Discovering Vertebrate Animals!

Discovering Vertebrate Animals is a didactic unit designed for fifth graders for the area of Natural Sciences.






1. Learning outcomes / Evaluation criteria

• To distinguish vertebrate and invertebrate animals
• To identify the 5 groups of vertebrate animals.
• To recognize the features of each group
• To classify vertebrate animals according to their characteristics.

2. Subject Content

• Characteristics of vertebrate and invertebrate animals.
• Features of mammals, reptiles, birds, amphibians and fish.
• Body parts.
• Basic life processes: Nutrition and reproduction.

3. Language Content / Communication

Vocabulary:

• Nouns: mammals, reptiles, birds, fish, amphibians, skin, fur, shell, scales, gills, lungs, legs, bone, fin, tail, wings
• Adjectives: wet, dry, cold blooded, aquatic, terrestrial, oviparous, viviparous, smooth, herbivore, carnivore, omnivore.
• Verbs: have got, be, breathe, lay, can, hatch.
• Prepositions: in, on, with

Structures:

• It’s got…
• It can ….
• It ‘s
• It lives on land/ in water
• It is covered with
• It breathes with…
• It reproduces…
• Describing animal features.

 4. Methodology

Groups of 4 students

5. Evaluation: The evaluation will consist of two parts:

• Quiz: the students will answer multiple choice questions about vertebrate animals.
• Class presentation: each group will be given a grid to mark the talks of the other groups according to the following criteria: layout, content and the clarity in the organization and exposition of ideas. They will rate each criterion with 1, 2 or 3 stars. The teacher will also fill in another grid. The final mark will take into account all the contributions.

SESSION 1:

1. Warming up. Discuss the following questions with your classmates:

2.Watch the video and circle TRUE or FALSE:

ü   Invertebrates have got a backbone.                         

ü   Reptiles are invertebrate animals.    

ü   Amphibians spend their life on land and in water

ü   Cold blooded animals keep their body temperature constant.

ü   Vertebrates are classified into: mammals, amphibians, reptiles, birds and fish.

3. Watch the following video and complete the sentences with words from the box:

4. Classify the following cards into vertebrate and invertebrate:

VERTEBRATE ANIMALS	INVERTEBRATE ANIMALS

SESSION 2:

1. Warming up. Look at the following flashcards and decide which group (MAMMALS, REPTILES, FISH, AMPHIBIANS or BIRDS) they belong to:

2. Watch the presentation of the vertebrate animals and fill in the chart with their characteristics:

VERTEBRATE ANIMALS
FISH
AMPHIBIANS
REPTILES
BIRDS
MAMMALS

3. Horse racing: Match animal characteristics to the corresponding group.

4. Look at the pictures and complete the following sentences:

• It’s a …
• It’s got….
• It can ….
• It ‘s …
• It lives …
• It is covered with …
• It breathes with…
• It reproduces…

SESSION 3:

1. Warming up. Discuss the following questions with your classmates:

2. Watch a video of a trout dissection:

3. Dissect a trout in groups and draw a picture.

4. Trout anatomy: The Hangman

SESSION 4 and SESSION 5:

1. Warming up. Discuss the following questions with your classmates:

2. Choose a vertebrate animal and search information in National Geographic Kids.

3. Organize the information (group, body characteristics, reproduction, habitat, breathing, etc) using a star diagram

4. Use the information from your star diagram to make a PowerPoint Presentation.

SESSION 6:

1. Give a little presentation to your class.

2. Assess your classmates’ presentation using the following chart

SESSION 7:

1. Fill in the glossary:

Mammal                     _________________

Reptile                        _________________

Bird                             _________________

Fish                             _________________

Amphibian                  _________________

Skin                            _________________

Fur                              _________________

Shell                           _________________

Scale                          _________________

Gills                            _________________

Lungs                          _________________

Legs                            _________________

Bone                           _________________

Fin                              _________________

Tail                              _________________

Wing                           _________________

Wet                             _________________

 Dry                            _________________

Cold blooded              _________________

Hot blooded                _________________

Aquatic                       _________________

Terrestrial                   _________________

Oviparous                   _________________

Viviparous                  _________________

 Smooth                      _________________

Herbivore                   _________________

Carnivore                   _________________

Omnivore                   _________________

Have got                     _________________

Be                               _________________
Breathe                       _________________

Lay                             _________________

Can                             _________________

Hatch                          _________________

                       

2. Let’s review! Quiz.