Features and Behaviours for Survival: a full term of science

Ten ready-to-teach lessons for Year 5 Biological sciences. Print this pack and the term is prepared: every lesson comes with a step-by-step plan, the questions to ask, a student worksheet, cut-out cards or exit tickets, an assessment kit and every answer.

Start here: five minutes to Monday

1. Skim the term at a glance on the next page.
2. Print the lesson you need. Each lesson is three A4 sheets: plan, worksheet, cards or tickets.
3. Gather the few everyday items under “You need” on the plan. Nothing needs a science cupboard.
4. Open the free interactive unit on your board or projector. Every plan tells you which picture to show and when.
5. Teach straight from the plan. Timings, talk prompts, misconceptions and answers are all on the one page.

No science background needed

This pack is written for the busy generalist teacher. Each plan explains the science idea in plain words, lists the misconceptions children bring, and gives model answers. The big idea of the term: every living thing has structural features, parts of its body, and behavioural features, things it does, that help it survive the conditions of its own habitat. A feature that helps in one habitat can be a problem in another.

Two ways to run each lesson

Every lesson works as one 60-minute block, or as two 30-minute sessions. The split point is marked in every plan. Lessons 1 and 5 need a sunny day, Lesson 4 needs ice and solid cooking fat ready, and Lesson 8 needs an hour for the paper leaves to dry, so look ahead when you plan.

Safety and care in one look

Outdoors, children look but do not touch animals; an adult lifts logs and rocks and puts them back. In Lesson 4 only the thermometers go into the iced water. Hats on for the sunny lessons, and nobody touches very hot ground. Straws in Lesson 7 are one per child and never shared, and nothing in the beak test is eaten. Everyone washes their hands after soil, fat or animals.

The term at a glance

One lesson a week for a term. Each lesson stands on the ones before it, so run them in order where you can.

How the sequence builds

Lesson 1 measures the conditions in real habitats. Lessons 2 and 3 name the two kinds of feature and match features to habitats. Lessons 4 and 5 test two features with thermometers: a layer of fat in the cold and a burrow in the heat. Lessons 6 and 7 look at features that hide an animal and features that get its food, and Lesson 8 turns to plants. Lesson 9 meets Australian animals and the people who use this knowledge, and Lesson 10 is the design task and final check.

Curriculum links (Australian Curriculum V9)

The whole term teaches the Science Understanding descriptor AC9S5U01 quoted on the cover. The lessons also work these Science Inquiry and Human Endeavour descriptors:

Assessment in this pack

• Every plan ends with “Answers and look-fors”: what meeting the idea sounds like in a Year 5 voice.
• The assessment sheet near the front has a class observation checklist and a three-level rubric.
• Lesson 10 is the summative pair: a designed animal with every feature explained, plus the “Show what we know” check sheet.

Materials for the whole term

One gathering session covers all ten lessons. Everything on this page is an everyday item, comes from the kitchen or the school grounds, or can be borrowed; nothing needs a science cupboard. Freeze ice the day before Lesson 4.

The one-trip list

• From the classroom: clipboards, scissors, glue, coloured pencils, rulers, a timer, cups.
• From the kitchen or the shops: solid cooking fat, small and large zip-lock bags, cling film, paper towel, sunflower seeds, a bag of ice, coloured wool.
• To borrow: thermometers (two per group), kitchen scales, tweezers, clothes pegs, teaspoons, a trowel.
• From home donations: beads, rubber bands, a narrow vase, a packet of straws.

Safety and care in one look

• Outdoors, children look but do not touch animals; an adult with gloves lifts logs and rocks and puts them back the same way.
• Hats and sunscreen for Lessons 1, 5 and 6, and nobody touches very hot ground or metal.
• In Lesson 4 only the thermometers go into the iced water; hands stay out. Use spirit or digital thermometers, never mercury.
• The cooking fat stays sealed in its bag, and nothing in the beak test is eaten. Straws are one per child, and beads and seeds are counted back in at the end.
• Everyone washes their hands after soil, sand, fat or animals.

