T E
A C H E R ’ S
N O T E S
Focus:
Students explore habitats
and communities: what they are, how
they interrelate, and how humans
affect them.
Learning Goals:
Students will have opportunities to learn
• how to correctly use the terms biome,
habitat, species, community, ecosystem,
population, food chain, and food web
• how to identify and describe different
habitats
• that plants and animals are interdependent
• that plants and animals adapt to survive in
different habitats
• that changes to habitats can affect plants
and animals and the way they interrelate
• how human activities harm ecosystems in many
ways
• how humans can help protect living organisms and
the environment
Discussion Prompts:
© Scholastic Canada Ltd., 2010
• Where do animals live?
• Where do plants live?
• What is a habitat?
• What do plants and animals need to survive?
• How do plants and animals help each other?
• How does thick fur help animals in cold climates
survive?
• Do some animals move from one habitat to
another? Why? When?
• How do people depend on plants and animals?
Assessment Prompts:
• Do students demonstrate, in their discussions and
answers to questions, understanding of the science
vocabulary used in the cards for this unit?
• Are students able to carry out the skills of scientific
inquiry, following activity procedure steps safely and
accurately, making observations when appropriate?
• Assess students’ responses during discussions.
- Do students understand that habitats can be
found in many places? Can they point out
habitats in different locations? Can they describe
different habitats?
- Can students give an example of how people
depend on plants and animals?
- Are students able to describe the special
features of some plants and animals that help
them survive?
• Can students create a simple food chain showing
the relationship between three or more organisms?
• Can students suggest ways that humans can help
ecosystems thrive? Can they list ways to reduce the
negative impact of humans on ecosystems?
Links to PCSP Student Book Healthy Habitats:
Card 1: see Lessons 2 and 3
Card 2: see Lessons 2, 3, 9, and 10 (and
Variety of Life: Lesson 3)
Card 3: see Lessons 2, 5–8, and 10
Card 4: see Lessons 4 and 8
Card 5: see Lessons 2, 3, 7, 9, 11, and 12
Focus:
Students explore biomes and habitats.
Introduce students to the
topic with the video of a
tree frog climbing up a leafy
bush. Discuss the video and
any comments or questions
students may have.
Activity Description:
Students watch a simple
animation of Earth revolving,
which demonstrates clearly
how much of Earth is covered
in water. Text describes the
aquatic biome, providing the
answer to the Think question.
Learning Goal: Students
enhance their understanding
of biomes—large areas
sharing characteristics, such
as climate.
© Scholastic Canada Ltd., 2010
Ask Students: What are
the characteristics of one or
more biomes? ( Deserts are
often hot and dry. Forests are
usually fairly wet and have
many trees.)
Assessment: Can students
list three or more biomes?
(deserts, forests, grasslands,
tundra, aquatic) Did students
describe the characteristics of
one or more biomes?
PCSP Interactive Science Teacher’s Notes
Activity Description: When
students click on the orange icon,
a new screen, entitled “Biomes
of Africa,” appears. Text explains
how major biomes can be divided
into smaller biomes. An interactive
map shows the different biomes
of Africa. When students click on
a coloured region on the map, a
pop-up photograph reveals an
animal that is typical of that region,
along with the type of biome (e.g.,
grassland).
Learning Goals: Students extend
their understanding of biomes and
understand how different biomes
attract different animals.
Ask Students: Can you make
a chart showing the animals that
come from each area? Why do you
think fennec foxes and zebras live in
different regions? (prefer different
habitats)
Activity Description:
Students see an animated
illustration of a coral reef with fish
swimming. The text under the
main heading provides the answer
to the Think question. Students
can then click on yellow boxes and
drag them to the correct position
in the coral reef scene. This is a
timed activity.
Learning Goal: Students extend
their learning about a specific
habitat—the coral reef.
Ask Students: What is the
same about these organisms found
in the coral reef habitat? What is
different?
Assessment: Can students
identify the main characteristics of
a coral reef habitat? (warm shallow
water, huge number of organisms)
Assessment: Do students’ charts
show one species from each area on
the map of Africa?
2
Activity Description: Corresponding to page 4
of the card, this screen includes the illustration of a
prairie dog habitat (with a simple animation) and
a blank writing tablet on which students may type.
Students click on “Write text” to activate this feature.
Alternatively, students may write out their responses in
their Science Journals.
Learning Goal: Students identify key characteristics of a specific habitat.
Ask Students: What is the prairie dog habitat like? (lots of grass, few trees,
fairly dry soil, sometimes desert conditions) Where do most prairie dogs live in
Canada?
Assessment: Are students able to describe the prairie dog habitat accurately?
