grade 3
neat feet Correlates with the California State Science Content Standards
Adaptations
OBJECTIVE • Students match different animal feet to their functions.
I WONDER? Do all animals have feet? Can you name an animal that doesn’t? How does it move?
INTRODUCTION To find food, animals may dig, paddle, crawl, fly, or do other behaviors to catch prey or gather edible plants. Depending on the different environments that the animal inhabits, its feet may have webbed toes for swimming, claws for scratching or burrowing, talons for grabbing, or soft pads for sticking to surfaces. Looking at an animal’s feet can tell you about its lifestyle and where it lives.
MATERIALS • Go to sandiegozoo.org/teacherresources to download drawings of feet or paws from a koala, wallaby, kookaburra, wombat, crocodile, and human. Print pictures. • Go to sandiegozoo.org/teacherresources to download picture of a koala, wallaby, kookaburra, wombat, and crocodile. Print pictures. • Neat Feet worksheet copy for each student • Colored pencils, crayons, or pens
ACTIVITY Step 1: Ask students to think about their feet. How do we use our feet. What can we do? What about an animal’s feet? Ask students to name or describe an animal and its feet. How do these different feet help the animal thrive in its home? Step 2: Show drawings of the feet of the koala, wallaby, kookaburra, wombat, and
TEACHER’S KEY To download the curriculum PDF with the Teacher’s Key visit: sandiegozoo.org/ teacherresources
crocodile. Ask students how these feet might be used (climb, dig, swim, hop, grab, or walk). Ask if they can guess which animal these feet belong to. After guessing, show animal pictures and have students match the feet with the animal pictures. Have students mimic how these animals use their feet.
Step 3: Distribute Neat Feet worksheet. Ask students to match the animals to the feet, and then the feet to the action words, working from left to right across the sheet.
Step 4: When students have completed the worksheet, review answers with the class. Step 5: Have students discuss the function of other Australian animals’ feet.
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