Assessment without extra work

The term assesses itself. Every lesson plan ends with answers and look-fors, and Lesson 10 is the summative pair: a designed animal with every feature explained, and the check sheet. This sheet is the place to jot down what you notice along the way.

The three levels

Class observation checklist

A tick a lesson is plenty; the Lesson 10 check sheet fills the gaps.

Word wall cards

Cut out the cards and build the wall as the words arrive. Lesson 1 starts the wall with habitat and conditions; add the two kinds of feature in Lesson 2.

Dear families

This term in science, Year 5 investigates how living things survive in their habitats. Every living thing has structural features, parts of its body such as thick fur, webbed feet or a long thin beak, and behavioural features, things it does such as burrowing, huddling or coming out at night. Each feature helps it cope with the conditions where it lives.

Your child will measure the conditions in the school grounds, test whether a layer of fat keeps out the cold, find out how much cooler it is under the sand, run a camouflage hunt and test beak-shaped tools. By the end of the term, they will design an animal for a habitat and explain how each of its features helps it survive.

Try this at home

• On a walk, find an animal or a plant. Name one body part and one thing it does that help it survive.
• Look at a pet together. Which of its features would help it survive in the wild?
• On a warm day, carefully touch the top of the sand in a sandpit, then dig down a little. Where would a lizard rest at midday?
• Watch a nature program and pause it to sort a feature: is it a body part or a behaviour?

What to ask your scientist

• Is that a structural feature or a behavioural one? How do you know?
• What does a polar bear’s blubber do? Would it help in a desert?
• Why do so many desert animals come out at night?
• Which colour of wool was hardest to find on the grass, and why?

A small note on care: at school we watch animals without harming them, and put every log and creature back where we found it.

Warm regards,

The Year 5 team

Printed from the free seegongsik Features and Behaviours for Survival teaching pack · seegongsik.com/au/y5/biological/AC9S5U01/pack

Hot spots and cool spots

A habitat is the place where a living thing lives, and every habitat has conditions: how hot or cold, wet or dry, light or dark it is, and what food and shelter it offers. Children measure the temperature in spots around the school grounds, note the other conditions, and look for living things in each. The pattern they usually find, more small animals in the cool, damp, sheltered spots, opens the question for the term: what lets a living thing survive the conditions where it lives?

We are learning to

• describe a habitat by its conditions: temperature, water, light, food and shelter,
• measure the temperature of a spot with a thermometer and record it with its unit,
• notice which living things are found where, and ask why.

Success criteria

• I can read a thermometer and record the temperature in degrees Celsius.
• I can describe the conditions in one spot and name a living thing that lives there.

You need

• the spot cards (third sheet), cut out, and one thermometer per group,
• clipboards, pencils and magnifiers, and an adult with gloves to lift logs and rocks,
• the worksheet (next sheet), one per child.

Lesson flow (about 60 minutes)

Running two half-sessions instead? End Session A after the spot survey; start Session B with the class table.

Watch for these ideas

• “A habitat is just a place.” A habitat has conditions, such as heat, water, light and shelter, that a living thing has to cope with.
• “A thermometer shows how hot it feels.” It reads the temperature of the spot. Leave it two minutes so the reading settles, and keep fingers off the bulb.
• “Animals are spread out evenly.” Most small animals in the grounds gather in a few cool, damp, sheltered spots; the class table shows the pattern.

Make it easier, make it bigger

• Easier: survey two spots together as a class, bare ground in the sun and the leaf litter.
• Bigger: measure the same two spots at 9 am, at lunch and at 2 pm, and describe how the conditions change through the day.

Answers and look-fors

• Part A answers vary. Usually bare ground in full sun is the hottest and driest spot, and the leaf litter or the soil by a log is cooler, damper and darker, with the most small animals: slaters, worms, beetles and spiders.
• Part B: a good description gives the temperature with its unit (such as 18 °C), whether the spot is damp or dry and sunny or shaded, and the food and shelter there.
• Part C: a question that could be investigated, such as “Do slaters choose the cool spot or the damp spot?” or “Is the leaf litter always cooler than the bare ground?”