Activity Description:
Corresponding to page 4 of the
card, this screen extends to reveal
an illustration of a burrow. The
new screen is titled “Dirt Diggers.”
Students discover the answer to
the Think question by playing the
drag-and-drop activity with a wide
variety of animals from around the
world. This is a timed activity.
Learning Goal: Students
identify burrowing and nonburrowing animals.
Ask Students: What burrowing
animals live in your community?
What features enable them to
burrow?
© Scholastic Canada Ltd., 2010
Assessment: Do students
understand why some animals
burrow underground? Have
students describe the main features
of this underground habitat. (dry,
not too cold, grassland biome)
PCSP Interactive Science Teacher’s Notes
3
Focus:
Students explore ecosystems
and how plants and animals interact
within an ecosystem.
Activity Description: Students see an illustration of a rainforest and
listen to a sound recording of rainforest animals. Text describes the rainforest ecosystem, providing the answer to the first question (of two) posed
in the Think question.
By clicking an orange icon near the Think question, students click to
another page, which provides the answer to the
continued next page
Video: A hungry lioness chases
a herd of zebras.
Activity Description: Students see an illustration of a desert ecosystem with
many desert animals. Students play a drag-and-drop activity to label correctly
the animals pictured. This is a timed activity. Students are then asked to write
how these animals might interact, which pertains to the second part of the Think
question.
© Scholastic Canada Ltd., 2010
Learning Goal: Students explore how organisms interact within a specific
ecosystem—the desert.
Ask Students: Which animals eat which other animals? How else might these
animals interact? ( Larger animals eat smaller animals. Some animals eat plants
and seeds. Small mammals may eat “leftovers” from a larger animals’ kill.) How
does the thick stem of the cactus help this plant survive in the desert? (Note:
This is an optional question relating to other learning goals.)
Assessment: Have students re-write their written responses in their
Science Journals after, or instead of, the typing activity. Check students’ written
responses. Do students understand which animals eat which other animals?
PCSP Interactive Science Teacher’s Notes
Introduce students to
the topic with the video
that shows zebras joining
wildebeests at a watering
hole. Discuss the video
and any comments or
questions students may
have.
Activity Description:
Students see a photograph
of a lion killing a zebra. The
text under the main heading
(“How Animals Interact”)
provides the answer to the
Think question. Students can
then click on another Think
box: “What could cause a
population to change?” This
takes them to a drag-anddrop activity where they must
place the photos and labels in
the correct column. Three of
the photos show factors that
increase populations, while
three other photos show factors
that decrease populations. This
is a timed activity.
Learning Goal: Students
explore how organisms interact
within ecosystems.
Ask Students: How could
bad weather decrease the
number continued next page
4
Activity Description: Corresponding to page 4 of the card, this screen presents
an interactive way of completing the puzzle from scratch. The puzzle illustrates the
levels of life, from “individual” to “biosphere.” This is a timed activity.
Learning Goals: Students learn to use science and technology terms accurately,
including ecosystem, community, population, and individual. Students extend and
enrich their learning about the organizational levels of the environment and learn to
use new science terms (biosphere, biome).
Ask Students: What does this diagram show? Why is this diagram a good way to
present this information? How else could you present this information?
Assessment: Do students fully grasp the concept that each level of life is
increasingly more complex and contains more species?
continued from page 4
second Think question. Students
can play a matching game by
dragging green boxes to the
correct position, labelling five
animals. This is a timed activity.
By clicking an icon near the Think
question (“How are living things
linked in a rainforest ecosystem?”),
students can learn about the flow
of energy in a rainforest ecosystem
by playing another drag-and-drop
activity.
© Scholastic Canada Ltd., 2010
Learning Goal: Students
enhance their understanding of
ecosystems by learning about
rainforests.
continued
from page 4
of animals in an ecosystem?
How does more competition for food and water affect the
number of animals in an ecosystem?
Assessment: Do students understand that a number of
factors can affect the population of organisms within an
ecosystem?
PCSP Interactive Science Teacher’s Notes
Ask Students: Can you
describe the characteristics of a
rainforest? ( Rainforests are very
wet, dark, have many trees, plants,
and animals, including tapirs,
toucans, snails, termites, and tree
frogs.)
Assessment: Are students able
to describe a rainforest ecosystem
accurately?
5
Focus:
Students explore a variety
of food chains and food webs.
Activity Description: The text next to the Think box provides its
answer. Students play a drag-and-drop activity to place a series of different
organisms into the illustrated table.
After clicking on another Think question (“Which living things in a food
chain or food web would have the largest population?”), students view a
screen that includes an energy pyramid. There is a wide base containing the
producers and a pointed apex containing the secondary consumers. Students
drop the labels into the correct position on the energy pyramid.
