Cannon, Janell. - credochs.com€¦ · Web viewCreate a Know/Wonder/Learn chart in Word and share via projector, Smartboard, or large paper as students contribute their ideas. This

Science Unit Overview: Nocturnal Animals: Bats, Owls, and More

Duration: 4 to 6 Weeks Grade: 1

Unit Rationale:God created nocturnal animals such as bats and owls when he created the animals on the sixth day of creation. They also were affected by man’s fall into sin, just as the rest of creation was. Yet we can see God’s abundant mercy and providence as he continues to care for these creatures who are part of our local ecosystem. We will study these creatures to increase our knowledge and understanding of our Almighty God.

Big Idea God created living things with features and behaviours that help them survive in their environment.Inquiry Questions What makes an animal nocturnal?

What are the primary characteristics of bats, owls, and other nocturnal animals?What behavioural adaptations has God provided to nocturnal animals?

How do nocturnal animals live together with other animals in their ecosystem?What were the First Nations peoples’ practices and knowledge of nocturnal animals?

CORE COMPETENCIES

Curricular Competencies Content Teaching Strategies/Methods Images & Activities

Questioning and predicting:● Demonstrate

curiosity and a sense of wonder about the world.

● Observe objects and events in familiar contexts.

The students will:● Identify the

source of all life, and the sustainer of life.

● Differentiate between nocturnal and diurnal.

Week 1: (Introduction to nocturnal vs diurnal animals)

● Create a Know/Wonder/Learn chart in Word and share via projector, Smartboard, or large paper as students contribute their ideas. This chart is to be referenced and revised at the end of the unit to reflect new learning.

● Sing the Nocturnal Animal Song as introduction to terms nocturnal and diurnal.

● Read the book Where are the Night Animals? By Mary Ann Fraser or similar introductory

The Nocturnal Animal Song:

Developed in 2018 by: Margaret Althaus, William of Orange Christian School, Cloverdale, BC & Jennifer Onderwater, Credo Christian Elementary, Langley, BC


● Ask simple questions about familiar objects and events.

Planning and conducting:● Make exploratory

observations using their senses.

● Safely manipulate materials.

● Make simple measurements using non-standard units.

Processing and analyzing data and information

● Experience and interpret the local environment.

● Recognize First Peoples stories (including oral and written narratives), songs, and art, as ways to share knowledge.

● Discuss observations.

● Represent observations and ideas by drawing charts and simple pictographs.

● Identify and compare various local nocturnal animals.

● Describe the bat’s adaptations such as: physical characteristics, life cycle, diet, and habitat.

● Describe the owl’s adaptations such as: physical characteristics, life cycle, diet, and habitat.

● Identify the basic needs of nocturnal animals and the features that help them meet these needs.

● Identify behavioural adaptations of nocturnal

book about a variety of nocturnal animals.● Follow this up with a book with more detail

such as Usborne Beginners’ Night Animals and discuss their observable features, needs and behavioural adaptations. Have a wide variety of nocturnal animal books set up in the classroom so children can read them.

● Introduce the concept of “place” and how learning about nocturnal animals helps us understand our local environment and our role in it . Ask children to identify the nocturnal animals that are local throughout the unit and share them with the class.

● Have students make: A Night Creatures Booklet. This is from the Mailbox Theme Series Nocturnal Animals as listed in resources. If you do not have this you could look online for a similar resource.

● Students to partner with another student and sort picture cards or toy animals into diurnal and nocturnal groups on a Venn Diagram. Once done, have students change partners and explain their choices. You could also have students make errors on purpose and have their partner see if they can find the error, explain why it is incorrect and then correct it.

● Relay Race: Divide your class into groups of four or five. Pile plastic toy animals (nocturnal and diurnal) at the center of the groups. In relay fashion (one student from each group at a time), students will run to the pile, grab a nocturnal animal, and run back to their group. The first group to finish, having collected only

Freeschool video:



Applying and innovating:● Transfer and apply

learning to new situations.

● Generate and introduce new or refined ideas when problem solving.

Communicating● Share observations

and ideas orally.● Express and

reflect on personal

experiences of place.

animals such as: hibernation, nesting, migration, catching food, camouflage, omnivore as opposed to carnivore or herbivore etc.

