Science Unit: Crayfish Common Core Standards: Understand and apply knowledge of organisms and their environments, including:

Structures, characteristics, and adaptations of organisms that allow them to function and survive within their habitats. How individual organisms are influenced by internal and external factors. The relationship among living and non-living factors in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. District decided I can statements/Goals for the unit: 1. I can determine a suitable habitat for a crayfish based on its needs and characteristics. 2. I can discuss the behavior of a crayfish based on my observations. General 2 week outline: Monday Tuesday
k-w-l chart to activate background knowledge and to lead instruction. *Read background story about crayfish. Students will get to understand why Crayfish behave the way they do and observe the Crayfish. *Crayfish behavior worksheet. Safety on about the crayfish. Students formally meet the crayfish. *identification sheet. Does the crayfish have eyes.ect. Introduce habitat. Talk about basic needs of animals: food, water, shelter and how those need to be in every habitat.

Thursday
Introduce anatomy of a Crayfish and help students learn about why Crayfish are the way they are. *Crayfish Diagrams. Talk about the lifecycles of butterflies and frogs. Play videos of these life cycles so that the students can see that all things grow.

Friday
N/A valentines party.

Last day with the Crayfish! Talk about their similarities and differences with other animals. *lab worksheet comparing animals. Play Time!

Constraints: The crayfish are shared amongst the entire third grade. This means that though ideally the students would get to observe the crayfish every day. The students will not be able to. However, the crayfish do live in my mentor teacher classroom, so students have some observations. Resources: FOSS science kit-provided to Des Moines public schools. ATLAS standards on The living Environment-the Diversity of life: http://strandmaps.nsdl.org/?id=SMS-MAP-2105 https://www.johnston.k12.ia.us/schools/Lawson/Gradelevellinks/Crayfish/info.html

Monday 2/10/14

Introducing Crayfish

Objective: Students will figure out what they want to learn about crayfish. They will also begin building their prior knowledge through a story about Crayfish. Materials: Structures of life book Chart Paper Timer Whole Group Lesson: Give students a few minutes to talk about what they have observed about the crayfish. *the crayfish will be in another class for this so they will have to go from their past experiences. Then talk as a group about what they have seen. (5 minutes) Make a k-w-l chart. Crayfish are a very exciting topic for students and while I have things I want them to learn I also want them to be excited about their learning. Provide students time to talk with their partner about what they know and what they want to know about crayfish. (2 minutes) As a class complete the K-W sections of the chart. This will help me further my instruction and get the kids excited about the unit. (10 minutes) Then read the story, Answering kids Questions: Crayfish, Crawfish, Crawdaddy? Aloud. This story will probably answer students questions and help them receive some prior knowledge about Crayfish. (10 minutes) Have students talk for a few minutes with their partners about what we read. Then call on students to share what they have learned today about crayfish. (Pull names from jar to call on students-follows class procedure) (3 minutes) Hand out lab reports: these will help students keep all of their new knowledge of crayfish in one place. Total Time: 30 Minutes

Tuesday 2/11/14

Crayfish Observations

Objective: Students will begin to understand the structures of crayfish by observing them. Materials: Crayfish Structures Worksheet Crayfish Whole Group Lesson Plan: Before passing out Crayfish I will explain safety procedures: Crayfish are living organisms. An organism is just another word for something that is alive. We are also living organisms. This means that when we get the crayfish out we need to respect them the same way that we respect each other. They can be out of water for short periods of time but if they are out of water too long they will die. This is why we have them in water and need to make sure they always have access to it. They also can not be dropped. They are small organisms and if they drop from a high table they will get very hurt. You may touch the crayfish if you are gentle. (demonstrate that) That does not mean poking them. I dont like to get poked and I dont think Crayfish would either. Only one person at a time may touch the crayfish. They will try to stop you, so beware of their pincers. Pincers are the big claws you see in the front. It is important to keep your fingers away from them at all times. Finally you can pick up the crayfish if you would like. (demonstrate the appropriate ways to do that). If you are poking the crayfish, or playing with it like a toy, you will lose your ability to interact with the crayfish in the future. This is your warning (this is part of their classroom management plan). (5 minutes) Then I will pass out the Crayfish and set a timer for 7 minutes to just let the students explore and experience the crayfish. If it gets chaotic I will stop the free time, but their best observations will be the ones they make here. (7 minutes) When the timer goes off I will explain some of the features on their observation sheet such as antennae(the long lines off his head), bristles(the little hair on the Crayfish, below the tail), and structures (the parts of the crayfish). Then I will have students complete the page in their notebook entitled Crayfish Structures. This sheet just calls attention to specific features of a Crayfish. Such as how many eyes do they have, what are their tails like, ect. This will help guide their observations. *See packet for sheet. When there is about 7 minutes left we would come back as a class and talk about what we observed. If students struggled to find any structures I would show them whole class. I will also show mouth parts whole class because they have anatomy that covers their mouth from view. Then I would have students help me clean up, by placing the crayfish into their tubs, so I could place them back into their home habitat.

