Module Description & Pacing Guide

The Animals Two by Two Module provides students with close and personal interaction with some common land and water animals. The animals and their survival needs are the engaging anchor phenomena. Students study the phenomena by observing and describing the structures of fish, birds, snails, earthworms, and isopods. Appropriate classroom habitats are established for some organisms and students find out what the animals need to live and grow. In four investigations, animals are studied in pairs. Students observe and care for one animal over time, and then they are introduced to another animal similar to the first but with differences in structure and behavior.

Throughout the Animals Two by Two Module, students engage in science and engineering practices by asking questions, participating in collaborative investigations, observing, recording, and interpreting data to build explanations, and obtaining information from photographs. Students gain experiences that will contribute to an understanding of the crosscutting concepts of patterns; cause and effect; systems and system models; and structure and function.