FOSS Next Generation Animals Two by Two

Grade K

The Animals Two by Two Module provides young students with close and personal interaction with some common land and water animals. Students observe differences in structure and behavior and learn about basic needs of animals.

Investigation 1: Goldfish and Guppies

Students observe the structures and behaviors of goldfish. They explore the environment in which the fish live, and compare the structures and behaviors of the goldfish to those of guppies.

Investigation 2: Water and Land Snails

Students start this investigation with an exploration of evolutionary relationships. They examine a family tree and build a cladogram. Students build a model for how traits are inherited, starting with themselves and moving to a population of imaginary animals, larkeys. They learn about the basis of heredity, chromosomes and genes, and how genetic variation arises in populations. Students use Punnett squares to predict the probability of trait inheritance when the genetics of the parents are known.

Investigation 3: Big and Little Worms

Students dig for red worms, rinse them off, and look at their structures. They study their behavior and compare the red worms to night crawlers.

Investigation 4: Pill Bugs and Sow Bugs

Students begin by observing structures of the two kinds of isopods. They learn to identify which are pill bugs and which are sow bugs, and make a terrarium in which all the land animals live together.

Investigate for yourself.