Our habitat survey

A. Conditions in four spots

Our two spots first, then two more from the class table.

B. The spot with the most living things

C. My question

Spot cards

Cut out the cards. Each group surveys the spot on its card, then swaps for a second spot. Look closely; do not pick anything up.

Teacher note: wash hands after the survey. If a spot has no living things, that is a finding too: ask what its conditions lack.

Body part or behaviour?

The features that help a living thing survive come in two kinds. A structural feature is part of its body, such as an echidna’s spines or a polar bear’s blubber. A behavioural feature is something it does, such as a bilby sleeping in its burrow by day or a red kangaroo licking its forearms to cool down. Children sort twelve feature cards, most of them Australian animals, into the two kinds and say what each feature helps the animal do.

We are learning to

• tell structural features (body parts) from behavioural features (things a living thing does),
• say what problem in its habitat a feature helps with,
• notice that a body part and a behaviour often work together.

Success criteria

• I can sort features into structural and behavioural and explain how I decided.
• I can say what one structural and one behavioural feature help an animal do.

You need

• the feature cards (third sheet), one set per pair,
• the class table from Lesson 1,
• the worksheet (next sheet), one per child.

Lesson flow (about 60 minutes)

Running two half-sessions instead? End Session A after the card sort; start Session B with “What does it help with?”

Watch for these ideas

• “A behaviour is a trick an animal is taught.” Here it means anything a living thing does that helps it survive, such as burrowing, huddling or migrating.
• “If you can see it, it is structural.” A huddle is easy to see, but huddling is something penguins do: it is behavioural.
• “Each animal has one feature.” Every animal has many features of both kinds; each card shows only one.

Make it easier, make it bigger

• Easier: sort six cards first, three of each kind, then the rest.
• Bigger: for three of the animals, find a feature of the other kind, such as a structural feature of the bilby.

Answers and look-fors

• Structural: echidna, platypus, thorny devil, wombat, sugar glider, polar bear. Behavioural: bilby, red kangaroo, short-tailed shearwater, koala, emperor penguin, water-holding frog.
• Part B: any card of each kind, with what its feature helps it do, such as Echidna, structural, helps it keep predators away; Bilby, behavioural, helps it stay out of the daytime heat and away from many predators.
• Part C: the frill is structural, a part of the body; spreading it and hissing is behavioural. The two work together to scare a predator away.

Two kinds of feature

A. Sort the animals by their feature.

B. What does the feature help with?

C. Think about it

Feature cards

Cut out the cards. Read each feature, then sort the cards into body parts (structural) and things the animal does (behavioural).

Teacher note: keep the cards. In Lesson 10 they give children ideas for the animal they design.

The feature fits the home

A feature helps a living thing because it suits the conditions of its own habitat. A camel’s wide flat feet stop it sinking in loose desert sand; a tree frog’s sticky toe pads grip wet rainforest leaves. Children read six habitat cards for their conditions, then match twelve living things to the habitat each one’s feature suits, giving the reason every time.

We are learning to

• read a habitat’s conditions and say what a living thing would need there,
• match a living thing to its habitat by its features,
• explain how a feature suits the conditions.

Success criteria

• I can match a living thing to its habitat and name the feature that suits it.
• I can explain why that feature would help less somewhere else.

You need

• the habitat and living-thing cards (third sheet), one set per group,
• the worksheet (next sheet), one per child.

Lesson flow (about 60 minutes)

Running two half-sessions instead? End Session A after “Match it”; start Session B with “Swap the homes”.

Watch for these ideas

• “The camel grew wide feet because it walked on sand.” Camels are born with wide feet. Living things whose features suit a place survive there and have young.
• “One habitat, one kind of animal.” Many living things share a habitat, each with its own features that suit it.
• “Plants do not have features.” A cactus’s spines and water-storing stem are structural features too.

Make it easier, make it bigger

• Easier: start with three habitats (desert, icy coast, ocean) and their six living things.
• Bigger: choose a habitat and find a living thing that lives there but is not on the cards; name the feature that suits it.

