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Science lesson plan · 1st grade (Year 2 in England) · 45 minutes

How animal parents help their young survive

Animals and habitats

CCSS NGSS.1-LS1-2England: KS1 Y2 Animals, including humans

Objective and success criteria

Students will: How animal parents help their young survive.

  • I can answer questions on today's skill on my own, without help.
  • I can explain each step and say why it works.
  • I can check my answer and spot a mistake.

Before and after

Needs first: Match animals to their young

Leads to: the next skill in this area.

Materials: Animal picture cards, Habitat maps, Mini whiteboards, A diagram or short video clip of the idea, Printed student sheet (below).

Warm-up · 5 min

  • Quick retrieval from earlier learning (Match animals to their young). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
  • Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.
  1. What is the young of this animal called: butterfly? (duckling / caterpillar / cub / chick) → caterpillarPrompt: Think of farm animals, pets and wild animals you know.
  2. A cygnet grows up to become which animal? (goat / bear / sheep / swan) → swanPrompt: Young animals grow into adults of the same kind.
  3. Which young animal hatches from an egg? (a puppy / a calf / a kitten / a chick) → a chickPrompt: Which group of animals lays eggs with hard shells?

Hook · 5 min

  • Show a picture of an unusual animal and ask where it might live and how it survives there.
  • Share the objective: How animal parents help their young survive. Read the success criteria together.

I do: model it · 10 min

  • Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
  • Example: How is this parent helping its young: an elephant herd circling around a calf?
  • Step 1: The parent keeps the young safe from danger or cold.
  • Step 2: So the answer is: protecting
  • Answer: protecting
  • Pause after each step and ask a student to say what comes next.

We do: guided practice · 10 min

  • Do these together. Students try each step on whiteboards before you reveal it.
  • Use the hints as prompts rather than giving the answer.
  1. How is this parent helping its young: a cow letting her calf drink milk? (feeding / protecting / teaching) → feedingPrompt: Is the parent giving food, keeping the young safe, or showing it how to do something?
  2. A human baby cries in the night. What is it doing? (telling everyone to go to sleep / practising singing / telling a parent it needs something, like food or comfort / nothing; crying has no meaning) → telling a parent it needs something, like food or comfortPrompt: Babies cannot talk yet.

You do: independent practice · 10 min

  • Students work on the student sheet. Circulate and check the first two answers of every student early.
  • Students who finish: write a question of their own for a partner, with the answer.

The 8 questions are on the student sheet below, with answers in the key.

Exit ticket · 5 min

  • Two questions on their own. Sort answers into got it / nearly / not yet to plan the next lesson.
  1. True or false? Some young animals are never looked after by their parents. (True / False) → TruePrompt: Think about feeding, protecting and teaching.
  2. Baby birds open their beaks wide and cheep loudly. Why? (to tell their parents they are hungry / to scare away their parents / to practise flying / to cool down) → to tell their parents they are hungryPrompt: What does the parent do when it hears the cheeping?

Watch out for

  • Everyday meanings of words getting in the way of the science meaning: define key words explicitly.
  • Remembering facts without the reason: ask "why?" and "what is the evidence?"

Support and stretch

Support

  • Review first: Match animals to their young.
  • Use concrete materials: animal picture cards.
  • Give the first step of each question, or a partly worked example to finish.
  • Pair with a confident partner for the guided practice.

Stretch

  • Explain a common mistake in writing and how to fix it.
  • Write a word problem that uses today's skill, then solve a partner's.

Homework and more practice

Free online practice with hints and printable worksheets for this skill: eurekami.com/science/grade-1.

Free lesson plan from eurekami.com/lesson-plan-builder

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How animal parents help their young survive

Name

Date

Score/ 8

  1. Question 1

    True or false? Many animal parents feed their young.

    • A. True
    • B. False

  2. Question 2

    How is this parent helping its young: a cow letting her calf drink milk?

    • A. feeding
    • B. protecting
    • C. teaching

  3. Question 3

    A human baby cries in the night. What is it doing?

    • A. telling a parent it needs something, like food or comfort
    • B. nothing; crying has no meaning
    • C. telling everyone to go to sleep
    • D. practising singing

  4. Question 4

    True or false? Some young animals are never looked after by their parents.

    • A. True
    • B. False

  5. Question 5

    How is this parent helping its young: a robin bringing worms to its chicks?

    • A. feeding
    • B. protecting
    • C. teaching

  6. Question 6

    Emperor penguin dads hold the egg on their feet for weeks in the Antarctic winter. Why?

    • A. to make the egg grow bigger
    • B. because the egg is scared
    • C. to keep it off the ice and warm until it hatches
    • D. to hide it from the Sun

  7. Question 7

    How is this parent helping its young: a hen sheltering chicks under her wings?

    • A. feeding
    • B. protecting
    • C. teaching

  8. Question 8

    Some animals, like sea turtles, never meet their parents. How do the young survive?

    • A. People raise all of them.
    • B. They are born able to find food and the sea by themselves.
    • C. They stay in the egg for ever.
    • D. Other turtles feed them every day.

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Answer key: How animal parents help their young survive

  1. 1. A. True

  2. 2. A. feeding

  3. 3. A. telling a parent it needs something, like food or comfort

  4. 4. A. True

  5. 5. A. feeding

  6. 6. C. to keep it off the ice and warm until it hatches

  7. 7. B. protecting

  8. 8. B. They are born able to find food and the sea by themselves.