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Grade 2 — Science: Describe and Compare Changes and Stages of Animal Life Cycles
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Overview
Using print and electronic resources, students research animal life cycles to describe changes in the appearance and activity of various animals. Students create and explain labelled diagrams representing lifecycles using word processing software.
Activate
Using print and electronic resources, students view pictures of mammals, insects, birds, and amphibians. [Gather and Make Sense] Students choose one animal, then use drawing software to draw and label the main stages of growth they predict the animal goes through during its life. Students share and explain their drawings. [Gather and Make Sense, Communicate]
Acquire
Students record life cycle changes of mealworms by taking digital images at regular intervals or by using a computer microscope [Gather and Make Sense]. Using a word-processor, students insert these images in the correct order and describe the changes in appearance and activity of the mealworms as they go through a complete lifecycle. [Produce to Show Understanding]
In expert groups, using a Jigsaw strategy, students use print and electronic resources to research the life cycle of an insect, a bird, and an amphibian. [Collaborate, Gather and Make Sense] Students sketch, label, and describe the changes in appearance as an animal completes a life cycle. [Gather and Make Sense] In home groups, students explain and discuss their diagrams and descriptions. Groups categorize their diagrams into similar and different life cycles. [Gather and Make Sense]
Apply
Using a paint or draw application, students illustrate and label the life cycle of an insect, bird, or amphibian. [Produce to Show Understanding] Students describe the changes in the appearance and activity at each stage and share their finished products within a small group of peers who have worked on a different life cycle. [Communicate, Collaborate] Using a Venn diagram students compare how their life cycle are the same and different and describe the differences.
Teacher Tip:
Students may include saved images or clip art representing the life cycle stages and link each stage using a line tool.
Suggestions for Assessment:
Student mixes each life cycle stage and challenges a peer to put them in the correct order.
Student illustrates and compares life cycles of animals with similar and different life cycles using a flow chart, concept map, or paint and draw, describing the changes in appearance and activity at each stage.
