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.
Maine Learning Results 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 Maine
In the Maine Learning Results, 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: Maine Department of Education
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
Is it a body part or something an animal does?
Sort into: 🦶 body part · 🏃 something it does
- 🌰stores nuts
- 🦉sharp beak
- 🦫builds a dam
- 🐦flies south in fall
- 🐻thick fur
- 🦆webbed feet
🦶 body part: sharp beak, thick fur, webbed feet · 🏃 something it does: stores nuts, builds a dam, flies south in fall
Hint: Body parts are things an animal has, like fur. Other things are what it does, like sleeping.
Question 2
Why do many animals grow thicker fur in the fall?
- 🌰to hide food
- ❄️to stay warm in winter
- 🏊to swim faster
❄️ to stay warm in winter
Hint: Winter is coming! Thicker fur keeps animals warm when it's cold.
Question 3
What helps a bird fly?
🐦- 🪶wings and feathers
- 🐟fins
- 🐢a hard shell
🪶 wings and feathers
Hint: Birds flap their wings. Light feathers help them lift into the air.
Question 4
Why do many birds fly south in the fall?
- 💤to sleep in caves
- ❄️to find more snow
- ☀️to find food and warmth
☀️ to find food and warmth
Hint: Winter is cold with little food, so many birds fly to warmer places. That is called migrating.
Question 5
What helps a fish swim?
- 🐟fins and a tail
- 🦵legs
- 🪶feathers
🐟 fins and a tail
Hint: A fish swishes its tail and uses its fins to steer.
Question 6
Frogs can't keep warm in winter. What do many of them do?
🐸- 🐻grow thick fur
- 💤rest in mud or leaves until spring
- 🐦fly south
💤 rest in mud or leaves until spring
Hint: Many frogs hide in mud or under leaves and rest all winter. That is hibernating.