Answers and look-fors

• Ocean: leafy seadragon and dolphin. Hot sandy desert: camel and spinifex hopping mouse. Tropical rainforest: tree frog and orchid. Dry rocky ground: cactus and rock wallaby. Freezing icy coast: penguin and polar bear. River and wetland: pelican and platypus.
• Part A: each feature with the condition it helps with, such as the penguin’s blubber and waterproof feathers keeping it warm in icy wind and water.
• Part B, for example: the tree frog’s sticky pads grip wet leaves, but on loose dry sand there is nothing to grip and no shade, so it would not cope.

Which home suits it?

A. Match the living things to their homes.

B. In the wrong home

Habitat and living-thing cards

Cut out all the cards. Lay out the six habitats, then place each living thing on the habitat its feature suits.

Teacher note: the habitat cards come back in Lesson 10. Keep one set per group in an envelope.

Testing blubber

Polar bears, penguins, seals and whales keep warm in icy water with blubber, a thick layer of fat under the skin. Children test the idea with a model: one thermometer wrapped in a thick layer of solid cooking fat and one without, lowered together into the same bowl of iced water and read every minute. Only the fat changes. The thermometer in the fat usually cools far more slowly, and that is the evidence that a layer of fat slows heat leaving a warm body.

We are learning to

• plan a fair test: change one thing, measure one thing, and keep everything else the same,
• read a thermometer every minute and record the readings in a table and a line graph,
• use our results to explain how blubber helps an animal survive in the cold.

Success criteria

• I can name what we changed, what we measured and two things we kept the same.
• I can use our graph to say which thermometer cooled more slowly, and link it to blubber.

You need

• for each group: two thermometers, two small and two large zip-lock bags, about 250 g of solid cooking fat, a deep bowl of iced water and a timer,
• the step cards (third sheet), one set per group, and paper towel,
• the worksheet (next sheet), one per child.

Lesson flow (about 60 minutes)

Running two half-sessions instead? Run the test in Session A and keep the tables safe. Start Session B with the graph.

Watch for these ideas

• “The fat warms the thermometer.” Fat makes no heat. Both thermometers start at the same temperature; the fat only slows heat escaping into the iced water.
• “One reading is enough.” Reading every minute shows how fast each one cools; the shape of the line is the evidence.
• “Another group got different numbers, so someone was wrong.” Start temperatures, the amount of ice and the thickness of fat all vary. Compare the pattern, not the exact numbers.

Make it easier, make it bigger

• Easier: read the thermometers at 0, 3 and 6 minutes only.
• Bigger: add a third bag with a layer of feathers, wool or bubble wrap instead of fat, and compare all three lines.

Answers and look-fors

• Step cards in order: B, D, F, A, E, C.
• Part A: we change whether there is a layer of fat; we measure the temperature on each thermometer every minute; we keep the same the thermometers, the bags, the bowl of iced water, the depth, the start temperature and the reading times.
• Parts C and D: readings vary. Usually the thermometer without fat drops quickly towards the temperature of the iced water within a few minutes, while the one in the fat falls slowly and is still well above it after 6 minutes.
• Part E: blubber is a thick layer of fat that slows heat escaping from the animal’s warm body into the icy water and air, so it stays warm.

Does a layer of fat keep the cold out?

A. Our fair test

B. My prediction

C. Our results (°C)

D. Our graph

Plot both bags, one colour each, and join each set of dots with a line.

E. What it tells us

Step cards

Cut out the cards and put them in the order you will do them. Check the order with your group before you start.

Teacher note: only the thermometers go into the iced water; hands stay out. The fat stays sealed in its bag, and everyone washes their hands afterwards.

Beat the heat

In a hot desert the top of the sand can get hot enough to burn bare feet, but a little way down it stays much cooler. That is why many desert animals, such as the bilby and the spinifex hopping mouse, spend the hot day in a burrow and come out at night. Children measure the sand on top and 10 cm down, in the sun and in the shade, and use the numbers to explain why burrowing and feeding at night are behaviours that help animals survive.