● Investigate changes that nocturnal animals make to accommodate daily and seasonal cycles.

● Compare and contrast owls and bats as mammals and birds.

●Investigate First

Peoples’ practice and knowledge of nocturnal animals (primarily owls and bats).

nocturnal animals, wins.Week 2 or Week 2 & 3: (Focus on owls)

● Watch Free School’s video called All About Owls after having a class discussion reviewing what they already know about owls. Have students watch and listen for something new that they can share, including observable features and behavioural adaptations that allow owls to meet their basic needs.

● Present a graphic organizer “Owls Can, Have, Are” via projector, white board, or large paper. Tell students that they will be helping you fill it in after reading the book Owls by Gail Gibbons. Once you have read the book have students contribute to the graphic organizer and record the information. Keep a copy for review at the end of the unit.

● Read a variety of owl books and discuss contents with the students. Focus on the Owl’s features and adaptations and how they help them meet their basic needs.

● Have various kinds of line drawn local owl pictures available and encourage children to colour the owls true to their type.

● Review page 18 of Gail Gibbons book Owls where it discusses Owl Pellets. Find other sources about owl pellets and then present children with their own to dissect (School Specialty Canada sells the the kits) individually or as a group. Have the students record what they find. Present findings to the class.

● Share and discuss First Nations info on owls: https://shop.slcc.ca/legends-symbology/ and

Owl Pellet Kit



http://traditionalanimalfoods.org/birds/birds-of-prey/page.aspx?id=6481 Have students design their own owl in the First Nations tradition or colour one.

Week 3 or Week 4 & 5: (Focus on bats)● Introduce bats by reading and discussing the

book Stellaluna by Janell Cannon. Note the differences between birds and bats.

● Make a Venn diagram via projector, SmartBoard, or large paper :) comparing birds (owls) vs bats and have students brainstorm what to fill in. Then reread Stellaluna and have students listen for something they might have missed and update the diagram. Save it to go back to later so can review and update.

● Discuss the feelings of the animals in the story and then have the students draw a picture of themselves and a friend. Below the pictures have them print their names and above them print: We are the same because (student to fill in) and We are different because (student to fill in).

● Read Zipping, Zapping, Zooming Bats by Ann Earle or Bats! By the Editors of TIME For Kids. After reading and discussing the book, have the students turn to a friend and identify something new they have learned about bats. Update to Venn diagram. If the students haven’t noted the distinction of mammals vs birds make sure you explain and note it.

● Using a worksheet from the Thematic Unit--Bats or from another source, identify and label

All About Bats for Kids Video



the parts of a bat’s anatomy. Be sure to note and wonder at how God created its anatomy to function and meet its needs.

● Review what has been learned to this point by watching the following video on Youtube: All About Bats for Kids by Freeschool.

● Ask students to explain Echolocation to a partner. Follow up with a Sound Wave demonstration. Provide each group of two children with a large flat plastic container with one inch of water and an eyedropper. When the water is calm, have the students use the eyedropper to drop a droplet of water into the dish and observe what happens. Ask them to observe and discuss with their partner what they saw when each droplet fell into the water and what happened when the water waves reached the side of the pan. Encourage students to place a waterproof object in the pan and see if anything changed to the pattern of the waves. Challenge the students to explain how echolocation works like the water waves did. Have students draw a picture and

write a sentence about echolocation. Week 6: Wrap Up

● Conclude the unit by reviewing and updating the KWL chart from the beginning of the unit, the Can, Have, Are graphic organizer and the

Venn diagram comparing bats and owls. ● Identify and highlight the animals that are a

part of the local environment and “place”. Discuss how development impacts them and

what we can do to help mitigate this. ● As a final assessment, prepare several



questions that highlight the material learned in the unit, and give each student a one on one

verbal assessment. Optional ADST Activities:

● The students can choose to make an accordion book featuring bats, owls, or one featuring either a bat’s or owl’s life cycle. Have the students make an accordion book out of two different light coloured 6” x 36” pieces of stiff paper glued together by overlapping the long edges of the two strips. Accordion fold the paper into six sections. The first panel of the book is for the cover illustration (top) and title (bottom). On each remaining page the student writes an interesting bat or owl fact on the lower part and draws a picture on the top part. Encourage the students to research for interesting material. Once done, the students can present their books to the other students in the class or school.

