Learning Resource Type

Classroom Resource

Growth and Development of Organisms: Eagles

Subject Area

Science

Grade(s)

3

Overview

Students learn that living things experience diverse lifecycles. For example, baby birds go through distinct stages as they grow up into adult birds. This lesson uses the eagle to model universal avian life stages: from egg, to chick, to fledgling juvenile, to adult.

Students begin by creating a collage of bird images, discussing the characteristics that all birds share. A well-known story, The Ugly Duckling, is then read to introduce the concept of change over the life span. Students then use segments from the Nature film American Eagle to learn how eagles look and act in different stages of their life cycle. At the conclusion of the lesson, students diagram the eagle life cycle, and may enhance their science learning with vocabulary and math activities.

    Science (2015) Grade(s): 3

    SC15.3.6

    Create representations to explain the unique and diverse life cycles of organisms other than humans (e.g., flowering plants, frogs, butterflies), including commonalities such as birth, growth, reproduction, and death.

    Unpacked Content

    UP:SC15.3.6

    Vocabulary

    • Create
    • Explain
    • Representations
    • Unique
    • Diverse
    • Commonalities
    • Life cycles
    • Organisms
    • Birth
    • Growth
    • Reproduction
    • Death

    Knowledge

    Students know:
    • Organisms are born, grow, reproduce and die in a pattern known as a life cycle.
    • Organisms have unique and diverse life cycles.
    • An organism can be classified as either a plant or an animal.
    • There is a causal direction of the cycle (e.g., without birth, there is no growth; without reproduction, there are no births).

    Skills

    Students are able to:
    • Create representations to describe that organisms have unique and diverse life cycles but all have in common birth, growth, reproduction, and death.
    • Explain the unique and diverse life cycles of organisms other than humans.
    • Explain commonalities of organisms such as birth, growth, reproduction, and death.

    Understanding

    Students understand that:
    • Patterns of change can be used to make predictions about the unique life cycles of organisms.

    Scientific and Engineering Practices

    Developing and Using Models

    Crosscutting Concepts

    Patterns
    Link to Resource

    CR Resource Type

    Lesson/Unit Plan

    Resource Provider

    PBS
    Accessibility

    Accessibility

    Text Resources: Content is organized under headings and subheadings
    License

    License Type

    Custom
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