We are learning to

• measure temperature on the surface and below it, with reasonable precision,
• compare readings and work out the difference with units,
• explain why burrowing and feeding at night help desert animals survive.

Success criteria

• I can record four temperatures and work out how much cooler it is 10 cm down.
• I can explain one behaviour that helps an animal survive the desert heat.

You need

• two thermometers per group, a trowel and a ruler,
• the school sandpit, or a deep tray of sand left in the sun all morning, with a patch of shade beside it,
• hats, the worksheet (next sheet) and the exit tickets (third sheet).

Lesson flow (about 60 minutes, close to midday)

Running two half-sessions instead? End Session A after measuring; start Session B with “What the numbers say”.

Watch for these ideas

• “Sand is the same temperature all the way down.” The sun heats the top, and the heat moves down slowly, so a little way down stays much cooler by day.
• “Night animals are lazy by day.” Resting in a burrow by day is a behaviour that keeps the animal out of the heat and saves water.
• “Only desert animals burrow.” Wombats, platypuses and many insects burrow too, for shelter and safety.

Make it easier, make it bigger

• Easier: measure only the top and 10 cm down, in the sun.
• Bigger: measure at 5, 10 and 15 cm down and describe the pattern, or measure again late in the afternoon.

Answers and look-fors

• Part A: readings vary with the day. Usually the top of the sand in the sun is the hottest reading, often 10 °C or more above the sand 10 cm down on a sunny day; in the shade the gap is smaller.
• Part B: each difference is the top reading take away the reading 10 cm down, with its unit. The biggest gap is usually in the sun, because the sun heats the top of the sand.
• Part C: by day the animal rests in a burrow, out of the sun and the hot top sand; at night the surface has cooled, so it can feed without overheating or losing as much water.
• Exit tickets: 1 cooler. 2 any animal that rests in a burrow by day, such as a bilby, a spinifex hopping mouse or many desert lizards. 3 it is cooler at night, so they do not overheat or lose as much water.

How hot is the sand?

A. Our readings

B. What the numbers say

C. A desert animal’s day

Exit tickets

Print one sheet for every four children and cut along the dashed lines. Each child answers a ticket alone before leaving.

Teacher note: the answers are on this lesson’s plan. A child who writes “it is cooler at night” without the reason it matters (not overheating, saving water) is close; ask them why that helps.

Hide in plain sight

Camouflage is colour, pattern or shape that helps an animal blend in with its habitat, so a predator misses it, or its prey does not see it coming. Children become hungry birds hunting coloured ‘worms’ of wool on the lawn. They count which colours were found and which were missed, graph the counts, and use them to explain why colour matters for survival. Then they match six camouflaged animals to the backgrounds they hide against.

We are learning to

• explain how camouflage helps an animal survive, as predator or as prey,
• collect and count data in a hunt, and show it in a column graph,
• use the evidence in our graph to draw a conclusion.

Success criteria

• I can say which colour survived best on the grass, using our counts.
• I can explain how one camouflaged animal’s colour or shape helps it survive.

You need

• coloured wool cut into 3 cm pieces, 15 each of green, brown, red, yellow, scattered in a marked 3 m square of lawn before the lesson,
• four cones or a skipping rope, a timer and a cup per child,
• the hiding cards (third sheet), one set per pair, and the worksheet (next sheet), one per child.

Lesson flow (about 60 minutes)

Running two half-sessions instead? End Session A after the graph; start Session B with the hiding cards.

Watch for these ideas

• “Animals change colour to match wherever they go.” A few can, such as the flounder, but most cannot; their colour suits the habitat they usually live in.
• “Camouflage is only for hiding from predators.” Predators use it too: a tawny frogmouth sits still until insects come close enough to catch.
• “Bright colours are always a danger.” Some animals use bright colours as a warning: a ladybird’s red tells birds it tastes bad.

Make it easier, make it bigger

• Easier: hunt two colours only, green and red.
• Bigger: run a second hunt on bark chips or a garden bed and compare the two graphs.

