Grade Band: Intermediate, Middle School, High School
Lesson Target: Life Science
Unit 2
Monthly Tools
Supplemental Science Lessons
The Supplemental Science Lessons coincide with the monthly unit topic by providing supporting lessons in Earth and Space Science,
Life Science and Physical Science areas. The instructional targets for the designated grade bands are listed with each title. However, in some
instances, the lessons may be appropriate for more than one grade band. All reading materials for these lessons are located in the n2y Library.
Scientific inquiry activities are provided in Lesson 28 of the unit materials.
Intermediate
Why Plants Need Soil
Earth and
Space
Science
•
•
Understand food webs and chains
as interactions between producers
and consumers.
Candles: Solid, Liquid or Gas?
Physical
Science
© 2014 n2y
ULS, October 2014
•
Natural Disasters (Level E)
Identify types of weather
phenomena.
Observe ways that soil can hold
water and support plant life.
What’s for Dinner?
Life
Science
Middle School
Recognize states of matter: liquid,
solid, gas.
Simon’s Respiratory System
•
Recognize that living things are
made of cells that have a function:
Cells make up tissues and organs.
Mix It Up: Making Lemonade
•
Observe simple examples of
mixtures and compounds.
High School
Save The Trees!
•
Identify and describe ways that
humans have changed the
environment (deforestation, waste
management, etc.).
The Linnaean System and Vertebrates
•
Recognize the diversity of
organisms by sorting plants and
animals according to their
classification.
Aluminum Foil
•
Identify and investigate entries in
the periodic table of elements in
relation to real-world product uses
(gold in jewelry, aluminum in foil
wrap, etc.).
Grade Band: Intermediate
n2y Library: What’s for Dinner?
Unit 2
Supplemental Life Science Lesson
Instructional Targets
Standards for Life Science
• Understand food webs and chains as interactions between producers and consumers.
Which of your state standards are aligned to these instructional targets?
Classroom Activities/Lesson Plan
Related Content: What’s for Dinner?
The early settlers understood they needed food to live and grow. That is why they planted, hunted and fished. They had to do this because
humans are consumers. Consumers are living things that must find food to give them energy to live. Consumers eat fruits, vegetables, grains
and meats. Plants are producers. Producers are also living things but they make their own food to give them energy. Plants use sunlight, water
and oxygen to make their food.
•
•
Read the book, What’s for Dinner?, located in the n2y Library.
Follow up with discussion questions:
• Why do we need food?
• Where do we get our food?
• What types of food do we get from plants?
• What types of food do we get from animals?
• How do plants get food?
• How do animals get food?
•
Use the comprehension questions to further discuss producers and consumers.
1. What do living things need to grow? (clothes, energy, cars)
2. Where do living things get energy from? (food, dirt, Sun)
3. What is something that makes its own food? (water, consumer, producer)
4. What is something that finds its own food? (water, consumer, producer)
5. Which one is a producer? (flower, fox, bug)
Extending Learning
• Have students complete a simple food chain of popcorn. Remind students that Native Americans showed settlers how to plant crops,
such as corn. Today, people eat corn in many forms. Ask students “Where does popcorn come from?” Encourage students to work
backward from the store to the farm to the farmer to the corn plant to the seed, to create a food web. Continue this activity with
alternate food items such as pasta, potato chips, cookies, etc.
Level 3
• Students will understand producers and
consumers and their relationship to
humans.
Resources and Materials
Book: What’s for Dinner?
Comprehension questions
© 2014 n2y
ULS, October 2014
Differentiated Tasks
Level 2
• Students will understand the definitions
of producers and consumers and identify
examples of each.
Level 1
• Students will recognize that plants make
food and animals do not.
Additional Resources
Grade Band: Middle School
n2y Library: Simon’s Respiratory System
Unit 2
Supplemental Life Science Lesson
Instructional Targets
Standards for Life Science
• Recognize that living things are made of cells that have a function: Cells make up tissues and organs.
Which of your state standards are aligned to these instructional targets?
