3rd Graders Animal Adaption Research

This week I was able to implement a library lesson geared towards 3rd graders.  The focus and goal of this lesson was to introduce the concept of animal adaptations and for students to practice pulling out descriptive or key words and relevant information.  I began by having students sit on the floor and asking if they knew what an animal adaptation was.  I wanted to see if I could get them to access their background knowledge on the subject.   From there I gave them a brief definition on what an adaptation was.  I made the definition more relevant by providing examples of it in humans.  I gave them the examples of teeth and skin color.  They were very interested in both these examples and questions abounded.

Before the lesson began I pulled a few books that had examples of adaptations.  Here is a picture of one of those books, "What if you had animal teeth?"  I had pulled a few examples from each book and shared them with the class.  The kids ate up the information and slowly I began to see them making the connection.  At the end of the reading I asked if they had come up with any examples during the reading.  One girl brought up the fact that whales needed a tail in order to swim in the ocean.  I praised her for making the connection and prepped them for the next activity.

Book used to give examples of animal adaptations

Before the lesson I had also pulled books on specific animals; bats, sharks, butterflies, sea turtles, wolves, etc.  I bought a pile of books at each table and asked if students could pick a table.  There were about 2-3 to a table.  I told them to investigate the books in front of them and find examples of their animals adaptations.  Once they did this for a few minutes and got a good idea of what they were looking for, I gave them note-card sized paper and pencils.  I asked them to zoom in on those adaptations and draw them.  I chormecasted an example of this from our library's website onto the TV at the front of the room.  From there I had students label what the adaptation is.

Once students had completed this step I asked them to turn in their note cards and I posted them on a chart.  The chart indicated if the adaptation dealt with teeth, feet, hair, ears, or another type of adaptation.  Once all the note cards were on the chart, I had the students gather at the carpet again and we went over the adaptations they found.

Student's pictures taped onto chart paper

The students had a great time working on this activity.  They stayed engaged the whole time and wanted to know more about examples of animal adaptations.  I suggested that they ask their parents to get on the computer and help them to find more examples.  This is just way research can be broken down for students.  I always like incorporating reading, writing, and drawing into students' research.  That way they are incorporating their senses, thus allowing the new information to be successfully incorporated into their background knowledge.  I hope to be able to do this type of lesson with other 3rd grader classes during their animal adaptation research.