Subscribe

1st grade · Science · Unit 5 of 7

Ideas from Nature

Plant and animal parts give us ideas.

What your child practices

Practices how plants and animals use their outside parts to survive, and how people copy those parts to design solutions, like burrs and hook-and-loop straps.

Maine Learning Results learning standard: 1-LS1-1 · designing solutions by copying how the shapes of plant and animal parts help them work

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Plants and animals have parts that help them live.
  2. Owls have big eyes to see at night. Quills protect a porcupine.
  3. People copy these parts to make new things.

Example: What do a plant's roots do? Roots grow down into the soil. They take in water. Answer: take in water

Ideas from Nature in Maine

In the Maine Learning Results, this is unit 5 of 7 in 1st grade Science, after Parents & Babies and before Signals Far Away.

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.

  1. Question 1

    People made airplane wings by watching…

    • snails
    • worms
    • fish
    • birds

  2. Question 2

    What does a fish use to breathe in water?

    • Gills
    • Lungs only
    • Fur
    • Feathers

  3. Question 3

    What do a bird's wings help it do?

    • Swim deep
    • Climb rocks
    • Fly
    • Dig

  4. Question 4

    Why does a duck have webbed feet?

    • To swim well
    • To see better
    • To climb trees
    • To dig holes

  5. Question 5

    People made snowshoes by copying…

    • big, wide feet
    • a turtle shell
    • a fish tail
    • a bird's beak

  6. Question 6

    A tree's roots hold soil in place. People copy this to…

    • grow more rocks
    • make it rain
    • stop hills from washing away
    • make roads slippery

More 1st grade