Thursday 2/13/14

Going Deeper

Objective: Students will begin to identify the structures of Crayfish and identify those structures on the Crayfish. Materials: *Crayfish Diagrams Page Crayfish Overhead projector Whole Group Lesson Plan: Have students talk about what we have done so far this week and share out with the group to activate background knowledge (3 minutes). On Tuesday we observed the Crayfish. Today we are going to learn more of the technical names for our Crayfish friends. Knowing the information about the Crayfish will help us determine what the Crayfish need to grow and survive. Fill out Crayfish Diagrams worksheet on ELMO while students fill out their diagrams as well. *See attached completed diagram. Talk about the features: Pincers-help the crayfish defend themselves. Legs-help the crayfish move around-Crayfish mainly walk and rarely swim thats why they have all these legs. Antennae- help the crayfish with touch, taste and balance themselves. Bristles- where the eggs of new crayfish are held, also they look like little hairs. Hard shell- Crayfish are invertebrates-no bones, this shell helps protect them. (15 minutes) Again I would point out any features that are hard to see on the Crayfish. For example I would show them how to tell the difference between males and females. (Females have more bristles because they need to hold their eggs and tend to be smaller). Lead a whole group discussion about how the Crayfish have bodies that our different from ours because their body does different things. Ask the students the following Questions: Why dont we have pincers? How is our skeleton different from the way they protect their bodies? Why do you think they have so many legs? Lead the discussion to students talking about the fact that we eat different things, and do different things so we have to look and act different than the Crayfish do. (7 minutes)

Monday 2/17/14

How Crayfish Behave

Objective: Students identify how a Crayfish behaves and can explain why they might react in that manner. Materials: Crayfish *Crayfish Behavior Lab Sheet ELMO to display results Whole Group Instruction: Discuss what we have learned so far. Give students about 2 minutes to talk into partners about what we have learned. Then have a brief class discussion (about 3-5 minutes) about what we know so far about Crayfish. Have students turn to the page in their lab notebook entitled Crayfish Behaviors. I will read over the different behaviors the packet is looking for so the students know what to keep an eye out for. (There are a few, such as putting two together, that need to be done as a whole class and I will explain that to the students). (5 minutes) Then I will again clarify the safety rules of working with the Crayfish. Telling students to stay away from any pincers, and that its dangerous to hold them not over the table. Finally any inappropriate behavior means they will not get to touch the Crayfish anymore. Then allow the students more time to work with the crayfish and to fill out the reactions of the Crayfish to the various tasks. * See lab notebook for behaviors. (12 minutes) I will collect Crayfish while students finish recording the behaviors they observed. Then as a whole group we will share some of the behaviors we saw the Crayfish doing. I will ask: What did you observe? Why do you think the Crayfish did that? What can we learn from the Crayfish by how they act? The discussion will change based on students answers. (5-7 minutes)

Tuesday 2/18/14

What we need to Survive

Objective: Students will understand things that all living creatures need to survive. They will understand that all living things grow and go through cycles of growth. Materials: Computer White Board Give students a minute to talk about the things they need to survive and grow every day. Have them share those ideas with the class. Come up with a list. Pose the question: Do they Crayfish need all of these things as well? How about a frog or a butterfly? Record students responses on the board. (goal is to get students to arrive at the idea that all animals need food, water, shelter) For an animal to survive they need to be able to get all of those things, food, shelter, water in their habitat. Habitat is the place that an animal lives. Animals have different adaptations (or different body parts) that help them survive in different places. Remember when we read the story about the penguins they had water-resistant feathers so they could swim and glide. All animals have small things like that, which makes it possible for them to survive. The same is true for our crayfish. What have you noticed in our crayfish tank that might provide them these things (food, water, shelter)? (take answers from the group). Talk about their food, elodea. Talk about how they swim in water-also that it is fresh water, not saltwater. (The Crayfish dont have any shelter right now) Give students a chance to talk about how we could provide them shelter and why that might be important in nature. Share ideas out as a class and implement any plans that are possible. http://www.johnston.k12.ia.us/schools/lawson/gradelevellinks/crayfish/crayhome.html This is the link to go to learn more about Crayfish food and habitat. http://cserc.org/main/games/matchthehabitat/index.html This is the link to play a game about habitats to help students see that different animals live in different habitats. This will help them understand that every animal has special features to help them live in the habitat. Every animal is trying to meet their basic needs of food, water and shelter.

Thursday 2/20/14

Introducing Lifecycles of Animals

Objective: Students will understand that all animals grow and go through life cycles. That lifecycles are different for each animal. Materials: Computer Structures of life book Whole group lesson: Yesterday we talked about habitat and how all animals need certain things such as food, water and shelter to be safe. Another thing that all animals go through is a lifecycle. Today we are going to learn about the lifecycle of a butterfly, frog and read about the lifecycle of a crayfish. Every living thing including us humans grows. As humans we start out in our mothers tummies, then we are babies as we grow up. At first we cant walk but as we grow we gain abilities. Then when we are all grown up and can have babies then we die. First we are going to watch a video about the lifecycle of a frog: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xl5wpy1vZwM&safe=active Stop and talk about each cycle. Point out that tadpoles swim in water so they have tails. The tails help them swim through the water. Animals all of have things that help them live in their habitats. Then in our books read about the lifecycle of the crayfish. Talk about the differences between frogs and crayfish. Explain that they grow as necessary based on where they live. Then watch a quick video on the lifecycle of a butterfly: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AUeM8MbaIk&safe=active Point out the unique features of the butterfly, such as the fact that they go into cocoons and then come out with the ability to fly. Compare the lifecycles of all these animals. Give students a few minutes to discuss what they learned about each lifecycle after each movie. The key relationship between all the animals is that they all grow. They grow in a way that is suited to help them live in their environment.

Friday 2/21/14

Wrapping Up

Objective: Students will be able to identify similarities and differences between Crayfish and other animals and why those differences might be there. Materials: Crayfish *Lab notebook Similarities and differences Whole Group Instruction: Have students discuss in small groups about what they have been learning about Crayfish. Then have students share out with the class. (5 minutes) Complete the Learn part of the K-W-L chart so students can see all that they learned. (10 minutes) Have students complete similarities and differences page in lab notebook and talk about why those animals may be different. Make sure students understand that we are different based on what we do and what we need to survive. Talk about where these other animals live and why they may live there. (7 minutes) Let the students experience one last round of observing/touching the Crayfish. (7 minutes)