Classroom Activities/Lesson Plan
Related Content: Simon’s Respiratory System
Jackie Robinson made a change in history by being the first African-American to play on a professional baseball team. He was an athlete and
when athletes play, they often start breathing really fast. When we play some sports, we breathe fast too. Our lungs take in all the air that we
breathe and change it into food for our blood.
•
•
Read the book, Simon’s Respiratory System, located in the n2y Library.
Follow up with discussion questions:
• What is something you do every day, no matter where you are or who you are with?
• Why is breathing so important? What does breathing give us?
• What happens to your breathing when you run?
• What part of your body helps you to breathe?
•
Use the comprehension questions to further discuss the respiratory system and lungs.
1. What do we inhale when we breathe in? (oxygen, sunlight, water)
2. What delivers the oxygen to the body? (water, blood, food)
3. Where does the air go after we breathe? (heart, feet, lungs)
4. Where are your lungs located? (head, chest, fingers)
5. What does the diaphragm pump out? (oxygen, carbon dioxide, water)
Extending Learning
• Build your own lung. Have students apply knowledge of the respiratory system to create a fake set of lungs. Items needed: 2-Liter
bottle with bottom cut off, scissors, 2 bendy straws, 2 balloons, 3 rubber bands, clay, plastic wrap, binder clip. Directions: Attach
balloons to bent ends of straws and secure with rubber bands. Hold two straws together with balloons nearest the ground and facing
apart. Position the straws inside of the bottle with the long end approximately ½ inch above the rim of the bottle. Cover top of bottle
and surround sides of straws with clay. No air should be able to get into the bottle besides through the straws. Take plastic wrap and
cover the bottom of the bottle and secure with rubber band. Gently attach the binder clip to the plastic wrap. Pull on binder clip and
watch as the lungs fill up with air.
Level 3
• Students will understand how the lungs
work in order for us to live.
Resources and Materials
Book: Simon’s Respiratory System.
Comprehension questions
© 2014 n2y
ULS, October 2014
Differentiated Tasks
Level 2
• Students will understand that the lungs
help us to breathe.
Level 1
• Students will recognize that we need to
breathe in order to live.
Notes
Grade Band: High School
n2y Library: The Linnaean System and Vertebrates
Unit 2
Supplemental Life Science Lesson
Instructional Targets
Standards for Life Science
• Recognize the diversity of organisms by sorting plants and animals according to their classification.
Which of your state standards are aligned to these instructional targets?
Classroom Activities/Lesson Plan
Related Content: The Linnaean System and Vertebrates
There is a system that looks at differences and similarities in animals, called the Linnaean System. The Linnaean System groups animals by their
similarities including bone structure, skin type, habitats and abilities. The groups are called classes. All humans, for example are grouped into a
class because we have similar bone structure and characteristics when compared to a reptile or amphibian.
•
•
Read the book, The Linnaean System and Vertebrates, located in the n2y Library.
Follow up with discussion questions:
• Why are things put into groups?
• What are some examples of groups we use every day?
• Why do animals need to be put into groups?
• What are some groups we have for humans?
•
Use the comprehension questions to further discuss.
1. Which is an animal without a backbone? (invertebrate, vertebrate, flower)
2. Which class of animal must drink milk as a baby? (amphibian, bird, mammal)
3. What comes out of a hard shell with feathers? (bird, reptile, fish)
4. What has fins and stays in the water? (peacock, shark, giraffe)
5. What has gills and lungs to breathe? (zebra, toad, penguin)
Extending Learning
• Students can investigate various animals and sort them into their proper classes. Find pictures of a variety of animals. Have students
sort through the animals and select all of a certain class. After they have gone through and justified one class, move onto another.
Animal pictures may be downloaded from SymbolStix Online, which is free to all Unique subscribers by clicking on the SymbolStix
button at n2y.com.
Level 3
• Students will identify traits of various
animals among vertebrates.
Resources and Materials
Book: The Linnaean System and Vertebrates
Comprehension questions
© 2014 n2y
ULS, October 2014
Differentiated Tasks
Level 2
• Students will understand that animals are
put into groups.
Level 1
• Students will recognize that animals have
traits and can be put into groups.
Notes