Ohio Standards Connections:

3rd grade

 

Science

Life Sciences (B-3) Classify animals according to their characteristics

 

English/Language Arts

Research (I-2)

Use appropriate searching techniques to gather information from a variety of sources

 

Research (I-3)

Acquire information from multiple sources and collect data about the topic

 

LIBRARY GUIDELINES

 

Information Literacy

(A-1)

Visit the library media center for academic or personal information needs.

 (A-2)

Ask the library media specialist or library staff members for assistance as needed.

(A-3)

Explore all areas of the library media center

(B-2)

Understand that information books are arranged on the shelf according to their subject using the Dewey Decimal System

(B-4)

Locate resources using a title, subject, and/or author search in the library catalog

(C-5)

Read for pleasure and information

(D-1)

Distinguish between concepts of information and data and identify examples of each.

(D-2)

Recognize that information gathering is based upon a need

 

Technology Literacy

(A-1)Use the author, title, and subject search features of the OPAC to locate school library materials.

(A-2)Understand that each item in the OPAC has a bibliographic record with contains information about that item

(A-3)Understand that call numbers and call letters identified on the bibliographic record in the OPAC indicate the physical location of the material

(B-1)Label internet browser elements and explain their function

(B-2)Type a simple search term in a teacher or librarian selected search engine to find general information

(B-4)Read the list of results retrieved from a simple search performed in a search engine and select one of the search results and review the information retrieved.

Common characteristics of Animals

 

Lesson Summary:

The students will recognize common characteristics of animals and practice grouping them by these characteristics.  They will add to prior knowledge through research in small groups in the library thereby reinforcing and practicing their reference skills.

Estimated Duration:

½ hour classroom preparation                                                                        45 minutes library research time

Commentary:

Expose students to different ways to classify in this lesson.
Pre-Assessment:

Students can help generate search topics when asked to list different types of animals (those that crawl, those that swim, those that have shells, etc.) The goal is to further develop their classification skills, so assessing how narrowly or broadly they brainstorm would give an indication of their concept of classification.

Scoring Guidelines:

Use teacher’s observations to decide where to begin the research topics.

Post-Assessment:

Students return from library with a reasonably long list, to be approved by classroom teacher.  Some animals may appear in multiple lists. (Example: a turtle may show up as an animal with a shell and as an egg-laying creature.)

Scoring Guidelines:

Some lists are easier to fill than others, so be flexible in accepting some smaller lists.                                                                    Instructional Procedures:

1.  Brainstorm “kinds of animals”.  Encourage children to group creatures by ways they move, their habitats, their diets, ways to defend themselves, reproductive characteristics, number of legs.

2.  Teacher forms groups of 3-5 students.  They are given a single characteristic and begin to list creatures that fit the description.

3.      Groups go to the library to add to their lists.  Upon arriving at the library, students identify the task to the library staff . Together they brainstorm on print and non-print material that will be useful. Next they locate the material and determine what can be used from these resources. Finally they extract the information and add it to their lists.

Possible common characteristics to investigate:  creatures with SHELLS; creatures that use POISON; creatures that BURROW; insects that don’t fly; bugs without 6 legs (may have more or less than 6 legs), creatures with WINGS (but no birds allowed); creatures with WINGS (but no insects allowed); mammals that live in water

Differentiated Instructional Support

Groups should be arranged to include all levels of ability.  A group secretary can be appointed when needed.  Students work as a team to find more creatures for their lists.

Extension

Students can follow up by looking for overlapping characteristics and find creatures that belong to a combination of characteristics.

Students can construct Venn Diagrams from their findings and the findings of other teams in class.                                                    Homework Options and Home Connections

Students can make posters that show illustrations of the animals in their group.

Interdisciplinary Connections

Students can be encouraged to read more about one of the more interesting and less known creatures they found in their category. 

Social Studies:  Students can highlight locations where the above animals can be found on a world map.

Science: Students can describe the habitat of the creature.

Materials and Resources:

For teachers/media specialist                                                       Blackboard or overhead.

 

For students                                                                                        Pencil and paper.

A variety of reference materials and nonfiction books, computers (see below)

Key Vocabulary

Creatures, burrow, hibernate, aquatic, etc. (list depends on the students’ brainstorming)                                                                   Catalog                                                                                          Reference

Technology Connections

WebCat, Jr.                                                                                       Internet bookmarks preselected by the media specialist                  Infohio electronic resources                                                                CD ROM

Research Connections

Encyclopedia                                                                                    Animal encyclopedia                                                                    Nonfiction books                                                                              Internet                                                                                        Dictionaries

General Tips

Don’t have more than three teams in the library at the same time.

If a characteristic is too broad (4 legged animals), the students won’t see the need to research, so select topics that are a little more challenging (or demand longer lists)

Attachments

none