Objectives
A Squirrel
To recognise that there are different types of plants and animals in a local environment.
To name some plants and animals and understand that they require different habitats to live.
To relate simple life processes to plants and animals found in a local environment.
National Curriculum
Sc2, 2e.
Resources
Online activities:
Bitesize plants and animals section: play, quiz
Learning Zone Broadband Class Clips:
Plants and animals around us
Variation in nature
Worksheets:
Plants and animals worksheet (PDF 93KB)
Other resources:
Selection of secondary sources of information such as books and CD-ROMs
Computers (one for each group)
Printed sheet of cleaned and sterilised bones of animals such as chickens or fish and diagrams of animal skeletons
Interactive whiteboard.
You will need Adobe Acrobat reader to access the PDF files. BBC Webwise has a complete guide to downloading and installing Adobe Acrobat reader.
Teaching activities
Introduction
Watch Learning Zone Class Clips - Plants and animals around us. Ask each group to record as many plants and animals as possible.
Take the children outside into the local environment/school field and spend two minutes recording all the plants and animals they can see (use reference books to determine the names of any unfamiliar plants).
Ask the children, in their table groups, to name as many differences they can think of between plants and animals.
Ask the children to name as many similarities they can think of between plants and animals.
Activity
Open the Bitesize plants and animals activity.
Explain to the children that they are going to spot some wildlife. Ask the children to predict where an animal might be found. Ask them why they might be found there.
Select a child to spot and click on the wildlife. Click on each magnifying glass and read through the information. Explain any unfamiliar words.
Click on Sorter 1 and show the children how the plants and animals can be sorted according to where they were found. Complete the activity.
Click on Sorter 2 and explain that the living thing has to be matched with where it came from.
Ask the children if all living things begin life in the same way. Ask them what a bird looked like at the beginning of its life. Complete the activity.
Form groups - each group will need a computer. Select and explain the activity as above.
Ask the children to find the oak tree and click on it. Where was it? Explain to them they should remember where each thing is found.
When the children understand the activity, ask them to complete it. Encourage them to read or listen to the information.
Plenary
Ask the children what different types of wildlife they found in the local environment. List them on the whiteboard.
Choose one thing from the list and ask the children to give some facts they have just discovered or knew already about the subject.
Play the Bitesize plants and animals quiz.
Watch Learning Zone Broadband Class Clips - Variation in nature. How have the animals adapted to their environment?
Extension
Make a selection of reference books or CD-ROMs available for the children to find out more about local wildlife.
Ask the children to create a simple 'What am I?' quiz, giving as many clues as possible about the plant or animal the child is thinking of (eg where it lives, what its offspring are called, drawings of a part of its body). Alternatively, ask the children to complete the Plants and animals worksheet (PDF 93KB).
Ask the higher ability group to create a branching diagram to sort animals and plants.
Homework
Ask the children to complete the Plants and animals worksheet (PDF 93KB). Remind them of what they did in the Bitesize plants and animals activity. Explain that they must draw or write plants or animals into the three different habitats.