Answers and look-fors

• Parts A and B: counts vary. Usually red and yellow are found most and green least on the grass, with brown in between.
• Part C: the colour found least (usually green) survived best because it matched the grass, so the birds did not see it.
• Part D: snow, arctic fox; twigs, stick insect; red desert sand and stones, thorny devil; seaweed, leafy seadragon; sandy sea floor, flounder; tree bark, tawny frogmouth. Animals that use a behaviour as well: leafy seadragon (drifts slowly, like a loose piece of weed); tawny frogmouth (sits still with its beak up, like a broken branch); stick insect (sways like a twig in the wind).

The camouflage hunt

A. Our counts

B. Graph the pieces found

C. What it tells us

D. Where does it hide?

Hiding cards

Cut out the cards. Read how each animal hides, then decide which background it would blend into.

Teacher note: a few animals, such as the flounder, can also change colour a little to match the ground beneath them.

Beaks are tools

A beak is a structural feature, and its shape matches the food the bird eats, the way a tool matches a job. Children test four ‘beak’ tools, tweezers, a clothes peg, a teaspoon and a straw, on four ‘foods’ at stations, count what each tool moves in 15 seconds, and find the best tool for each food. Then they match six Australian birds to their food by the shape of the beak.

We are learning to

• test how well different shapes do a job, counting fairly,
• use our results to choose the best tool for each food,
• explain how the shape of a beak suits the bird’s food.

Success criteria

• I can say which tool worked best for each food, using our counts.
• I can match a bird’s beak to its food and explain why the shape suits it.

You need

• four stations: seeds (sunflower seeds in a tray), fish (beads floating in a bowl of water), worms in mud (rubber-band pieces in damp sand), nectar (water in a narrow vase (count strawfuls)); each with tweezers, a clothes peg and a teaspoon,
• a straw and a cup per child, and a timer,
• the beak cards (third sheet), one set per pair, and the worksheet (next sheet), one per child.

Lesson flow (about 60 minutes)

Running two half-sessions instead? End Session A after the stations; start Session B with the best tools.

Watch for these ideas

• “The bird picked the beak that suits its food.” Birds hatch with their beak shape; birds whose beaks suit the food in their habitat do well there.
• “A good beak works for everything.” Each shape is good at some jobs and poor at others, as the stations show.
• “Our counts differ from the other group, so the test failed.” Different hands give different counts. Look for the tool that came out best at each station in most groups.

Make it easier, make it bigger

• Easier: run two stations, seeds and fish, with two tools each.
• Bigger: invent a beak tool for a new food, such as a grub hidden inside a hollow stick, and test it against the four.

Answers and look-fors

• Part A: counts vary. Usually the peg or the tweezers do best with the seeds, the spoon with the floating beads and the tweezers with the rubber bands in the sand, and only the straw moves the water out of the narrow vase. No tool is best at everything.
• Part B: australian pelican, fish, spoon; australian white ibis, worms and insects in the mud, tweezers; wedge-tailed eagle, meat, none of our station foods, none of our tools; honeyeater, nectar, straw; royal spoonbill, small fish and shrimps, spoon; sulphur-crested cockatoo, seeds, peg.
• Part C: each beak’s shape suits the job of getting that bird’s food, the way each tool suited one food at the stations, so birds that eat different foods have different beaks.

Which beak for which food?

A. Our station counts (in 15 seconds)

B. Real beaks

C. Think about it

Beak cards

Cut out the cards. Read about each beak, then decide what the bird eats and which of our tools works most like it.

Teacher note: nothing at the stations is eaten. Count the beads and seeds back into their containers at the end, and keep straws one per child.

Plants survive too

A plant cannot walk into the shade or dig a burrow, so its structural features do the work. Many Australian plants live where water is scarce: spinifex grows its leaves rolled into tubes, saltbush has pale, silvery leaves that reflect sunlight, and many gum trees hang their leaves edge-on to the midday sun. Children model leaves with damp paper towel, one flat, one rolled, one covered like a waxy leaf, and weigh them before and after time in the sun to see which loses the least water. Then they read eight plant cards and name the problem each feature solves.

We are learning to

• describe structural features that help plants survive in their habitats,
• measure mass with kitchen scales and work out the water lost,
• use a model to explain how a leaf’s shape or coat saves water.

