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1st grade · Science · Unit 5 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.

New York State Learning Standards learning standard: 1-LS1-1; K-2-ETS1-2 · 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 New York

In the New York State Learning Standards, this is unit 5 of 8 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: New York State Education Department (NYSED)

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

    What does a fish use to breathe in water?

    • Gills
    • Lungs only
    • Fur
    • Feathers

  2. Question 2

    What do a bird's wings help it do?

    • Climb rocks
    • Swim deep
    • Dig
    • Fly

  3. Question 3

    Why do leaves face the sun?

    • To get rain only
    • To hide
    • To stay cold
    • To get sunlight

  4. Question 4

    Burrs stick to fur. People copied them to make…

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

  5. Question 5

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

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

  6. Question 6

    A hedgehog curls into a ball with spikes. People could copy this to…

    • make a soft bed
    • make music
    • protect something
    • cook food

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