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Examining Life

Class Title: Examining Life
Audience: 1st Grade
Offered: 2nd Quarter
Length: 1hr. 25minute (look-around time in the exploration hall included)

Preparing for this Class:

1. BEFORE coming to Quarry Hill, students should practice sketching and measuring.
2. This class is entirely inside and students don't necessarily need snow pants and boots.
3. OPTIONAL: Teachers may want to bring a digital camera to photograph the animals we will be sketching.

I. Class Description

Students will participate in animal puppet shows as puppeteers and audience members. These puppet shows provide a brief overview of a featured animal’s life cycle and the role of the seasons in their life cycles. After this introduction to animal life, students will carefully examine specific animals: snails, fish, and beetles. Discussion will emphasize how these animals are alike & how they are different, including the way they look, live, & move. Students will measure and draw each animal in their science workbooks. Paper will be provided to classes that do not bring their workbooks from school. Students will also do a matching activity in the Exploration Hall, pairing pictures of baby animals with their adult form. Students will also spend 15 minutes in our Exploration Hall where they will have further opportunities to use their scientific observation skills.

II. Correlation to MN Science Standards

1. Demonstrate an understanding that animals pass through life cycles that include a beginning, development into adults, reproduction and eventually death. For example: Use live organisms or pictures to observe the changes that occur during the life cycle of butterflies, meal worms or frogs. (1.4.3.1.1)
2. Recognize that describing things as accurately as possible is important in science because it enables people to compare their observations with those of others. (1.1.1.1.2)
3. Recognize that animals pass through the same life cycle stages as their parents. (1.4.3.1.2)

III. Science Vocabulary (*denotes a Quarry Hill vocabulary word)

*Vertebrate Abdomen Animal Features Ruler Head

*Invertebrate Insect Thorax Shape Color

Observe Antennae Gill cover Size Parent/Offspring

After completion of one of these programs please fill out and submit our evaluation form. You may fill it out and submit it online, or print it out and mail it to Quarry Hill Nature Center. Thank you for your time!