Curriculum / ELA / 2nd Grade / Unit 2: Exploring Habitats / Project
ELA
Unit 2
2nd Grade
Project
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Design a zoo habitat for a given animal using knowledge of plant and animal relationships and habitat features from the unit.
Book: A Rainforest Habitat by Bobbie Kalman and Molly Aloian
Book: A Desert Habitat by Bobbie Kalman and Kelley Macaulay
Book: Water Habitats by Bobbie Kalman and Molly Aloian
Book: A Forest Habitat (Introducing Habitats) by Bobbie Kalman and Kelley Macaulay
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As a class, students will design a zoo with appropriate habitats for a wide range of identified animals. They will begin by sorting which animals can be housed together and will then break into groups to design the ideal habitat for each grouping. Through this project, students will be able to grapple with one of the unit’s essential questions: How do different plants and animals depend on different habitats for survival? This project builds on presentations from first grade where they were asked to use professional presentation voices and to begin to refer to visuals to enhance a presentation.
Ideally, this project would be preceded by a zoo field trip in order to provide students with a base knowledge about zoos.
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SL.2.1 — Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade 2 topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.
Identify questions about forest, desert, rainforest, and water habitats by asking and answering "what" questions about key details in a text.
RI.2.1 RI.2.7 SL.2.1
Identify key information about forest habitats by reading with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.
L.2.4 RF.2.4 RI.2.1 RI.2.4 RI.2.5
Explain where different plants and animals in forest habitats live and get their energy by asking and answering where questions about key details in a text.
RI.2.1 RI.2.3
Explain how the author uses various text features to teach us about a forest habitat by reading with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.
RF.2.3 RF.2.4 RI.2.1 RI.2.2 RI.2.5
Create a visual representation of a forest habit that shows how plants and animals depend on their surroundings and other living things to meet their needs.
RI.2.1 RI.2.3 SL.2.1 SL.2.2 SL.2.5
Writing
Write a page in an informational book that explains how plants and animals depend on their surroundings and other living things to meet their needs in the places they live by writing complete sentences using key details from the text.
RI.2.1 W.2.2 W.2.7 W.2.8
Explain what types of plants and animals live in the desert and why they live there by asking and answering who and why questions about details from the text.
RI.2.1 RI.2.4
Explain how plants and animals in the desert survive by asking and answering how questions about key details in a text.
Explain how the author uses various text features to teach us about a desert habitat by reading with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.
Create a visual representation of a desert habitat that shows how plants and animals depend on their surroundings and other living things to meet their needs.
RI.2.1 SL.2.1 SL.2.2 SL.2.5
Discussion & Writing
Compare and contrast how plants and animals in two habitats depend on their surroundings to meet their needs by identifying key details from two texts.
2-LS4-1 L.2.3.a L.2.6 RI.2.9 SL.2.1 SL.2.6
Identify key information about water habitats by reading with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.
Describe what life is like in a pond, river, and swamp, and how plants and animals depend on their habitats by asking and answering how questions about key details in the text.
Explain how the author uses various text features to teach us about a water habitat by reading with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.
Create a visual representation of a water habitat that shows how plants and animals depend on their surroundings and other living things to meet their needs.
RI.2.1 SL.2.1 SL.2.2 SL.2.5 SL.2.6
RI.2.1 RI.2.3 RI.2.7 W.2.2 W.2.7 W.2.8
Identify key information about what makes a rainforest habitat unique by reading with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.
RF.2.4 RI.2.1 RI.2.4
Explain how animals in the rainforest survive by asking and answering questions about key details in the text.
RI.2.1 SL.2.1
Explain how the author uses various text features to teach us about a rainforest habitat by reading with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.
Create a visual representation of a rainforest habitat that shows how plants and animals depend on their surroundings and other living things to meet their needs.
RI.2.1 RI.2.5 W.2.2 W.2.7 W.2.8
RI.2.9 SL.2.1 SL.2.6 W.2.2
Informative Writing – 2 days
Revise the pages in your informational book by correcting run-on sentences and adding appropriate punctuation and create a front cover and table of contents to add to an informational book about habitats.
L.2.2 W.2.2 W.2.5 W.2.7 W.2.8
Assessment
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