Success criteria

• I can use our masses to say which paper leaf lost the least water.
• I can explain how one plant’s feature helps it survive where it grows.

You need

• for each group: three paper-towel squares the same size, water and a tablespoon, cling film, three saucers and kitchen scales that read to 1 g,
• a sunny windowsill or table,
• the plant cards (third sheet), one set per pair, and the worksheet (next sheet), one per child.

Lesson flow (about 60 minutes)

Running two half-sessions instead? Set up the leaves at the start of Session A and weigh them at the start of Session B, an hour or two later on the same day.

Watch for these ideas

• “Plants just need water; they do not need features.” Plants in dry places have features that save water, store it or keep the leaves cool.
• “The paper leaf lost mass because it got smaller.” The mass it lost was water that evaporated into the air; the paper is all still there.
• “Spinifex rolls its leaves up when it gets hot.” Its leaves grow rolled: a structural feature it always has.

Make it easier, make it bigger

• Easier: make two leaves only, flat and covered, and weigh them together as a class.
• Bigger: add a fourth leaf folded in half, predict where it will come in the order, then test it.

Answers and look-fors

• Part A: masses vary. Usually the flat leaf loses the most water and the covered leaf the least, with the rolled leaf in between: the less wet surface open to the air and sun, the less water evaporates.
• Part B: the covered leaf (or the rolled one); plants in dry places must keep the little water they get, and leaves are where most of it escapes.
• Part C: spinifex, losing water in hot, dry country; mangrove, thick wet mud with little air for the roots; gum tree, the strong midday sun heating the leaves and drying them out; water lily, reaching the sunlight from the bottom of a pond; saltbush, strong sun on dry ground: the pale leaves reflect sunlight and lose less water; banksia, bushfire: the seeds fall onto the cleared ground after the fire has passed; cactus, long dry times, and animals that would eat it for its water; pigface, dry, salty sand on coastal dunes.
• Part D: for example, a gum tree hangs its leaves edge-on to the sun, much as an animal rests in the shade; saltbush reflects the sunlight away.

Leaves that save water

A. Our paper leaves

B. What it tells us

C. Plant features

Choose four plant cards.

D. Think about it

Plant cards

Cut out the cards. Read each plant’s feature, then decide which problem in its habitat the feature solves.

Teacher note: the problems to choose from are too dry, too hot, too dark, no air for the roots, and fire. Some plants answer more than one.

Australian survivors

Australia has some of the hottest and driest habitats on Earth, and its animals survive them with features of both kinds. Children choose an Australian animal card and build a survival profile: where it lives and what the conditions are, one structural and one behavioural feature and what each does, and what would go wrong for it somewhere else. Then they meet people who use this knowledge, from zoo keepers to rangers, and the knowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples have held for many generations.

We are learning to

• describe how an Australian animal’s features suit the conditions of its habitat,
• organise information about a living thing into a profile,
• explain how people use knowledge of features and behaviours to care for animals.

Success criteria

• I can complete a survival profile with one structural and one behavioural feature, each with its job.
• I can say how one person uses knowledge of features and behaviours in their work.

You need

• the animal cards (third sheet), one per pair,
• the worksheet (next sheet), one per child,
• a device for a little extra reading (optional).

Lesson flow (about 60 minutes)

Running two half-sessions instead? End Session A after the survival profile; start Session B with the people who use this knowledge.

Watch for these ideas

• “Australian animals are like animals everywhere.” Many, such as the bilby, the thorny devil and the platypus, live nowhere else, with features suited to Australian habitats.
• “Only scientists need to know about features.” Zoo keepers, wildlife carers, rangers and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge holders all use this knowledge.
• “Someone just guessed.” Much of what we know comes from careful watching and measuring: researchers used heat cameras to show koalas pressing against the coolest tree trunks on hot days.

Make it easier, make it bigger

• Easier: fill a profile together for the bilby, then pairs do the koala.
• Bigger: find a third feature of your animal in a book or a reliable website, and say whether it is structural or behavioural.

