Exploring Life Cycles
Students study the life cycles of different plants and animals and the characteristics of living, nonliving, and dead things, through multiple engaging informational texts and hands-on activities.
Unit Summary
As part of the upgrade to Fishtank Plus, this unit was revised in April 2021. See which texts and materials have changed as part of the revision in this guide to our Kindergarten text adjustments.
In this science-based unit, students begin to build respect for and understanding of living things by studying the life cycles of different plants and animals. In the first bend of the unit, students continue their exploration of seasons by exploring what makes spring the season of growth and the different characteristics of living, nonliving, and dead things. In the second part of the unit, students observe and learn about plants and what seeds need in order to grow into a plant. In the third part of the unit, students observe and learn about frogs and butterflies and the process in which tadpoles turn into frogs and caterpillars transform into butterflies. In the fourth part of the unit, students learn about birds and how birds grow and change inside of an egg. For each bend of the unit, it is incredibly important that students are able to participate in hands-on labs and activities that help them see and observe the life cycles in action; therefore, there are multiple project days within the unit. After the projects and labs have been set up, students should be pushed to predict, observe, record, and explain the changes that they notice. Throughout the unit, students should be challenged to think critically about how the life cycles of plants and animals are similar and different, and what all living things need in order to thrive and survive.
Texts and Materials
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Core Materials
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Book: It’s Spring! by Linda Glaser (National Geographic School Pub; 1 edition, 2010) — AD590L
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Book: What’s Alive? by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld (HarperCollins; 1 edition, 1995) — 430L
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Book: How a Seed Grows by Helene J. Jordan (HarperCollins; Revised edition, 2015) — AD470L
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Book: From Seed to Sunflower by Gerald Legg (Children's Press(CT); American ed. Edition, 1998) — 540L
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Book: The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle (Little Simon; Reprint edition, 2009) — 500L
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Book: Who Will Plant a Tree? by Jerry Pallotta (Sleeping Bear Press, 2010)
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Book: Waiting for Wings by Lois Ehlert (HMH Books for Young Readers; 1 edition, 2001) — AD459L
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Book: From Caterpillar to Butterfly by Gerald Legg (Franklin Watts; American ed. Edition, 1998) — 520L
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Book: From Caterpillar to Butterfly by Deborah Heiligman (HarperCollins; Revised edition, 2015) — AD520L
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Book: Have you Heard the Nesting Bird? by Rita Gray (HMH Books for Young Readers; Reprint edition, 2017) — AD430L
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Book: A Nest Full of Eggs by Priscilla Belz (Jenkins, HarperCollins; Revised edition, 2015) — AD630L
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Book: From Egg to Chicken by Gerald Legg (Children's Press(CT), 1998) — 560L
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Book: The Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Andersen and Jerry Pinkney (Morrow Junior Books; 1st edition, 1999) — AD820L
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Book: Frogs by Gail Gibbons (Holiday House; Reprint edition, 1993) — AD600L
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Book: From Tadpole to Frog by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld (Scholastic Paperbacks, 2011) — 520L
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Book: Summer Birds: The Butterflies of Maria Merian by Margarita Engle (Henry Holt and Co)
Supporting Materials
Assessment
This assessment accompanies this unit and should be given on the suggested assessment day or after completing the unit.
Unit Prep
Essential Questions
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- What do all living things need to survive?
- How are life cycles of various organisms similar and different?
Writing Focus Areas
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Sentence-Level Focus Areas
- Produce simple sentences orally and in writing.
- Use the conjunctions “because” and “so” orally and in writing.
- Use statements, questions, and exclamations orally or in writing.
In this unit, students continue to work on crafting sentences orally and in writing. Students explore using different sentence types and conjunctions to convey specific ideas and emotion.
Narrative Writing Focus Areas
- Narrate a single event.
- Tell what happens in the beginning, middle, and end.
In this unit, students use a combination of drawing and writing to write stories about the life cycle of a plant and a bird.
Informational Writing Focus Areas
- Name the topic they are writing about.
- Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to include some information about the topic.
In this unit, students focus on using drawing, dictating, and writing to teach a reader about the stages in a frog and butterfly life cycle.
Vocabulary
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Text-based
burst cling hatch lay minerals molt nutrient peck plant produce puzzled shed sprout surround wiggle
To see all the vocabulary for this course, view our Kindergarten Vocabulary Glossary.
Content Knowledge and Connections
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- All living things need food, water, and air to survive.
- A life cycle is a series of stages that a living thing passes through as it is born, grows, and dies.
- Different organisms have different life cycles. Organisms grow differently.
- Plants start as seeds. The seeds germinate and grow into a young plant. The plant then grows into a mature or adult plant. The adult plant grows seeds. The seeds travel to different places and the life cycle starts again.
- A frog starts as an egg. The eggs turn into tadpoles. The tadpoles have gills that grow underwater. The tadpoles then grow legs and lungs. They become froglets. The froglets lose their tail and turn into an adult. The adult then lays its own eggs and the life cycle starts again.
- A butterfly starts as an egg. A caterpillar grows out of the egg. The caterpillar then goes into a chrysalis. In the chrysalis, it grows a head, wings, and a body. Out of the chrysalis comes a butterfly. The butterfly later lays its own eggs and the life cycle starts again.
- A bird starts as an egg. Inside the egg, it grows into a little bird. The little bird hatches out of the egg. The mother and father take care of the bird as it grows. The little chicks grow into adult birds, who later can have their own chicks.
Previous Fishtank ELA Connections
Lesson Map
Common Core Standards
Core Standards
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Supporting Standards
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