learning pack to understand basic classification keys, food chains and animal adaptations....

Learning PackLife on earth

aim

To understand basic classification keys, food chains and animal adaptations.

Objectives

To be able to identify animals using a key

To understand the difference between predator and prey and identify both

To understand that a food chain shows the consumption of energy

To identify and give reasons for three endangered animals

To identify three animals who have adapted to eat food and explain their adaptations

3.2

Mini Beasts and Things That roar! Learning PackLife On earTh

kS1 curriculum LinksScience: Working scientifically: asking simple questions and recognising that they can be answered in different ways; observing closely; identifying and classifying, using observations and ideas to suggest answers to questions; gathering and recording data to help in answering questions

Living things and their habitats: identify a variety of common animals including fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals; explore and compare the differences between things that are living, dead, and things that have never been alive; identify that most living things live in habitats to which they are suited and describe how different habitats provide for the basic needs of different kinds of animals and plants, and how they depend on each other; identify and name a variety of plants and animals in their habitats, including micro-habitats; describe how animals obtain their food from plants and other animals, using the idea of a simple food chain, and identify and name different sources of food

english:Spoken language: listen and respond appropriately; ask relevant questions; articulate and justify answers, arguments and opinions; give well-structured explanations; participate actively in collaborative conversations; develop understanding through speculating, hypothesising, imagining and exploring ideas; participate in discussions

3.3

Learning PackLife On earThMini Beasts and Things That roar!

kS2 curriculum LinksScience:Working scientifically: explore, talk about, test and develop ideas; ask their own questions about what they observe and make some decisions about which types of enquiry are likely to be the best ways of answering them; gathering, recording, classifying and presenting data in a variety of ways to help in answering questions; recording findings using simple scientific language, drawings, labelled diagrams, keys and tables

Living things and their habitats: recognise that living things can be grouped in a variety of ways; explore and use classification keys to help group, identify and name a variety of living things in their local and wider environment; recognise that environments can change and that this can sometimes pose dangers to living things; give reasons for classifying plants and animals based on specific characteristics

english:Spoken language: listen and respond appropriately; ask relevant questions; articulate and justify answers, arguments and opinions; give well-structured explanations; participate actively in collaborative conversations; develop understanding through speculating, hypothesising, imagining and exploring ideas; participate in discussions, presentations, role play and debates; consider and evaluate different viewpoints

Reading: retrieve and record information from non-fiction, summarising the main ideas and identify key details; distinguish between statements of fact and opinion; provide reasoned justifications for their views

3.4


Where?

Life on Earth Gallery, lower ground floor

What?

Use this Gallery to help your students engage with life processes – including keys, variation, habitats, extinction and environmental awareness – as well as loads of fantastic animals like the Leeds Tiger, the Armley Hippo and a giant Irish elk!

Top Spot?

Can your students find the fossilised dinosaur poo?!

Photography?

You may take pictures in this Gallery, but please ensure the flash is turned off as it can damage the objects.

collection

Leeds Museums and Galleries has over 800,000 natural history objects in its collection. Some of these are displayed in the Life on Earth Gallery, an ideal space for exploring Living Things and Their Habitats with Key Stage 1 and 2.

Leeds City Museum has an Amazing Animals Learning Journey on My Learning at www.mylearning.org

3.5

Learning PackLife On earTh

Before you visit Explain that there are lots of ways to learn about the Natural World – ask the pupils to think about what these ways are (looking, visiting places, reading books, watching documentaries, looking on the internet, visiting zoos). Tell them that they are going to learn about the natural world by visiting a museum – ask them to think about what they might see at a museum that could tell them about the natural world.

You might want to introduce discussions about:

stuffed animals feathers skins

skeletons eggs furs

bones seeds

fossils plants

Ask them if they think any of the animals and plants they will see will be alive. Explain that museums never kill animals to put on display, although this might have happened in the past, and many of the animals on display are now very old (over 100 years!). Museums keep animal specimens to study.

Ask the pupils to pick one of the following animals and draw it without looking at a picture: tuna fish, polar bear, tiger, parrot, stag beetle, peacock or an anteater. These animals can all be found in the Life on Earth Gallery. Ask them to consider questions they might want to try and find the answers to when they visit the museum.

These could include:

what does it look like? what does it eat?

what colour is it? where does it live?

how big is it?

Explain they might not find all these answers at the museum – but might find out different facts about their animal. The pupils should bring their picture and questions when they visit to check whether their picture was right and see if they can answer the questions, and remember: they can ask museum staff too! They can use the ‘Explore Life on Earth’ worksheet to find out about other animals.

Mini Beasts and Things That roar!

3.15: explore Life on earthLinked

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3.6


key Stage 1

during your visit

Make sure you don’t miss:

The Leeds backyard: have a look for the local wildlife in our Leeds backyard. How many of the creatures (big and small) have you seen near school or at home? How does this differ from the other environments you can see in the Gallery? Compare the backyard to the Rainforest.

