ALEX Resources

   View Standards     Standard(s): [SC2015] (0) 3 :

3 ) Distinguish between living and nonliving things and verify what living things need to survive (e.g., animals needing food, water, and air; plants needing nutrients, water, sunlight, and air).

[SC2015] (0) 4 :

4 ) Gather evidence to support how plants and animals provide for their needs by altering their environment (e.g., tree roots breaking a sidewalk to provide space, red fox burrowing to create a den to raise young, humans growing gardens for food and building roads for transportation).

[SC2015] (1) 5 :

5 ) Design a solution to a human problem by using materials to imitate how plants and/or animals use their external parts to help them survive, grow, and meet their needs (e.g., outerwear imitating animal furs for insulation, gear mimicking tree bark or shells for protection).*

[SC2015] (2) 7 :

7 ) Obtain information from literature and other media to illustrate that there are many different kinds of living things and that they exist in different places on land and in water (e.g., woodland, tundra, desert, rainforest, ocean, river).

[ELA2021] (0) 4 :

4. With guidance and support, ask and answer questions to seek help, get information, or clarify information presented orally, through text, or other media.

Example: Use interrogatives who, what, where, when, why, and how to ask questions.

[ELA2021] (1) -5 :

R1. Utilize active listening skills during discussion and conversation in pairs, small groups, or whole-class settings, following agreed-upon rules for participation.

[ELA2021] (0) -5 :

R1. Utilize active listening skills during discussion and conversation in pairs, small groups, or whole-class settings, following agreed-upon rules for participation.

[ELA2021] (2) 1 :

1. Participate in conversations and discussions with groups and peers utilizing agreed-upon rules.

[ELA2021] (2) -5 :

R1. Utilize active listening skills during discussion and conversation in pairs, small groups, or whole-class settings, following agreed-upon rules for participation.

[ELA2021] (1) 17 :

17. Use content knowledge built during read-alouds of informational and literary texts by participating in content-specific discussions with peers and/or through drawing and writing.

[ELA2021] (1) 3 :

3. Ask and answer questions to seek help, get information, or clarify information to confirm understanding in response to information presented in audible, text, or digital format.

[ELA2021] (2) 22 :

22. Use content knowledge built during read-alouds and independent reading of informational and literary texts by participating in content-specific discussions with peers and/or through writing.

This is a multi-session interactive lesson plan about animal adaptations for kindergarten through second-grade students. The goal of this interactive digital lesson plan is to guide students through activities that help them understand how characteristics such as body covering, body parts, and behaviors help animals survive. These lesson plans also build cooperation and communication skills for students. There are additional resources provided for the teacher to use before or after using the HyperDoc. 

This Lesson Plan was created in partnership with the Birmingham Zoo.

   View Standards     Standard(s): [SC2015] (0) 3 :

3 ) Distinguish between living and nonliving things and verify what living things need to survive (e.g., animals needing food, water, and air; plants needing nutrients, water, sunlight, and air).

In this lesson, students will compare and contrast characteristics of living and nonliving things via pictures, class projects, videos and whole-group discourse.  Students will record their findings in Science journals.

This lesson was created as part of the 2016 NASA STEM Standards of Practice Project, a collaboration between the Alabama State Department of Education and NASA Marshall Space Flight Center.

   View Standards     Standard(s): [SC2015] (0) 3 :

3 ) Distinguish between living and nonliving things and verify what living things need to survive (e.g., animals needing food, water, and air; plants needing nutrients, water, sunlight, and air).

[ARTS] DAN (0) 7 :

7) Demonstrate movement and stillness using the basic elements of space, including line, shape, levels, and size.

Examples: Join with others to make a circle, then work with others to change it to a square.

Create a curved shape on a low level.

In this activity, students will sequence the life cycle of a plant. After reading the story students will work in small groups to put the life cycle in order using sequence cards and then add movement to their life cycle. 

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

   View Standards     Standard(s): [ARTS] VISA (0) 1 :

1) Engage in self-directed exploration and imaginative play with art materials.

a. Use motor skills to create two-dimensional art.

Examples: Finger painting, watercolors, paper collage, and rubbings.

b. Use motor skills to create three-dimensional art.

Examples: Rolling, folding, cutting, molding, pinching and pulling clay.

[SC2015] (0) 3 :

3 ) Distinguish between living and nonliving things and verify what living things need to survive (e.g., animals needing food, water, and air; plants needing nutrients, water, sunlight, and air).

Students will use their knowledge of the parts of a plant to discuss what a plant needs to survive. Students will manipulate their three-dimensional plant to show the importance of all the parts of a plant. Students will use a variety of materials to create their 3D model. Examples of materials include pipe cleaners, paper towel rolls, paper, tissue paper, play dough, clay, etc. 

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

   View Standards     Standard(s): [SC2015] (0) 3 :

3 ) Distinguish between living and nonliving things and verify what living things need to survive (e.g., animals needing food, water, and air; plants needing nutrients, water, sunlight, and air).

[SC2015] (0) 6 :

6 ) Identify and plan possible solutions (e.g., reducing, reusing, recycling) to lessen the human impact on the local environment.*

[SC2015] (3) 11 :

11 ) Construct an argument from evidence to explain the likelihood of an organism's ability to survive when compared to the resources in a certain habitat (e.g., freshwater organisms survive well, less well, or not at all in saltwater; desert organisms survive well, less well, or not at all in woodlands).

a. Construct explanations that forming groups helps some organisms survive.

b. Create models that illustrate how organisms and their habitats make up a system in which the parts depend on each other.

c. Categorize resources in various habitats as basic materials (e.g., sunlight, air, freshwater, soil), produced materials (e.g., food, fuel, shelter), or as nonmaterial (e.g., safety, instinct, nature-learned behaviors).