Learning Goals: Students classify and identify organisms according to
their role in a food chain and learn how energy is transferred from producers
to consumers.
Ask Students: Which way should the arrow point in a food chain showing
a fox and a rabbit? (towards the fox)
Assessment: Do students understand
the role of producers in food
webs? Give students the names
of ten organisms and ask them
to classify them. (producers:
milkweed, grass, maple tree;
primary consumers: deer,
moose, rabbits, mice; secondary
producers: minke whale, grizzly
bear, eagle, lynx, cougar )
Introduce students to
the topic with the video
of a woodchuck eating
grass. Discuss the video
and any comments or
questions students may
have.
Video: A brown bear
catches a salmon.
Activity Description:
Students see an illustration
of a sunflower and read text
that provides the answer to the
Think question. A drag-and-drop
activity allows students to label
the illustration demonstrating
photosynthesis.
© Scholastic Canada Ltd., 2010
By clicking an icon near the Think
question (“How do underwater
plants make their food?”), students click to another page with a photograph of a kelp forest. The text
under the Think question provides its answer. Students can play a matching game by dragging green boxes
to the correct position and labelling an illustration of a kelp forest food chain.
Learning Goals: Students review photosynthesis and explore a food chain in a kelp forest ecosystem.
Ask Students: Can you describe photosynthesis? Can you draw a food chain in a kelp forest ecosystem?
Assessment: Do students understand the importance of sunlight to ecosystems? Do students grasp that
organisms depend on one another within specific communities and habitats? Can they express this concept
with examples?
PCSP Interactive Science Teacher’s Notes
6
Activity Description: Corresponding to page 4 of the card, this screen
presents an interactive, drag-and-drop activity to identify the animals in the
city scene (rather than making a list as suggested on the card). This is a timed
activity. (Note: Students must drop the labels on top of the orange dots.)
Learning Goal: Students learn that ecosystems, and different kinds of animals,
are found everywhere.
Ask Students: Can you identify some different plants that appear in this
illustration? Do you have an ecosystem like this in your area? If so, describe it. If
not, describe a different ecosystem in your area.
© Scholastic Canada Ltd., 2010
Assessment: Do students understand that many different types of ecosystems
exist in the world? Can they list some of the organisms in one ecosystem?
PCSP Interactive Science Teacher’s Notes
7
Focus:
Students explore how some animals
adapt to survive in their environment.
Activity Description: Students
explore a screen with an illustration of a
camel walking in the desert and an inset
illustration showing a labelled, close-up
drawing of a camel hump. Text provides
the answer to the Think question.
Learning Goal: Students enhance
their understanding of structural
adaptations that allow animals to survive
in desert habitats.
Ask Students: Can you review the
characteristics of a desert? Write a
brief paragraph continued next page
Activity Description:
Students see a screen with
various photographs of animals
from the Arctic and Antarctic.
Students play a drag-and-drop
activity where they must place
the correct symbol on each
animal to designate where they
are from (Arctic, Antarctic,
both). This is a timed activity.
Learning Goal: Students
explore the variety of
continued next page
Introduce students to the
topic with the video of
penguins walking in the
Antarctic. Discuss the
video and any comments
or questions students may
have.
Activity Description:
Students see an illustration of
an ocean floor filled with deepsea organisms. They hear a
recording of bubbles and deepsea sounds. Text answers the
Think question. In a moment,
labels appear describing the
various organisms pictured.
Learning Goal: Students
explore how deep-sea organisms
have special adaptations that
allow them to survive in an
extreme environment.
A polar bear walks along
Video:
in
its Arctic
along
in its environment.
Arctic environment.
© Scholastic Canada Ltd., 2010
Ask Students: Why aren’t
there any plants on the ocean
floor? (no sunlight ) What is so special about hydrothermal vents? (create a warmer environment
where some organisms can live)
Assessment: Ask students to present orally one deep-sea organism of their choice. Check to
see if students have described the adaptations and characteristics that allow this organism to
survive at the bottom of the sea.
PCSP Interactive Science Teacher’s Notes
8
Activity Description: Corresponding to page 4 of the card,
this screen presents a bar graph activity. Students click and drag
the bars up and down to show the high and low temperatures in
each region.
Learning Goal: Students learn that different regions have very
different ranges in temperature.
Ask Students: How do the different ranges in temperature
affect the living things in each region?
Assessment: Do students understand that temperature can
vary widely from one region (or biome) to another?
continued from page 8
explaining how camels have
adapted to survive in the
desert.
Assessment: Check
students’ understanding of
animal adaptations by reading
their paragraphs about camels.
Have students provided
examples or evidence to
support their responses?
continued from page 8
organisms that are able to
survive in the extremely cold
climates of the Arctic and
Antarctic.