Play the camouflage game: put on the cloaks and see how well hidden you are in different environments.

caring for the environment

floor key activity: find the large panel, on the pillar near the polar bear and ask pupils to choose an animal or bird from the panel, but keep which animal they have chosen a secret. Ask pupils to follow the lines on the floor by answering questions (such as, does your animal have wings).


3.7


key Stage 2

Using a key to identify animals and classification

during your visit


floor key activity: Find the large panel, on the pillar near the polar bear and ask pupils to choose an animal or bird from the panel, but keep which animal they have chosen a secret. Ask pupils to follow the lines on the floor by answering questions (such as, does you animal have wings) and fill in the ‘what is it?’ worksheet in this pack.

classification computer activity: Find the terminal next to the ape cases with the three interactives. Encourage your Gifted and Talented pupils to use this terminal to do the ‘What is it?’ and ‘What is it related to?’ games.

3.18: animal flowchart

3.19: What is it?

Linked WOrkSheeTS

after your visit Use the ‘Animal Flowchart’ worksheet and animal images from Leeds Museums and Galleries on My Learning (www.mylearning.org) to recap or introduce classification keys.

food chains

during your visit


What powers a rainforest? The interactive next to the Rainforest section which demonstrates food chains.

3.21: What does it eat?Linked

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3.8


3.23: Protecting habitatsLinked

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after your visit Create a human food chain! Students can make their own masks of animals and recreate food chains from the museum collection back at school.

Ask pupils to consider whether there should always be the sun at one end of the food chain, as the primary provider; and humans at the other end as the primary consumer.

endangered and extinct animals

during your visit


The light bulb and plastic bag: look out for this interactive to see what we can do to help the planet.

after your visit Ask the students to consider their local habitat (the school ground or local park), what changes might happen to affect the wildlife in these areas. This activity could be repeated with less familiar habitats, such as those seen at the Museum.

3.9

adaptations

during your visit


The adaptation case: find the case with the birds and bison in; it is to your right as you enter the Gallery, behind the ant race interactive. All the creatures in this case have adapted or evolved in some way to become more successful.

Some adaptations are structural, for example, a longer beak to help get food; some are behavioural, for example, mating calls.

The case is themed to include: the arms race (how predators and prey have adapted), extreme environments (how animals have evolved to survive) and searching for food.

The searching for food section contains a display of birds, with relevant tools showing what their beaks have adapted for, such as the Toucan with a potato peeler shaped beak because he peels berries and the White Tailed Eagle whose beak is like a knife for cutting meat.


ant race: see who can get the ants – the adapted anteater or the birds.

Linked gaLLery inTeracTive

3.22: amazing adapting animalsLinked

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3.10


habitats and homes for animals

during your visit


The rainforest: the case towards the back of Life on Earth displays many animals that live in a rainforest habitat including a jaguar, a peccary, an armadillo, a Brazilian tree porcupine, a snake, a sloth, exotic birds, butterflies and a harlequin beetle. There are also examples of rainforest plants such as Buttress roots (roots of Amazonian trees) and vines.

The habitat changes from day to night at the touch of a button. Watch carefully to see a change in some of the plants.

Ask the pupils to write down all the different plants and animals that live in a rainforest habitat, and then to find two animals that would not live in a rainforest.

a backyard in Leeds: ask the pupils what plants and animals they have seen at home – some of the pots may hold clues! Think about wild birds, like blue tits, sparrows or crows, and mammals like foxes. What might attract them to people’s gardens or yards?

Other habitats: look for other habitats such as back gardens, deserts, the Arctic and the sea.

after your visit Take the children around the school grounds looking for different animals and habitats. Ask the children to think about:

What animals they can see?

Where their habitats might be?

What habitats they can see?

What animals might live there?

Are the animals similar colours to their habitat?

What is special about their habitat?

3.16: Where do i Live?

3.17 (kS1) & 3.23 (kS2): Protecting habitats

3.14: Local habitats

Linked WOrkSheeTS

3.11

endangered and extinct animalsA lot of the animals on display at the Museum are now endangered or extinct. The Museum does not kill animals for display (although this was done in the past), but human behaviour and changes in the environment and nature have resulted in some species becoming threatened or dying out completely.

One of the reasons that species die out is because their habitats are threatened, a theme which is covered in the Life on Earth Gallery. The large case (with the polar bear in) is full of endangered animals, often because their habitat was not protected.


animal Why endangeredPolar Bear Climate change threatening

habitat.

yak Habitat destruction through farming.

Tiger Habitat destruction and hunting for folk remedies.

kakapo Introduction by humans of non native predators to New Zealand such as rats; which ate their eggs.

3.12


animal Why endangeredhouse Sparrow Possibly because sparrow

hawks are protected and hunt them; also changes in farming practices are changing their habitats.

Tuna Because we eat them! All fish levels at all time low.

Snow Leopard Rare anyway as their habitat is limited to snowy areas, also their food is hunted and they’re hunted for fur.

Panda Habitat destruction.

