Pre-Visit Activities : Habitat Hunt
K-Second Grade Online Curriculum : Habitats

THESE ITEMS MUST BE PRINTED INDIVIDUALLY
These materials are necessary for this activity. Click on each link to print.
Math Extension: "Habitat Hieroglyphics" Activity
Science Extension: "Animals and Plants Together" Activity

MAIN

Focus Question
What is a habitat?

Activity Synopsis
Students will observe living things on the school yard to see where the living things are found and determine what defines a habitat.

Time Frame
One hour 

Student Key Terms

Teacher Key Terms

OBJECTIVES

The learner will be able to:

STANDARDS

Standards Supported in Habitat Hunt Activity         

Grade Level

Standards

Kindergarten

K-1.1, K-1.3, K-2.1

1st Grade

1-1.1, 1-1.3, 1-2.1, 1-2.5

2nd Grade

2-1.1, 2-1.3, 2-1.4, 2-2.1, 2-2.3
* Bold standards are the main standards addressed in this activity.

 

 

 

Kindergarten Indicators

K-1.1 Identify observed objects or events by using the senses.
K-1.3

Predict and explain information or events based on observation or previous experience.
K-2.1 Recognize what organisms need to stay alive. (including air, water, food, and shelter)

First Grade Indicators

1-1.1 Compare, classify, and sequence objects by number, shape, texture, size, color, and motion, using standard English units of measurement where appropriate.
1-1.3 Carry out simple scientific investigations when given clear directions.
1-2.1  Recall the basic needs of plants (including air, water, nutrients, space, and light) for energy and growth.
1-2.5

Explain how distinct environments throughout the world support the life of different types of plants.

Second Grade Indicators

2-1.1 Carry out simple scientific investigations to answer questions about familiar objects and events.
2-1.3 Represent and communicate simple data and explanations through drawings, tables, pictographs, bar graphs, and oral and written language.
2-1.4  Infer explanations regarding scientific observations and experiences.
2-2.1 Recall the basic needs of animals including air, water, food, and shelter for energy, growth, and production.
2-2.3

Explain how distinct environments throughout the world support the life of different types of animals.

BACKGROUND

Key Points
This section will give you the main information you should know to teach the activity.

Detailed Information
This section gives more in-depth background to increase your own knowledge, in case you want to expand upon the activity or you are asked detailed questions by students.

The moon would make a lousy habitat for any living thing. Though there is plenty of space to move around, there is no food, no water, no shelter from the cold, and, probably the most immediate problem, no air. Though the chances of any living thing being transported to the moon anytime soon are fairly slim, it does illustrate a point that a habitat is more than just a place where an organism lives. It is the place where an organism can get all of the things it needs in order to survive.

Organisms need air, food, water and space to survive. Most organisms also need shelter. A place where an organism can get all of these life needs is its habitat. The Earth has great variability in climate, topography and accessibility of water. Despite this variability, just about every part of our planet is a habitat for some living thing because living things have evolved great variability in body structures and behaviors.

A habitat can be as large as continents (for the birds that migrate from South America to North America) or entire oceans (for migrating fish, sea turtles and whales) or as small as a moist piece of bread (for fungus) or your intestines (for the bacteria that help you digest your food). Put a whale on land or a bird in the ocean, though, and suddenly they are in big trouble. It is not a suitable habitat for them because they are not built to get air, food and water from this type of environment.

Even in environments that are limited in certain crucial life needs such as air or water, organisms evolve methods to find enough of those things to make that environment their habitat. For example there is much more oxygen in the atmosphere than in the oceans and yet the oceans are teeming with life. This is because the animals that live in the ocean have adaptations that allow them to pull the air they need to survive right out of the water (for example, fish and their gills). Another example is the deserts that have very little water in them but still support life. When camels, inhabitants of Arabian and Asian deserts, find water, they will drink as much as twenty gallons at a time and then will store this water in the fat in their humps. They can then go for weeks without water living off their hump stores. Cacti have shallow roots that extend a great distance from the plant itself and allow the cactus to collect a lot of water during the brief rainy periods. The water can then be stored in the thick stems of the cactus for the dry times.

