ANIMAL DEFENSE MECHANISMS

Big Ideas

• To protect themselves from predators, animals use different defense mechanisms.

• Writers use scientific knowledge and research to inform and entertain.

Essential Questions

• How do animals' bodies and behaviors help them survive?

• How can a writer use scientific knowledge and research to inform and entertain?

Module Description

In this module students study and research animal defense mechanisms in order to create a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure narrative for the end of module performance task.

In unit 1, students build background knowledge on general animal defenses by reading selections of the text Animal Behavior: Animals Defenses using close reading. They capture their learning in a research journal and practice key skills such as identifying the main idea and supporting details of their reading, summarizing informative texts, and synthesizing their learning through text-based discussion.

In unit 2. students apply the skills learned in unit 1 to research a specific animal and its defenses using an online source and portions of Animal Behavior: Animal Defenses. They also begin analyzing the Choose-Your-Own-Adventure texts by engaging in whole class read alouds of the text Can You Survive the Wilderness? Their work in unit 2 culminates in the creation of an informative essay describing their animal and its defense mechanisms.

In unit 3, students engage in the writing process to create their own Choose-Your-Own-Adventure narrative about the animal they researched and its defense mechanisms.

Assessments

• Mid-Unit 1 Assessment: Reading about Caterpillars, Answering Questions, and Determining Main Idea

  • Students read an informational text about an animal's defense mechanisms.

  • They respond to text dependent questions and identify the main idea and supporting details from each section of the text.

• End-of-Unit 1 Assessment: Answering Questions and Summarizing Texts about Animal Defense Mechanisms

  • In the first part of the assessment, students listen to a transcript read aloud, then write to paraphrase information presented.

  • In the second part, students read a new text on an animal and its defense mechanisms, then they answer multiple choice text-dependent questions.

  • Students identify the text's main idea before a summary.

• Mid-Unit 2 Assessment: Reading and Researching Defense Mechanisms of Pufferfish

  • Students read two texts on pufferfish to answer text-dependent questions, write summaries of each text, and identify evidence of how animals use their bodies and behavior to survive.

• End-of-Unit 2 Assessment: Writing an Informative Text about Pufferfish Defense Mechanisms

  • Students write an informative essay about the pufferfish and its defense mechanisms in response to the prompt "How does the pufferfish's body and behavior help it survive?"

  • In their writing, students must introduce the pufferfish and describe its defense mechanisms and use examples from both texts to support their descriptions.

• Mid-Unit 3 Assessment: Planning for and Drafting an Introduction for Choose-Your-Own Adventure Animal Defense Narrative

  • Students write first drafts to begin their Choose-Your-Own-Adventure narratives.

  • Students use narrative graphic organizers to write a beginning that establishes their narratives by introducing their characters, settings, and coming events of their stories.

• End-of-Unit 3 Assessment: Writing Choice 2 of the Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Animal Defense Narrative

  • Students write Choice 2 narratives of their Choose-Your-Own-Adventure narratives.

  • In this piece, students feature another defense mechanism of their animals and include a scientific drawing illustrating their feature with a caption explaining it.

End of Module Performance Task: Choose-Your-Own Adventure Animal Defense Narrative

Students blend their animal defense mechanism research with narrative writing. Students use their research about a specific animal as the basis for choose-your-own-adventure stories. Narratives open with a short informational piece describing the student’s animal and its defense mechanism. Then they write narratives with their animals as the main characters that face dangerous predators and thus have to use defense mechanisms. After the assessment, students complete final revisions based on teacher feedback, then present their final narratives, with both plots, to the class or another audience.