Answers and look-fors

• Part A for the bilby: it lives in dry grasslands and deserts of inland Australia: hot by day, cool at night, little water. Structural: strong front legs and long claws for digging. Behavioural: rests in a deep spiral burrow by day and comes out to feed at night. For the other cards, check the profile against the card.
• Part B, for example: on the freezing icy coast the bilby’s features suit heat and dryness, not cold. It has no blubber or thick coat for the icy wind, and frozen ground is hard to dig.
• Part C, for example: a zoo keeper swaps day and night so the bilbies are active while visitors watch; a ranger’s fences keep out the foxes and cats a bilby cannot escape in the open.

Teacher note: if you would like the class to hear local knowledge, ask your school’s Aboriginal education officer or a local Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander organisation what can be shared, and by whom.

A survival profile

A. My animal

B. In another habitat

C. People who use this knowledge

Australian animal cards

Cut out the cards. Each pair chooses one animal for its survival profile.

Teacher note: Lesson 10 asks children to design an animal for a habitat; these cards are good models of a full profile.

Show what we know

The summative lesson, run as a celebration. Each child draws a habitat card from Lesson 3 and designs an animal that could survive there, with at least two structural features and one behavioural feature, each labelled with the job it does in that habitat. Children gallery-walk each other’s designs, sit the final check alone, and close with the on-screen quiz as a class game.

We are learning to

• design an animal whose features suit the conditions of a habitat,
• explain the job of each structural and behavioural feature,
• show what we know on our own on the final check.

Success criteria

• My animal has at least two structural features and one behavioural feature, and each one has a job that suits its habitat.
• I can show on the final check how features and behaviours help living things survive.

You need

• the habitat cards from Lesson 3 (ocean, hot sandy desert, tropical rainforest, dry rocky ground, freezing icy coast, river and wetland), face down in an envelope,
• paper or card and coloured pencils; the feature cards from Lesson 2 and the animal cards from Lesson 9 for ideas,
• the design worksheet (next sheet) and the final check (third sheet), one each per child, and the interactive unit open for the closing quiz.

Lesson flow (about 60 minutes)

Running two half-sessions instead? End Session A after design time and keep the designs safe. Start Session B with the gallery walk, then the final check and the class quiz.

Watch for these ideas

• Features with no job, such as spikes, wings or bright colours added for looks. Ask: which condition of the habitat does this feature help with?
• Features that do not suit the habitat, such as a thick fur coat in the rainforest. Ask: is it hot or cold there? What would the fur do?
• Every feature drawn as a body part. Ask: what does your animal do at midday, at night or when a predator comes? That is a behaviour.

Make it easier, make it bigger

• Easier: give the habitat and one feature to start, such as a desert animal with wide flat feet; the child adds two more.
• Bigger: design a second version for a different habitat and explain which features must change, and why.

Answers and look-fors

• Final check marking guide: 1 coming out at night. 2 for example, thick blubber keeps it warm, or waterproof feathers keep it dry in the icy sea. 3 dry rocky ground. 4 to stay cool: the sand below the top is much cooler at midday. 5 a long thin beak. 6 blubber slows heat escaping from its body into the icy water and air, so it stays warm. 7 it overheats: its thick blubber and fur trap heat, so a feature that helps in the cold is a problem in the heat. 8 any correct example, such as a bilby resting in its burrow by day to stay out of the heat.
• A score of 6 or more out of 8, plus a design with at least two structural features and one behavioural feature, each with a job that suits the habitat, meets the descriptor. The rubric near the front of the pack turns this into a level.
• Meeting the idea at the gallery sounds like “my desert animal has wide feet so it does not sink in the sand, and it sleeps in a burrow by day because the sand is cooler down there”.

My survivor

A. Draw your animal and label each feature with its job.

B. My animal’s features

C. In the wrong home

Show what we know

Show what you know about features, behaviours and survival. Read each one, then circle or write. Take your time.

Teacher note: read the items aloud one at a time. The marking guide is on this lesson’s plan; the rubric near the front of the pack turns the score into a level.