1st Grade Plants and Animals Unit Blueprint
Lesson 8: Observing Guppies
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Pacing Suggestions:

See Unit Calendar for details.
Essential & Unit Questions* 1 Benchmarks 2 Formative and Summative Assessments 3 Using Assessments to Monitor Student Learning
How can we learn about living things around us?

How can tools help us learn about living things?

1B(K-2)#2: Tools such as thermometers, magnifiers, rulers, or balances often give more information about things than can be obtained by just observing things without their help.

6D(K-2)#1: People use their senses to find out about their surroundings and themselves. Different senses give different information. Sometimes a person can get different information about the same thing by moving closer to it or further away from it.

Class observing What We Would Like to Find Out about Guppies and discussion about pond snails (See Preparation Step 4 on page 104 and Procedure Step 4 on page 104 in Teacher's Guide)
  • Do students list items that can be found out by making detailed observations of the snails?
  • Do they suggest using hand lenses to make observations?
What are some ways to describe objects? 12D(K-2)#2: Draw pictures that correctly portray at least some features of the thing being described.

12D(K-2)#1: Describe and compare things in terms of number, shape, texture, size, weight, color, and motion.

11B(K-2)#3: One way to describe something is to say how it is like something else.

Record Sheet 7-A: Observing Freshwater Animals (See Procedure Step 2 on page 104 in Teacher's Guide.)

Class Venn Diagram—Guppy portion (See Procedure Step 8 on page 105 in Teacher's Guide.)

  • Do the students' drawings accurately contain one or more identifying features?
  • Are students' written observations descriptive and accurate?
  • Are their drawings and written observations improving in quality and accuracy?
How are plants, animals, and humans alike and different?

What are the basic needs of plants, animals, and humans?

5A(K-2)#1: Some animals and plants are alike in the way they look and in the things they do, and others are very different from one another.

5E(K-2)#1: Plants and animals both need to take in water, and animals need to take in food.

5C(K-2)#2: Most living things need water, food, and air.

Class Venn Diagram of Snails vs. Guppies (See Final Activities on page 106 in Teacher's Guide.) See Assessment on page 109 in Teacher's Guide.
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* Essential/Unit questions are major questions driving the unit. They are directly aligned with the benchmarks. No single lesson addresses each question in its entirety. By the end of the unit, students should be able to answer these core questions.

1. For conceptual benchmarks.
2. Bolded sections indicate portion of benchmark addressed
3. Unless noted as a Summative Assessment, the assessments are formative and should be used to guide teaching and learning.

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