1st grade · Science · Unit 1 of 7
Animal Survival
How animals stay safe and warm
What your child practices
Body features (thick fur, webbed feet, shells, camouflage) and behaviors (hibernating, migrating, storing food) that help animals survive.
Alaska content standards learning standard: 1-LS1-1 · how animals' outside parts help them survive
How we explain it
Children can open this short lesson before they practice.
- Body parts help animals live: webbed feet swim, thick fur keeps warm.
- Things animals do help too, like storing nuts.
- Some sleep all winter (hibernate). Some fly south (migrate).
Example: Many bears sleep all winter. What is that called? A long winter sleep is called hibernating. Answer: hibernating
Animal Survival in Alaska
In the Alaska content standards, this is unit 1 of 7 in 1st grade Science, before Light & Sound.
Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.
Source: Alaska Department of Education and Early Development
Sample questions
A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.
Question 1
Frogs can't keep warm in winter. What do many of them do?
🐸- 🐻grow thick fur
- 🐦fly south
- 💤rest in mud or leaves until spring
💤 rest in mud or leaves until spring
Hint: Many frogs hide in mud or under leaves and rest all winter. That is hibernating.
Question 2
Which animal flies south for the winter?
- 🐿️squirrel
- 🦆duck
- 🐸frog
🦆 duck
Hint: Many ducks fly to warmer places for winter. That is called migrating.
Question 3
Many bears sleep all winter. What is this called?
🐻- 🏊swimming
- 🐦migrating
- 💤hibernating
💤 hibernating
Hint: A long winter sleep is called hibernating. Bears wake up in spring!
Question 4
What helps a bird fly?
🐦- 🐢a hard shell
- 🐟fins
- 🪶wings and feathers
🪶 wings and feathers
Hint: Birds flap their wings. Light feathers help them lift into the air.
Question 5
Why does a squirrel hide nuts in the fall?
🐿️- 🐦to give to birds
- 🛏️to make a bed
- ❄️to eat in winter
❄️ to eat in winter
Hint: Food is hard to find in winter, so squirrels save nuts for later.
Question 6
Is it a body part or something an animal does?
Sort into: 🦶 body part · 🏃 something it does
- 🐟fins
- 🦆webbed feet
- 🦫builds a dam
- 🌰stores nuts
- 🐦flies south in fall
- 🦉sharp beak
🦶 body part: fins, webbed feet, sharp beak · 🏃 something it does: builds a dam, stores nuts, flies south in fall
Hint: Body parts are things an animal has, like fur. Other things are what it does, like sleeping.