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4th grade · Science · Unit 4 of 8

Adaptations & Habitats

How plants and animals survive where they live

What your child practices

Practices habitats, body and behavior adaptations, camouflage, migration and hibernation, and how plants and animals rely on each other (pollination, seed dispersal, soil nutrients).

Alaska content standards learning standard: 4-LS1-1 · structures that help plants and animals survive, grow and reproduce

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. An adaptation is a feature or behavior that helps a living thing survive.
  2. Body features help, like a cactus storing water or a moth's coloring hiding it.
  3. Behaviors help too, like hibernating through winter.
  4. Plants take water and nutrients from the soil and need sunlight.

Example: A bear sleeps deeply all winter. What is this behavior called? It helps the bear live through winter when food is scarce. A deep winter sleep is hibernation. Answer: hibernation

Adaptations & Habitats in Alaska

In the Alaska content standards, this is unit 4 of 8 in 4th grade Science, after Sound and before Energy on the Move.

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.

  1. Question 1

    A fawn has white spots on a brown coat. How do they help?

    • They make the fawn glow
    • They blend in with sunlight and shadows on the forest floor
    • They help it swim

  2. Question 2

    How do maple seeds travel?

    • They spin like helicopters on the wind
    • They are carried by ants only
    • They swim

  3. Question 3

    Which adaptation helps an eagle catch prey?

    • webbed feet
    • sharp talons and strong eyesight
    • thick fur

  4. Question 4

    Which is a behavior adaptation?

    • A beaver slapping its tail to warn others
    • A rabbit having long ears
    • A fish having gills

  5. Question 5

    What is hibernation?

    • a way of swimming
    • a kind of migration
    • a deep sleep that helps an animal survive winter

  6. Question 6

    Why do animals and plants depend on one another?

    • Plants do not need anything
    • Each provides things the other needs
    • Only animals need things

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