Because animals are so dependent on having habitat available, we now know that habitat loss is the main reason that animals go extinct. Habitat loss can occur because of natural processes such as climate changes or volcanic eruptions. In recent centuries, though, it is the expansion of human populations that has lead to cataclysmic habitat loss across the planet. Not just urban development, but human activities such as farming, logging and mining take away the space other organisms need to survive. Pollution contaminates water and air which is another loss of habitat for organisms that depend on clean air and water. Organisms with specialized habitat needs, such as wood storks or shortnose sturgeon, begin to die out, while organisms who make urban areas their habitat, such as pigeons, squirrels and cockroaches, thrive. The changes we make in the environment drastically reduce the habitat for other species.

All living things need food, water, air and space, but they all have different methods of getting them. For this reason, every place on Earth is potentially the habitat of some living thing as long as at least small amounts of each of those essential things are available there. By preserving habitats, we help preserve our fellow organisms.

PROCEDURES

Materials

Procedure

  1. Review with students what living things are. Discuss with students that living things need a place to live and grow where they can get the things they need to survive. Explain that this place is called a habitat. Have students discuss what their habitat is and how they can get the things they need to live and grow in their habitat.
  2. Take the students outside onto the school yard and explain that they will be looking for living things and their habitats. As a group, identify a living thing on the playground and discuss where you found it. Discuss where the living thing might find air, food and water in the area. Discuss that this is the living thing's habitat. Do this with a few more living things until the students understand.
  3. Explain to students that they will look for living things on their own to try to determine the living thing's habitat. Give each student a data sheet to record what they saw and where they saw it. Students can either write or draw their observations.
  4. Bring the students into the classroom and review with them what they observed. List each of the living things the students saw on a chart on the board. Then list all the places the students saw the living thing. Explain that all the places the living thing was seen is the living thing's habitat. For example, if students saw ants on the ground, but some other students saw ants climbing a tree, both are part of the ant's habitat. If students saw grass in the schoolyard, but not in the woods near the school, explain that an open field is a habitat for grass, but not the woods.
  5.  Show students pictures of living things they are familiar with, such as fish, bumblebees, bluejays, cactus and people, and then show them pictures out of order of habitats these living things would be in such as ponds, a field of flowers, a tree, a desert and a city. Have students determine which living thing best fits into which habitat.

Follow-up question

  1. Do any living things make a person's house their habitat besides people? How do they get the things they need to survive?
  2. Can an animal live outside of its habitat? Can a fish live on land? Can a cow live up in a tree?

ASSESSMENT

Students will make two separate drawings each of an animal they choose in its habitat. Have reference books available for students to find out information about their animal.

Scoring Rubric (Out of 5 Points):

Cross-curricular Extensions
Language Arts Extension
Work together as a class to choose five animals that live in South Carolina, and then write two line poems about each animal. For example:

A dolphin is an animal that lives in the sea,
It eats fish and squid but breathes air just like me.

Students can also illustrate.

Math Extension
Have students compare the size of different organism's habitats. For example, which is bigger, the habitat of a tree or the habitat of a squirrel? Or which is bigger, the habitat of a bumblebee, or the habitat of an eagle? Have them discuss why certain organisms may need more space in their habitat. (Size comparison is one of the math standards.)

Social Studies Extension
Have students examine maps of South Carolina and try to decide what places in the state look like they are the habitats of people and what places look like they are the habitats of plants and animals.

Math Extension: "Habitat Hieroglyphics" Activity

Science Extension: "Animals and Plants Together" Activity

RESOURCES

Teacher Reference Books
Eyewitness Visual Dictionaries: The Visual Dictionary of Plants, DK Publishing, Inc., New York, 1992.
Using visually striking photographs and illustrations, this book identifies the various parts and structures of a variety of plants.

The National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Wildflowers: Eastern Region, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York 1979.

The National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Trees: Eastern Region, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York 1980.
The National Audubon Society Field Guides not only contain information to allow the user to identify specific plants, but also provide information on the habitat, range and life history of that plant. They also contain beautiful photographs.

Porcher, Richard D. Wildflowers of the Carolina Lowcountry and Lower Pee Dee, University of South Carolina Press, Columbia, SC, 1995.
Written by a biology professor at the Citadel, this book contains identification information as well as general information on the ecology and natural history of Lowcountry wildflowers. It contains beautiful photographs.

Raven, Peter H., Ray F. Evert and Susan E. Eichhorn. Biology of Plants, W.H. Freeman and Company, New York, 1999.
Though admittedly college textbooks are often a little too dry and complex, they are often the best resources for finding information on a particular subject. This college textbook is an excellent resource for anyone wanting to know more about the biology of plants.

