Subscribe

4th grade · Science · Unit 4 of 11

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).

New York State Learning Standards 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 New York

In the New York State Learning Standards, this is unit 4 of 11 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: 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

    Which animal's coloring helps it hide on a tree trunk?

    • a pink flamingo
    • a bright red cardinal
    • a brown moth

  2. Question 2

    Which is a behavior adaptation?

    • A rabbit having long ears
    • A fish having gills
    • A beaver slapping its tail to warn others

  3. Question 3

    Humans rely on plants for…

    • food and oxygen
    • only noise
    • only metal

  4. Question 4

    What is an adaptation?

    • a type of rock
    • a feature or behavior that helps a living thing survive
    • a kind of habitat

  5. Question 5

    Why do pine trees have needles instead of wide leaves?

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

  6. Question 6

    Why is a fish's streamlined body useful?

    • It helps it climb
    • It stays dry
    • It moves easily through water

More 4th grade