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A couple activities/assessments I have done around adaptations:
- After watching videos about how seeds get around (there's an excellent overview on BrainPop Jr, plus I supplemented with videos from YouTube showing different methods of seed dispersal), students sorted plants by dispersal method and then built their own larger-than-life seeds to be dispersed in a manner of their choice. Some of these, like wind or water dispersal or sticking to animal fur, they could even test out.
- Students went outside and selected a plant that interested them. They analyzed it to figure out if it was well-adapted to its habitat or not, looking through the lens of water, sunlight, seed dispersal, and protection from getting eaten. For example, if it is a garden plant that needs humans to water it, it isn't well adapted to the natural habitat in our area.
- Sometimes I teach plant and animal adaptations together. I always wrap up animal adaptations with an invent-an-animal activity where students come up with their own imagined animal that is adapted to a chosen habitat. When I have also been teaching plant adaptations, I then shuffle up the invented animals and assign each to a different student, who must invent a plant that is somehow related to the animal and also is well-adapted to the same chosen habitat. (For example, the invented plant might disperse its seeds by passing through the digestive tract of the animal, or even be a carniverous plant that feeds on an invented insect!)
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