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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).

Maine Learning Results 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 Maine

In the Maine Learning Results, 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: 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

    Why does an Arctic hare have thick white fur in winter?

    • It helps it fly
    • It helps it swim
    • It keeps warm and blends in with snow

  2. Question 2

    Why do many birds fly south in autumn?

    • to find snow
    • to sleep under water
    • to find food and warmer weather

  3. Question 3

    Why do pine trees have needles instead of wide leaves?

    • Needles are softer
    • Needles make fruit
    • Needles lose less water and shed snow

  4. Question 4

    How do some animals help plants spread seeds?

    • By planting trees on purpose
    • By drinking the soil
    • By eating fruit and dropping seeds elsewhere

  5. Question 5

    What is pollination?

    • moving pollen so a plant can make seeds
    • making honey
    • cutting flowers

  6. Question 6

    Which is the best habitat for a polar bear?

    • sea ice in the Arctic
    • a warm rainforest
    • a hot desert

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