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1st grade · Science · Unit 6 of 8

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.

Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards benchmark: 1L.3.2.2.2 · solving a human problem by copying how plants and animals use their parts

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 Minnesota

In the Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards, this is unit 6 of 8 in 1st grade Science, after Plant Parts at Work 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: Minnesota Department of Education (MDE)

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

    Burrs stick to fur. People copied them to make…

    • zippers of metal
    • buttons
    • glue
    • hook-and-loop straps

  2. Question 2

    What does a fish use to breathe in water?

    • Fur
    • Lungs only
    • Gills
    • Feathers

  3. Question 3

    A turtle hides in its shell. People copied this to make…

    • a kite
    • a helmet
    • a spoon
    • a pillow

  4. Question 4

    A porcupine has quills to…

    • swim
    • smell flowers
    • fly
    • protect itself

  5. Question 5

    A rose has thorns. What do they do?

    • Make seeds
    • Keep animals from eating it
    • Hold water
    • Make it smell

  6. Question 6

    How could you copy a bat's ears to help you hear?

    • Make big cupped ears
    • Use small earplugs
    • Cover your ears
    • Wear a helmet

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