Unit Overview: Read more about the unit and find all unit materials here on the Fishtank website

In this science-based unit, students begin their exploration of animals and animal adaptations. Over the course of the unit, students explore three main topics: how different animals use their body parts and senses in different ways to survive, the ways how the behavior of different animal parents and offspring help the offspring survive, and the similarities and differences among individual animals of the same kind. This unit is part of a larger progression in understanding animals and the animal kingdom. In Kindergarten, students learn about how animals meet their basic survival needs and how that varies depending on the season. In 2nd Grade, students learn about different habitats and how animals in the habitat rely on the environment for survival. Then in 3rd Grade, students study animal adaptations and the different ways animals adapt in order to survive, especially when threatened by environmental changes. It is our hope that this unit, in combination with others in the sequence, will help students develop a deeper understanding of the animal kingdom and life science.

In this unit, students begin to think about how details in an informational text are connected. While the standard does not explicitly name cause and effect, students are noticing how one event makes something else happen. Additionally, students build a deeper understanding of the connection between the illustrations and the text, and how illustrations help the reader learn more about a particular idea or topic. Students continue to follow agreed-upon rules for discussions, using specific vocabulary, asking and answering questions, and producing complete sentences. 

Students continue to work on building their writing fluency by writing daily in response to the Target Task question. Throughout the unit, students learn a variety of strategies for writing complete sentences and varying the types of sentences they are writing depending on the type of information they are sharing. Students also have opportunities to work on both their narrative and informational writing over the course of the unit. Students use their content knowledge about how animals use their color to survive to write a narrative with a clear beginning, middle, and end. Students also engage in two different research reports, learning how to research and share important facts about their chosen topics