Concepts and areas to build student understanding

Suggested Activities or Experiments

Parts of the Saguaro

Students conducted the following experiments to learn about the saguaro cactus.

Use a sipping straw to show how water travels through the plant.

Roots -Four straws were used to construct a long shallow root system and draw similarities to the root system of the saguaro.

Pleats of the cactus were illustrated with a piece of construction paper in an accordion fold. The folded paper was placed in a plastic bag and water was poured in the bag. The paper expands as water is absorbed.

Fruit-Place a piece of an apple outside and wait an hour to see how many bugs were on the apple.

Desert animals were then incorporated into the unit of study. This process began with discussion and research on the holes in the Saguaro. Cactus Hotel and The Seed and the Giant Saguaro was read aloud.

Vocabulary for unit

Vocabulary learned and used in discussion:
habitat, diurnal, nocturnal, carnivore, herbivore, omnivore, predator, prey, food chain.

Students work in triads.

A group of three students worked together in a triad. Students were given three animals each day and have to read to determine a connection between the three animals. Vocabulary was introduced through triads.

Triads focused on the following animals:

Compare and make connections through triads:

Compare the animals and look for connections. Connections were highlighted in the text. For example, one student read about the elf owl, another read about the quail, and a third read about the woodpecker. The group of three students discussed the animals and noted how they were the same and the connections they could find.
For example, the elf owl, quail, and woodpecker all live in the Saguaro cactus and they are all birds.

Sonora Desert  tales

Groups of four students selected an animal for the writing of a fairy tale. The students researched predators and prey. Their fairy tale was based on familiar tales of The Three Little Pigs and Three Little Javelinas. Students constructed a setting that included a safe house for the animals and two that were not as safe. Students worked together with the teacher to create a storyboard. The storyboards included speech bubbles for main refrain. Teacher scribed as the students dictated the story from their storyboard. Then students acted out their stories using costumes they had made (paper bags).

Friendly letter to a desert animal living in or near the saguaro

Students used the information learned from the web quest, reading and video clips to write a friendly letter to an animal telling how that animal could stay safe in the AZ Sonoran Desert.

Adaptations:

After learning the vocabulary words through the triad activities, students explored what each vocabulary word meant and how it related to adaptations through hands-on experiences.

Nocturnal animals masks were made to show eyes with large pupils and enlarged ears.

Diurnal was illustrated with a reading activity where students had to go outside and find a place where they could comfortably read. Students selected shade for a cooler spot.

Carnivore and herbivore’s Teeth
Beef Jerky and celery allowed for an edible comparison of teeth. Students made inferences based on the eating activity as to what carnivore and herbivore meant.

Predator and Prey Game (outside)

Class split into predator and prey characters. Four safe areas were established. Five tokens were given to each prey. Students ran from one safe spot to another. If caught, they had to give up a token. The predator with the most tokens wins.

Food Chain Finger Puppets

Food Chain finger puppets were constructed. Students selected their own animal for their puppets. Each student will have two puppets and a plant. They must identify one animal as a plant eater and who it is eaten by to create their food chain. Find a herbivore or omnivore that is eaten by something else.

Field Trip Photo Journals

Students took five pictures on a field trip to the Desert Botanical Gardens. These photographs were taken by the students with four disposable cameras. Students used the photographs to recall their experience and explain what they saw and learned.

Desert Home Magazine

Students created a Home magazine. Students wrote a non-fiction story containing a main idea, three details, related illustration with caption on a desert animal’s home (cactus, cave, underground, tree and rocks). Kidspiration was the program used for illustration and caption. Word was utilized in the creation of the magazine.

Final Project

Students complete a research page on their own animals. Students must decide on the animal’s type, what kind of body covering it has, when is the animal awake, what it eats, where its home is and any other special adaptations it may have to live in the AZ Sonoran Desert. Students draw their animal and create a three sentence non-fiction report about the animal including a topic sentence and three details.