Activities Students research the life cycle of their pet or an animal of their choice and present their findings to the class. They then make comparisons between animal and plant life cycles. Students look at videos, pictures, and examples of animals and plants living in a variety of ecological conditions and compare and contrast their characteristics and requirements. Students observe a variety of animal fossils and infer the animal associated with the fossil. They then research to find scientists' inferences about the same type of fossil and evaluate their own inferences.
Students use plaster of paris to make imprints of various animals' footprints.
They then compare and contrast the imprint with the footprint. Students research a variety of endangered or extinct animals and infer reasons why they are endangered or extinct. They then compare their reasons with those given by scientists. They demonstrate their scientific skills and processes when they make observations, formulate questions, conduct investigations, and communicate findings to their peers. Knowledge Students draw a life cycle for an animal and describe the stages.