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Teaching Science with Kidlit: NGSS Performance Expectation 1-LS4-1

2-LS4-1.
Make observations of plants and animals to compare the diversity of life in
different habitats [Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on the diversity of living
things in each of a variety of different habitats.]

The
word “habitat” is misused more than just about any word I can think of. According
to scientists, every living thing has its own unique habitat. So while a lion’s
habitat is vast and is pretty much the same as the habitat of the other lions
in its pride, a midge’s habitat might be no bigger than a few square feet of
forest. To make that clear to young readers, you can use the following books:

A House for Hermit
Crab by Eric Carle


Song of the Water
Boatman by Joyce Sidman

The Raft by Jim LaMarche

Trout Are Made
of Trees by April Pulley Sayre

Necks Out for Adventure by
Timothy Basil Ering

Star of the Sea: A Day in the Life of a
Starfish by Janet Halfmann

Mining the Book

After reading the
title poem in Song of the Water Boatman
and Other Pond Poems, ask the class the following
questions: Where is the water boatman’s
habitat? (The bottom of the pond.)
Where is the backswimmer’s habitat? (The top of the pond.)

Then
ask: Can you find any clues in the text
that explain why the two insects
live in different parts of the pond? If
students struggle to answer this question, break it down as follows:

·   What does the text say the
water boatman eats? (green goo)

·   According to the text, where is
that food found? (floating in the water)

·   What does the text say the
backswimmer eats? (wee beasties)

·   According to the text, where is
that food found? (on the water’s surface)

·   Based on the answers to these
questions, why do you think water boatmen and backswimmers live in different
habitats? (They eat different foods, and they live in the part of the pond
where they can get the food they need to survive)

Activity 1

Let
your students know that, unlike a water boatman, a predacious diving beetle can
find food in the air as well as in a pond. Then invite your students to write
and illustrate an imaginative adventure story in which a predacious diving
beetle moves to another habitat. How does it survive in its new home? What does
it miss about living in the pond?

Activity 2

After
reading A House for Hermit Crab, use
Google Images to identify its habitat. (the sea floor) Then find photos of the
ocean creatures mentioned on the final page of the book  (sponges, barnacles, clown fish, sand dollars,
electric eels). Encourage students to write a sequel to A House for Hermit Crab—a second story in which Hermit Crab travels
along the sea floor in his new shell and meets these creatures. How could these
new creatures help Hermit Crab?

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