Turtle Loss of habitat, caught in fishing nets, hunted for meat.

3.13


animal Why extinctdodo The Dodo lived in

Mauritius, and became extinct in the mid-late 17th century because of human interventions such as hunting; destruction of forestry habitats; and the introduction of animals who threatened dodos and their food source.

irish elk Became extinct 10,000 years ago; maybe because it was hunted by man, maybe because it couldn’t get enough calcium for its antlers; or maybe because of climate change after the ice age.

Tasmanian Wolf Became extinct in 1936 because it was mercilessly hunted for attacking sheep.

Next to the endangered case is a display of three extinct animals.

Local habitats@ School

3.14 TaLk aBOUT iT Think aBOUT iT WriTe aBOUT iT draW iT dO iT

There are different habitats everywhere – even near your school. Go for a walk and look for some habitats.kS1

Draw the animals and the habitats that you see on your walk.

Write down any important words about what you see.


explore Life on earth@ Leeds city Museum

kS1

We have lots of animals in the Life on Earth Gallery. Can you help me sort the animals?

Can you find…?

Is it a….?

Draw a line to match the pairs

fish Bird Mammal

Where does it live?

Draw a similar animal


Where do i Live?

kS1

Animals’ homes are called habitats. Different animals have different habitats.

Match the animal with their habitat.

Tuna fish

red kite

gorilla

Polar Bear

Snake

rainforest

arctic

desert

Sea

forest Wet

hot and dry

very cold

hot and rainy

Leafy and shaded


Find the polar bear, the turtle and the tuna fish. Match the animal to the reason it is endangered.

animal reason it is endangered

Protecting habitats

kS1

Some animals are endangered. If we do not protect them, they might become extinct (die out completely).

Polar Bear

Turtle

Tuna Fish

Climate change

Caught in fishing nets. Hunted for meat.

We eat them


Can you answer the questions to find which animal would fit in each blank answer box? Here are the 8 animals to choose from:

kS2

animal flow chart@ School

Classification keys, or flow charts, are a great way to identify animals.

Is it warm-blooded?

Is it a mammal? Does it have legs?

Does it stand upright?

Is it a vertebrate (does it have a

backbone)?

Does it live in the Arctic?

Does it have wings?

yeS nO

yeS nO yeS nO

nO yeS yeS nO

yeS nO yeS nO

Peacock frog deer Polar Bear Wasp Snake human Spider


kS2

What is it?@ Leeds city Museum

Classification keys are a great way to identify animals. We have one on the floor of the Life on Earth Gallery!

Look for the start of the floor key, near the microscope.

Answer the questions on the floor to find your animal in the Gallery

My animal is

Draw your animal

does it have… yeS nO

Backbone

Legs

Wings

Talons

Hands

Spots


kS2

explore Life on earth

We have lots of animals in the Life on Earth Gallery. Biologists find out more about the world we live in by studying these animals.

Try to find all the things in the question boxes and write the animals’ names in the answer boxes.

Question Can you find a mammal?

Can you find a fish?

Can you spot an animal that can live in land or

water?

What is its name?

Bonus Question

How do you know it is a mammal?

Are fish vertebrates or invertebrates?

There are two groups of animals that can live on land or water, can you name one of them?

Answer

Question Can you find a type of bird?

Can you find a predator?

What is your favourite animal in

the exhibition?

What is its name?

Bonus Question

What do you think your bird’s habitat

might be?

What might be this animal’s prey?

Draw your animal on the back of your

worksheet.

Answer

1 2 3

4 5 6


kS2

What does it eat?Who eats who in the animal kingdom is really important. Can you help me find out a bit more about food chains?

Prey – eaten by something else

Predator – eats something else

Find the food chain – it is next to the Rainforest; and has a sun at the top. That is because the sunlight provides energy and is at the start of every food chain.

There are three predators on the food chain, can you list them?

1.

2.

3.

There are three things that are eaten (prey), can you list them?

1.

2.

3.

Are humans predators or prey?

In your group, name each person one of the following:

rabbit fox carrot Sun

Can you put yourselves into a food chain?


kS2

amazing adapting animals

Look at the bird display. All of these birds have special beaks which are adapted to help the bird eat a specific food.

Fill in the table below to identify the adaptations.

Add two more birds to the table that you can see on the display.

Bird Draw a close up of the bird’s beak

Beak shape adaptation

Why has the bird adapted this way?

Toucan Potato peeler

Spoonbill

White Tailed Eagle


kS2

Protecting habitats

Some animals are endangered – which means they are dying out and if we do not protect them, they might become extinct (die out completely as a species).

Write down the name of one extinct animal

Find the big case with the polar bear. It is full of endangered animals. Find the endangered animals below and look for evidence as to why they are endangered. (Hint: read the labels and the Find Out More cards.)

Animal Is endangered because…

Polar Bear

Turtle

Tuna Fish

What will happen to Planet Earth if we don’t look after it?

learning pack to understand basic classification keys, food chains and animal adaptations....

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