Teal, John and Mildred. Life and Death of the Salt Marsh, Ballantine Books, New York, 1969.
An in-depth look at one of the most important and productive ecosystems in South Carolina, with chapters on spartina grass and the other marsh plants and their effect on the surrounding wildlife communities.

Teacher Reference Videos
Attenborough, Sir David. The Private Lives of Plants (Video series), Turner Home Entertainment, 1995.
Sir David Attenborough, who was responsible for the heralded Trials of Life video series, has put together this amazing documentary series that uses advanced camera techniques to show the life processes of plants. Though the entire series may be too advanced for elementary students, it is a wonderful resource for teachers.

Teacher Reference Websites
About.com: The Human Internet: Botany
botany.about.com/science/botany/
Information, other website links and live people who can answer questions about plants.

The Botanical Society of America
www.botany.org
Information on the society whose mission is to increase public awareness of botany. Includes links to kids' websites on plants.

The South Carolina Native Plants Society
cufp.clemson.edu/scnativeplants/
Information on the society, on the native plants of South Carolina and on the issues related to native and exotic species. Contains links to related websites.

Student Reference Books
Eyewitness Books: Plant, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc, New York, 1988.

Eyewitness Books: Tree, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc, New York, 1988.
These very attractive books use photographs, illustrations and text to teach the readers about plants and trees. Contains every thing from photographs that show how a seedling grows to photographs that show how fallen leaves decompose.

Kalman, Bobbie D. How A Plant Grows, Crabtree Publishing Company, 1996.
Text for students on plants that includes information on photosynthesis and the importance of plants to food chains. Includes experiments and activities.

The National Audubon First Field Guide: Trees, Scholastic, Inc, 1999.

The National Audubon First Field Guide: Wildflowers, Scholastic, Inc, 1998
These field guides for children use photographs and text to allow students to identify plants and to learn about their natural history. Also handy as references for teachers.

Zim, Herbert and Alexander Martin. Trees: A Golden Guide, Golden Press, New York, 1987.

Zim, Herbert and Alexander Martin. Flowers: A Golden Guide, Golden Press, New York, 1987.
These field guides for children use illustrations and text to allow students to identify plants and to learn about their natural history. Though not as attractive as the Audubon guides, they are good references for students and teachers.

Student Fiction Books
Fleischmann, Paul. Weslandia, Candlewick Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1999.
This is a picture book, but it is one that can be appreciated by 3rd, 4th and 5th graders. It is the story of an unpopular boy who uses the plants growing in his backyard to create his own civilization. It is a very entertaining story and is effective for showing the dependence of humans on plants.

Morrison, Gordon. Oak Tree, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 2000.
The story of an oak tree, how it changes through the seasons and how different animals in the community make use of it. Each page contains natural history information on the various organisms mentioned.

Curricula
Aquatic Project WILD
Aquatic Project WILD is an interdisciplinary curriculum for K-12 teachers on aquatic wildlife and ecosystems. The activities cover a broad range of environmental and conservation topics. For information on signing up for workshops, call the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources at (803) 734-3814.

For more information click on:
www.dnr.state.sc.us/cec/educate/edu1.html#teacher

Hunken, Jorie and the New England Wild Flower Society. Botany For All Ages: Discovering Nature Through Activities For Children and Adults, The Globe Pequot Press, Old Saybrook, Connecticut, 1993.
A collection of hands-on activities about plants.

Project WILD
Project WILD is an interdisciplinary curriculum for K-12 teachers on a broad range of environmental and conservation topics. For information on signing up for workshops, call the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources at (803) 734-3814.

For more information click on:
www.dnr.state.sc.us/cec/educate/edu1.html#teacher

Field Trip Sites
Plants in a Salt Marsh
One of the best places to see the importance of plants in a habitat is in salt marshes. The Spartina grass that is so important to this habitat as the base of the food chain can be seen everywhere. Many other species (wading birds, fiddler crabs, oysters, periwinkle snails) can be easily observed participating in these food chains. Below are listed some of the sites where salt marshes are accessible to students.

Plants
Plants are an integral part of any habitat, and are found almost anywhere. Certain sites in South Carolina are well known for the rare and interesting plants they contain. Below is a listing of some of these sites.

If you are aware of other books, videos, websites, curricula, fieldtrip destinations or other materials that would make excellent resources for this activity, please e-mail them to us for inclusion in this list at: Education@scaquarium.org