● Design a Bat home and build it out of boxes and cardboard. Children can look at some bat homes or boxes in books and on the internet for ideas. Bat Conservation International has a website with some sample bat homes and important features they have to incorporate.You can also have someone cut the wood and have the children assemble it as a kit in the classroom. The last page of the book, Zipping, Zapping, Zooming Bats can be a starting point.

● Design and make an owl’s nest (many different kinds to choose from) out of given materials. See the STEM unit related to this on RCDC's



website

Assessment Strategies/Methods

Assessment for Learning (Formative):● Know/Wonder/Learn Charts● Tickets out the Door● Graphic organizers

Assessment as Learning (Reflective):● Experiments / demonstrations

Assessment of Learning (Summative):● ADST assignment● Oral 1 on 1 End of Unit Assessment● Self Assessment

Resources:

Teacher Resources: Student Resources, Fieldtrips, Speakers & Special Events:

● The Best of The Mailbox Theme Series: Nocturnal Animals Primary, 2000 by The Education Center, Inc.

● Pearce, Q. Literature Notes for Stellaluna, 2001 Torrance: Frank Schaffer Publications Inc.

● Prior, Jennifer Overend. Thematic Unit Bats, 1999 Teacher Created Materials

● Fraser, Mary Ann. Where are the Night Animals? 1998 Harper Collins

● Meredith, Susan. Usborne Beginners Night Animals, 2003 Usborne Publishing Ltd.

● Various fiction and nonfiction books as supplied by the teacher sourced from the school and public library. Such as:

○ Cooper, Wade. Night Creatures, 2007 Scholastic, Inc.○ Act-two, Face to Face Night Creatures, 2001 Scholastic

Inc.○ Smith, Alastair. Night-time, 2002 Usborne Publishing Ltd.○○ Whitehouse, Patricia. Bats, 2003 Reed Educational and

Professional Publishing.○ Simon, Seymour. Amazing Bats, 2005, Chronicle Books



● Cannon, Janell. Stellaluna, 1993 HMH Books for Young Readers

● Earle, Anne. Zipping, Zapping, Zooming Bats, 1995 Harper Collins

● Editors of TIME for Kids. Time for Kids: Bats!, 2005 Harper Collins

● Gibbons, Gail. Owls, 2005 Holiday House, New York.● Mr. R’s Songs for Teaching. Nocturnal Animals, Youtube● First Nations Museum Website. Legends and Symbology

https://shop.slcc.ca/legends-symbology/

● Kuhnlein, Harriet V. and Murray M. Humphries. Traditional Animal Foods of Indigenous Peoples of Northern North America Website address: http://traditionalanimalfoods.org/birds/birds-of-prey/page.aspx?id=6481

● Free School videos about Bats and Owls.● Other books from the school and public library

LLC.○ Robinson, Fay. Flying Bats, 2001, Scholastic, Inc.○ Wynne, Patricia J. Hello, Bumblebee Bat, 2007

Charlesburg Publishing Inc.○ Heinrichs, Ann. Nature’s Friends Bats, 2004 Compass

Point Books○ Davies, Nicola. Bat Loves the Night, 2001 Candlewick

Press.○ Bekkering, Annalise. Backyard Animals Bats, 2010 Weigl

Publishers Inc.○ Tagholm, Sally. Animal Lives The Barn Owl, 1999

Kingfisher Publications.○ Marston, Hope Irvin. My Little Book of Burrowing Owls,

1996 North Word Press.○ Davies, Nicola. White Owl, Barn Owl, 2007 Candlewick

Press.

● Fieldtrip to the Greater Vancouver Zoo. Focus will be on the Birds of Prey demonstration.

● Owl Pellet Kit purchased from School Specialty Canada


Documents

Cannon, Janell. - credochs.com€¦ · Web viewCreate a Know/Wonder/Learn chart in Word and share via projector, Smartboard, or large paper as students contribute their ideas. This