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Teaching Science with Kidlit: NGSS Performance Expectation K-ESS2-1

This week, I’m focusing on another kindergarten PE that is lumped under
Earth & Space Science, though it really has significant overlap with life
science concepts.

K-ESS2-1. Construct
an
argument supported by evidence for how plants and
animals (including humans) can change the environment to
meet their
needs.
[Clarification
Statement: Examples of plants and animals changing their environment could
include a squirrel digs in the ground to hide its food and tree roots can break
concrete.]

Here are some books that would be perfect for
addressing how animals can change an environment.

Mole’s Hill by Lois Elhert

At Home with Gopher Tortoise by Madeleine Dunphy

Turtle’s
Race with Beaver
by Joseph and James Bruchac 

Who
Lives in an Alligator Hole?

by Anne Rockwell 

Wiggling Worms at Work by Wendy
Pfeffer

Activity 1

Encourage your
students to create a comparison mural that shows the ways animals in two of the
books listed above changed their environment. For example, the fictional
character Mole in Mole’s Hill and the gopher tortoise featured in
At Home with Gopher Tortoise both dig
underground. Why does each animal dig tunnels and how does that affect the
creatures that live in the area?

It’s
hard to find books that show how plants can change their environment, but this
activity will do the trick:

Activity 2

Ask
students to observe a tree in the schoolyard, around their neighborhood, or at
a local park at least three times over a few days. Then ask them to draw a
picture that shows at least one way the tree makes life better for one or more
animals that live in the same environment.

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