In Plant and Animal Survival students examine physical and behavioral traits for survival as planners of an animal sanctuary and rehab agency. Students will then apply what they learn to determine how an animal rehab agency imitates nature to help animals survive. Students will further investigate traits, parents, offspring, and behaviors in Grade 3 Unit 2 Life Cycles, Traits, and Variations. They will further investigate structure, function, and information processing in plants and animals in Grade 5 Unit 2 Structures and Functions of Living Things.

The unit Plant and Animal Survival provides students the opportunity to explore concepts that include the following:

• All organisms have external parts. Different animals use their body parts in different ways to see, hear, grasp objects, protect themselves, move from place to place, and seek, find, and take in food, water, and air. Plants also have different parts (roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits) that help them survive and grow.
• Adult plants and animals can have young. In many kinds of animals, parents and the offspring themselves engage in behaviors that help the offspring to survive.
• Animals have body parts that capture and convey different kinds of information needed for growth and survival. Animals respond to these with behaviors that help them survive. Plants also respond to some external inputs.
• Young animals are very much but not exactly like their parents. Plants also are very much but not exactly like their parents.
• Individuals of the same kind of plant or animal are recognizable as similar but can also vary in many ways.

CKSci is informed by the NGSS, which encourages student learning through hands-on activities and collecting data. This activity-centered approach requires, at times, that schools collect or purchase materials and equipment that will be needed to complete activities.

Complete materials supply list for CKSci Unit 2: Plant and Animal Survival