Grade 1 - "circles of life"

Georgia Performance Standard:

S1L1 - d. Compare and describe various animals - appearance, motion, growth, basic needs.

Language Arts:

ELA1LSV1b: Recalls information presented orally
ELA1LSV1c: Respond appropriately to orally presented questions
ELA1LSV1d: Increases vocabulary to reflect a growing range of interests and knowledge
ELA1LSV1f: Uses complete sentences when speaking
ELA1R6m: Recognizes & uses graphic features & graphic organizers to understand text
ELA1W1k: Begins to use various resources & strategies to gather information to write about a topic

Essential Questions:

Why can’t animals all live in the same place?
How do animals adapt to their environment?
What are characteristics of animal groups?
Why are plants and animals important to us?

Vocabulary:

same, different, similarity, difference, appearance, behavior, habitat, characteristics, compare

Materials:

Blackboard, pictures of animals, sheets of paper with a pair of overlapping circles drawn on them (enough for half the class).

Directions:

1.) Gather pictures of both wild and domesticated animals. Pick out two pictures at a time and tape them to the board. Draw a diagram consisting of two overlapping circles as shown below:

2.) Ask the students to think of all the things they know about the first animal. Write all these things inside the non-overlapping part of that animal's circle. it is helpful to ask the same questions in the same order for both animals. For example: 1) Where does it live? 2) What does it eat?  3) What does it look like?  (What color is it?  How many legs does it have? What covers its body?) 4) How does it find food?

3.) Ask them to think of all the things they know about the second animal.