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Science lesson plan · 3rd grade (Year 4 in England) · 45 minutes

Camouflage, warning colours and mimicry

Animals and habitats

CCSS NGSS.3-LS4-2England: KS2 Y6 Evolution and inheritance

Objective and success criteria

Students will: Camouflage, warning colours and mimicry.

  • 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: Adaptations to habitats

Leads to: Evolution: how living things change over many generations

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 (Adaptations to habitats). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
  • Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.
  1. Why do owls have very large eyes? (to see well at night when they hunt / to keep warm / to smell food / to look scary) → to see well at night when they huntPrompt: When are most owls active?
  2. Adaptations: which statement is true? (Animals choose to grow adaptations when they need them. / Fish have gills to take oxygen from water. / A giraffe's neck grew longer because its parents stretched. / Every animal can live in every habitat.) → Fish have gills to take oxygen from water.Prompt: Adaptations take many generations to appear.
  3. Adaptations: which statement is NOT true? (Cactus spines help reduce water loss and protect it from animals. / Animals choose to grow adaptations when they need them. / Some animals use camouflage to hide from predators. / Fish have gills to take oxygen from water.) → Animals choose to grow adaptations when they need them.Prompt: Can an animal decide to change its body for its babies?

Hook · 5 min

  • Show a picture of an unusual animal and ask where it might live and how it survives there.
  • Share the objective: Camouflage, warning colours and mimicry. 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: Which survival trick is this: a stick insect on a twig?
  • Step 1: The animal's colour or shape matches its surroundings, so it is hard to see.
  • Step 2: So the answer is: camouflage (blending in)
  • Answer: camouflage (blending in)
  • 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. Which survival trick is this: a chameleon on a leaf? (camouflage (blending in) / warning colours / mimicry (copying another animal)) → camouflage (blending in)Prompt: Is the animal hiding, showing off a warning, or pretending to be something else?
  2. A hoverfly has wasp-like stripes but cannot sting. How does this help it? (It keeps it warm. / It can now sting. / Predators think it might sting and avoid it. / It helps it make honey.) → Predators think it might sting and avoid it.Prompt: What do birds remember about wasps?

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. Peppered moths in a city with sooty, dark tree trunks were mostly dark. In the countryside they were mostly pale. Why? (Dark moths are faster. / Soot painted the moths. / Birds ate the moths that did not match the trees. / The moths chose their colour.) → Birds ate the moths that did not match the trees.Prompt: Which moths were easiest for birds to spot?
  2. True or false? Bright colours always mean an animal is easy prey. (True / False) → FalsePrompt: Hiding, warning or copying?

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: Adaptations to habitats.
  • 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

  • Move on to: Evolution: how living things change over many generations.
  • 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-3.

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

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Camouflage, warning colours and mimicry

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Score/ 8

  1. Question 1

    A hoverfly has wasp-like stripes but cannot sting. How does this help it?

    • A. It helps it make honey.
    • B. It keeps it warm.
    • C. It can now sting.
    • D. Predators think it might sting and avoid it.

  2. Question 2

    Which survival trick is this: a poison dart frog's bright colours?

    • A. camouflage (blending in)
    • B. warning colours
    • C. mimicry (copying another animal)

  3. Question 3

    True or false? Bright colours always mean an animal is easy prey.

    • A. True
    • B. False

  4. Question 4

    Peppered moths in a city with sooty, dark tree trunks were mostly dark. In the countryside they were mostly pale. Why?

    • A. Soot painted the moths.
    • B. The moths chose their colour.
    • C. Dark moths are faster.
    • D. Birds ate the moths that did not match the trees.

  5. Question 5

    Which survival trick is this: a moth with eye spots like an owl's eyes?

    • A. camouflage (blending in)
    • B. warning colours
    • C. mimicry (copying another animal)

  6. Question 6

    Why is camouflage useful to a predator such as a tiger?

    • A. It can creep close to prey without being seen.
    • B. It helps it swim.
    • C. It makes it poisonous.
    • D. It scares prey away.

  7. Question 7

    True or false? A snowy owl's white feathers are camouflage in snow.

    • A. True
    • B. False

  8. Question 8

    True or false? Animals choose to change their camouflage colour by thinking about it.

    • A. True
    • B. False

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Answer key: Camouflage, warning colours and mimicry

  1. 1. D. Predators think it might sting and avoid it.

  2. 2. B. warning colours

  3. 3. B. False

  4. 4. D. Birds ate the moths that did not match the trees.

  5. 5. C. mimicry (copying another animal)

  6. 6. A. It can creep close to prey without being seen.

  7. 7. A. True

  8. 8. B. False