© Scholastic Canada Ltd., 2010
Ask Students: What is
migration? Explain the term
hibernation? What does
camouflage mean? How do
migration, hibernation, and
camouflage all help organisms
survive in cold climates?
Assessment: Can students
define migration, hibernation,
and camouflage correctly? Can
they provide an example of an
animal that uses one or more
of these ways to survive in
extreme cold?
PCSP Interactive Science Teacher’s Notes
9
Focus:
Students explore how people
affect ecosystems and habitats.
Introduce students to the
topic with the video of young
people picking up garbage on
a beach. Discuss the video and
any comments or questions
students may have.
Activity Description: Students
see a photograph of a fishing boat
and a large catch of fish. The text
under the main heading
Activity Description: This screen
extends to reveal a larger, close-up
view of the panoramic illustration on the
bottom left of the card. The new screen
is titled “Human Impact on Ecosystems.”
Clicking on the red buttons makes
sound effects play, labels appear, and
animations, such as smoke, appear. By
clicking the orange boxes with arrows,
students can “scroll” back and forth
across the panoramic illustration.
Learning Goal: Students analyze
some of the negative impacts of human
activities on the environment.
© Scholastic Canada Ltd., 2010
Ask Students: How does a
shrinking forest impact the animals
that live there? Why do we cut down
forests? How does polluted water and
acid rain affect fish? How do we cause
pollution in waterways and in the air?
Assessment: Have students draw
their own panoramic illustration. Ask
them to draw and label things that
protect the environment, such as
conservation areas, recycling plants,
and windmills.
PCSP Interactive Science Teacher’s Notes
continued next page
Activity Description:
Activity Description: This screen
The screen reveals a map of
reveals a photograph of a polluted
Australia and a photograph
waterway with a revolving Earth in the
of a cane toad. Text describes
central foreground. Many different ways to
the history of cane toads
“save our planet” appear in coloured boxes
in Australia, providing the
around Earth. By pressing “Clear text,”
answer to the Think question.
students see the prompt, “What else can
By clicking the orange box
you do?”
continued next page
with the arrow, students hear
frog sounds and see how the
number of cane toads has
spread quickly along the coast and across the land.
Learning Goals: Students learn how changes to species,
brought about by humans, can have a negative impact on the way
organisms interrelate. Students extend and enrich their learning by
investigating an example of an invasive species (the cane toad in
Australia) and its impact on the environment.
Ask Students: How do humans change the environment? How
do changes upset the balance? What effects can these changes have
upon species?
Assessment: Ask students to list some ways in which humans
have harmed the environment. Have students focus their responses
on living organisms.
10
Activity Description: Corresponding to page
4 of the card, this screen presents a map of the
world showing endangered species. The text focuses
on loss of habitat as a result of human activities,
leading to endangered animals.
Learning Goal: Students learn about eight
different endangered species from around the world.
Ask Students: Research to find one more species
to add to this map. Why is this species endangered?
Assessment: Did students find an example
of another endangered species? Did they plot it
correctly on a map of the world? Can students
explain why their species is endangered?
continued from page 10
This gives students the opportunity to list
other ways to help the environment.
Learning Goal: Students propose
ways to prevent or reduce harm to the
environment.
Ask Students: What aspects of the
environment are most important to you?
Why? What could you do to protect
them?
Assessment: Have students create a
plan for interacting with nature in positive
ways. Students’ responses should consider
ways to minimize any negative impacts
brought about by human activities.
Activity Description: After clicking on the
icon next to the Think box, a screen entitled
“Conservationists at Work” appears. Text answers the
Think question. An illustration of pages torn from a
diary contains four different photographs of a tiger and
her cubs, which students can drag and drop into the
correct position.
Learning Goal: Students explore the role of
conservationists who work to help animals and to
minimize the negative impacts of human activities on
habitats and species.
Ask Students: How do you think conservationists
and biologists might work together to help species
survive? What other jobs do people have that protect
the environment and organisms? Why is it good to
promote green spaces?
Assessment: Can students identify ways to protect
species from harm? Do students understand how
conservationists help to preserve habitats for species?
(“All Caught Out”) provides
the answer to the Think question.
© Scholastic Canada Ltd., 2010
continued from page 10
Learning Goal: Students explore how humans depend
on animals (fish) for nutrition, jobs, and a way of life.
Ask Students: Do you like to eat fish? Have you ever
gone fishing? What can we do to make sure there are
fish to eat for future generations?
PCSP Interactive Science Teacher’s Notes
Assessment: Have students write a paragraph about
this statement: “Human activities impact species and the
environment.” Check that students have included more
than one perspective in their responses (e.g., people
who make a living by fishing, people who eat fish,
conservationists).
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