Animal Instinct

Learning Resource Type

Classroom Resource

Subject Area

English Language Arts
Science

Grade(s)

4

Overview

The teacher will present an informational text from the website, ReadWorks. Students will interact with this non-fiction text by annotating the text digitally. The students will answer the questions associated with the article as an assessment. This learning activity can introduce students to the concept of animals responding to information received through their senses, serve as reinforcement after students have already learned this concept, or be used as an assessment at the conclusion of a lesson. 

English Language Arts (2021) Grade(s): 4

ELA21.4.20

Use details and examples from a text to indicate what the text explicitly states.

UP:ELA21.4.20

Vocabulary

  • Details
  • Examples
  • Explicitly

Knowledge

Students know:
  • Explicit means directly stated within the text.
  • Specific details and examples from the text an be used to demonstrate an understanding of the text's explicit meaning.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • Identify details and examples from a text that demonstrates comprehension of the text's explicit meaning.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • Explicit meanings are directly stated in text, and they can use specific details and examples from the text to show they understood the text's explicit meaning.
Science (2015) Grade(s): 4

SC15.4.11

Investigate different ways animals receive information through the senses, process that information, and respond to it in different ways (e.g., skunks lifting tails and spraying an odor when threatened, dogs moving ears when reacting to sound, snakes coiling or striking when sensing vibrations).

UP:SC15.4.11

Vocabulary

  • investigate
  • evidence
  • transmit
  • perception
  • receptors
  • senses
  • sensory information
  • process
  • memories

Knowledge

Students know:
  • Different types of sense receptors detect specific types of information within the environment.
  • Sense receptors send information about the surroundings to the brain.
  • Information that is transmitted to the brain by sense receptors can be processed immediately as perceptions of the environment and/or stored as memories.
  • Immediate perceptions or memories processed by the brain influences an animal's actions or responses to features in the environment.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • Identify different ways animals receive, process, and respond to information.
  • Identify evidence of different ways animals receive, process, and respond to information to be investigated.
  • Plan ways to Investigate different ways animals receive, process, and respond to information.
  • Collect and communicate data of different ways animals receive, process, and respond to information.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • Sensory input, the brain, and behavioral output are all parts of a system that allows animals to engage in appropriate behaviors.

Scientific and Engineering Practices

Planning and Carrying out Investigations

Crosscutting Concepts

Systems and System Models

CR Resource Type

Learning Activity

Resource Provider

ReadWorks.org

Accessibility

Audio resources: includes a transcript or subtitles
Text Resources: Content is organized under headings and subheadings
ALSDE LOGO