[SC2015] (3) 12 :

12 ) Evaluate engineered solutions to a problem created by environmental changes and any resulting impacts on the types and density of plant and animal populations living in the environment (e.g., replanting of sea oats in coastal areas due to destruction by hurricanes, creating property development restrictions in vacation areas to reduce displacement and loss of native animal populations).*

[SC2015] (5) 16 :

16 ) Collect and organize scientific ideas that individuals and communities can use to protect Earth's natural resources and its environment (e.g., terracing land to prevent soil erosion, utilizing no-till farming to improve soil fertility, regulating emissions from factories and automobiles to reduce air pollution, recycling to reduce overuse of landfill areas).

[DLIT] (3) 24 :

18) Identify a broad range of digital devices, the services they provide, and appropriate uses for them.

Examples: Computers, smartphones, tablets, robots, e-textiles, driving directions apps that access remote map services, digital personal assistants that access remote information services.

Steve Trash teaches kids about science with fun and magic. The show is filmed in Alabama.

Steve shares all sorts of magical ideas about wildlife and the wild critters, why they're important, and what things people need to do to protect them. Then, Steve explores the world of robots. What exactly IS a robot? What do robots do? Can robots think? Watch and find out!

   View Standards     Standard(s): [SC2015] (0) 3 :

3 ) Distinguish between living and nonliving things and verify what living things need to survive (e.g., animals needing food, water, and air; plants needing nutrients, water, sunlight, and air).

In this lesson, students learn about the characteristics that distinguish living things from nonliving things. By examining video clips and still photographs of a variety of objects and organisms, students gather evidence and develop criteria to decide if something is living or nonliving.

   View Standards     Standard(s): [SC2015] (0) 3 :

3 ) Distinguish between living and nonliving things and verify what living things need to survive (e.g., animals needing food, water, and air; plants needing nutrients, water, sunlight, and air).

In this lesson, students watch video clips of animals and plants in their natural environment, to gather evidence that all living things have basic needs that must be met in order to survive. Then, to illustrate their understanding of this concept, students draw pictures of real or imaginary pets eating, drinking, breathing, and taking shelter (from the elements or from other animals).

   View Standards     Standard(s): [SC2015] (0) 3 :

3 ) Distinguish between living and nonliving things and verify what living things need to survive (e.g., animals needing food, water, and air; plants needing nutrients, water, sunlight, and air).

Guide students as they explore how animals and plants meet their basic needs in a city, with help from Plum and her friends from PLUM LANDING. In this interactive lesson, students learn that animals need air, food, water, and shelter, while plants need air, sunlight, and water. Students watch videos and engage with drawing and sorting activities to reinforce their learning. This lesson is designed for teachers to present to students.

   View Standards     Standard(s): [SC2015] (0) 3 :

3 ) Distinguish between living and nonliving things and verify what living things need to survive (e.g., animals needing food, water, and air; plants needing nutrients, water, sunlight, and air).

Learn about the archerfish and the bugs they eat as you play the Wild Kratts: Archer Fish Bug game.

   View Standards     Standard(s): [SC2015] (0) 3 :

3 ) Distinguish between living and nonliving things and verify what living things need to survive (e.g., animals needing food, water, and air; plants needing nutrients, water, sunlight, and air).

From Seed to Fruit takes children through the different stages of growth in the life of a cherry tomato plant. Planting a seed in a cup and watching it grow over time is a wonderful way to introduce the life cycle to young children.

   View Standards     Standard(s): [SC2015] (0) 3 :

3 ) Distinguish between living and nonliving things and verify what living things need to survive (e.g., animals needing food, water, and air; plants needing nutrients, water, sunlight, and air).

[SC2015] (2) 7 :

7 ) Obtain information from literature and other media to illustrate that there are many different kinds of living things and that they exist in different places on land and in water (e.g., woodland, tundra, desert, rainforest, ocean, river).

Take a field trip in your own backyard. Backyard Animals, introduces children to animals they might find just outside the back door or in a nearby park. Students click on an animal to learn more about it. 

   View Standards     Standard(s): [SC2015] (0) 3 :

3 ) Distinguish between living and nonliving things and verify what living things need to survive (e.g., animals needing food, water, and air; plants needing nutrients, water, sunlight, and air).

Humans and animals share some common features. We use our eyes to see, our nose to smell, and our ears to hear. Animals use those same features to help them survive by finding food and sense danger. A Tail Like This will help children learn more about the features of a few common animals they may see every day.

   View Standards     Standard(s): [SC2015] (0) 3 :

3 ) Distinguish between living and nonliving things and verify what living things need to survive (e.g., animals needing food, water, and air; plants needing nutrients, water, sunlight, and air).

[SC2015] (1) 5 :

5 ) Design a solution to a human problem by using materials to imitate how plants and/or animals use their external parts to help them survive, grow, and meet their needs (e.g., outerwear imitating animal furs for insulation, gear mimicking tree bark or shells for protection).*

In this lesson, students explore what lions, tigers, and leopards look like and analyze how the animals' coats help them survive in their different habitats. The students will discuss different big cats and their physical features, discuss the habitats of big cats, and how they survive in their habitat.