their partner’s hand is in it to record the
temperature of the water. Both students record the temperature on
their data sheet along with their observations.
■ Step 4: Students switch roles and follow the steps again.
■ Step 5: Students should gather the temperatures the rest of the table
found and record it on their own data sheet. The table team should
work together to create the average of the thermometers with a
calculator that is provided.
■ Step 6: Students should look at data and form a conclusion.
■ Students can follow along on the sheet provided that has these steps
on it.
■ Then, students can add feathers to their control mitt and/or fur to
their blubber mitt and follow the same steps as above. How does this
change the temperature?
■ Students should hand in their sheet when finished.
 ○ Group discussion - Did the results support your hypothesis? Was your
prediction correct? - think, pair, share
○ Conclusion/Inference: Fat keeps heat from escaping the body, so bears can
stay warm during their hibernation in the winter.
■ Discuss this topic.
■ How did the animal fat keep the heat in?
● Gave another layer so the heat could not escape. Bring this
back to the idea of coats.
■ Why did the students not put feathers in the blubber mitt?
● Ducks and other birds do not gain animal fat like bears. They
typically leave the area in the winter. Why?
■ Why did we add fur to the blubber mitt?
● Black bears not only gain animal fat, but, also, have fur. Does
this help them stay warm?
■ What do you think would happen if ducks or other birds did gain
animal fat?
● They would stay warmer as well
■ Why do bears need to gain animal fat before the winter?
● It helps them stay warm so they can survive in extreme
temperatures
○ Take volunteers to write on smartboard or chalkboard something they
learned from today.

Closure/Summarizing Strategies:
● Ask students what they remember that was in the mystery box that we have yet to
learn now that they have learned about the animals in the deciduous forests
○ Guide students to the answer of plants!
■ Tell them they will be exploring the plants in the deciduous forest the
next science class

Accommodations/Differentiation:
● Provide the instructions to the inquiry to the student the day before or in the
morning.
● Allow the student sit close to the smartboard when playing the video.

Materials/Resources:
● https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FonCq9YJJxw - hibernation video
● 12 stopwatches (for doing it in class, they can use their phones)
● 6 containers of ice water
● 6 towels
● 12 premade animal fat sandwich bags
● 22 sandwich bags
● 12 thermometers
● Paper towels
● Paper for anchor chart
● Data measuring sheets (22)
● Free Image on Pixabay - Penguin, Funny, Blue, Water, Animal. (n.d.). Retrieved
April 24, 2019, from https://pixabay.com/photos/penguin-funny-blue-water-animal-
56101/
● Venn Diagrams - Free Printable Graphic Organizers | Student Handouts. (n.d.).
Retrieved April 24, 2019, from https://www.studenthandouts.com/graphic-
organizers/relationships/blank-venn-diagram-printables-with-instructions.html
● Free Image on Pixabay - Black Bear, Animal, Black. (n.d.). Retrieved April 24,
2019, from https://pixabay.com/photos/black-bear-animal-black-canim-lake-50293/
● https://www.afsc.noaa.gov/education/Activities/PDFs/NFS_K-
6_Sept2013_Act5.1_BlubberMitt.pdf
● Hackett, J., & Macmillan/McGraw-Hill School Publishing Company. (2011).
Science : A closer look (Teacher ed.). Columbus, OH: Macmillan/McGraw-Hill.