How do animals change as they grow?

Preparation

Lesson 1 of this unit should be completed before this lesson. Pupils will need access to the internet or non-fiction books about animals to complete the investigation worksheet.

Curriculum links

Animals, including humans

• Notice that animals, including humans, have offspring which grow into adults.

Suggested teaching strategies

• Ask pupils to brainstorm some different animals and record using two different colours to indicate whether they are born alive or hatch from an egg.

Introduction

Have pupils reflect on the ways they have grown and changed since they were babies. Ask them if they think animals grow and change in the same way or differently. Pupils share things they know about how different animals are born, grow and change.

Display the digital lesson on your smartboard to introduce how animals change.

The summary and worksheet pages should be used together.

Development

Provide pupils with the summary and worksheet to complete.

The aim of the investigation worksheet is for the pupils to investigate some unusual names of young animals, and to investigate and record some of the ways an animal’s features change as it grows into an adult. They will also observe how some animals take a long time to go through these changes, while others take a relatively short time.

Differentiation

• Pupils requiring additional support may benefit from a teacher demonstration of how to complete the investigation worksheet.
• As an extension, pupils could create a simple T-chart exploring baby animals that look the same as their parents, and those that look different.

Conclusion

Pupils share their investigation worksheet answers in small groups, each presenting the fourth animal in their table.

Assessment

Worksheet answers
1. Teacher check. Answers should include an animal that is born alive, such as those mentioned in the text (cow, dog, cat, horse, lion, whale).
2. Hatch from an egg: butterfly, snake, swan, turtle. Born alive: cow, cat, goat, dog, whale, snake.
3. Answers could include two of the following: should indicate that the elephant calf will grow taller and heavier, will lose much of its hair, will become stronger, will grow tusks and will learn.
4. Teacher check. A lamb (baby sheep) has four legs, wool, a similar body shape, and most of the other basic physical features of its parents.
5. Teacher check

Investigation worksheet answers
A kid is a baby goat. Different goat types have different colourings. A male goat is called a buck or billy and a female adult a doe or nanny. Teacher check final column.

A poult is a baby turkey (or the young of the pheasant or a similar bird). A male turkey is called a tom and the female a hen. Teacher check final column.

A tadpole is a baby frog. The adult is called a frog. Teacher check final column.

For the last section of the chart, pupils should draw and write the name of a baby animal of their choice, then draw and write the name of the adult of that animal. They should also complete the last column. Teacher check all sections.