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Nature > Hoofin'
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Hoofin'
It!
Activity
2:
Vertebrate Grab Game
A running game where
students race to answer clues to different vertebrate types.
Grades:
3-4, 5-6
Key Objectives:
Students will be able to define vertebrate and describe four
characteristics that distinguish mammals from other vertebrates.
Students will also be able to describe several characteristics
of two other kinds of vertebrates.
Skills: Discussion,
classification, differentiation, description, reading aloud.
Duration: 45-60
minutes
Group Size: whole
class
Setting:
Indoors and/or outdoors but in a big area, this is a running
game!
Materials:
Pictures pasted to cardboard of mammals, birds, amphibians,
fish and reptiles. A copy of Vertebrate
Facts sheet for each student. A copy of Vertebrate
Clues for the instructor. Paper and Pencil. |
Before you begin:
- Find a picture of
a mammal, bird, amphibian, fish, and reptile (many of these
are available in the ParkWise
Photo Gallery). Cut out or print out the pictures and glue
or laminate them to a heavy piece of board such as card board.
For older students, have the students find the pictures, cut
them out and paste them to a board. Label the card board on
the back and/or keep a list of which vertebrate group the picture
belongs to.
- Pass out copies
of the Vertebrate
Facts to your students. Students can read the facts aloud
and discuss the differences between the five vertebrate groups.
- You may want to
use additional resources (Dall
Sheep Taxonomy, Dall
Sheep Fact Sheet, Vertebrate
Fact Sheet, Encarta
Classification article, Encarta
Classification table) to discuss vertebrate characteristics.
Procedures:
- Divide the students
into two equal teams and have the teams line up, facing each
other, on opposite sides of a big open space (i.e. field or
gym). The teams should be about 50 feet apart. Have the students
count off on each team and remember their numbers.
- Line up the cutouts
of the vertebrates that were made earlier in the center of the
field between the two teams. Explain that you will read a statement
from Vertebrate Clues
that describes one or more vertebrate groups. The students must
listen carefully and try to figure out which vertebrate group
or groups you are describing.
- When you call out
a number, the student from each team with that number must run
to the center of the field and find the cutout of the that vertebrate
group. Then that student must run back to his/her team before
being tagged. When one team member grabs the cutout, the other
team member may chase and try to tag him/her in order to score
a point. Some questions have more than one answer so each team
can score two points if each grabs a correct cutout.
- At the end of each
round, return the cutouts to center of the field.
Scoring:
- Grabbing the correct
cutout and getting home is 2 pts.
- Grabbing the incorrect
cutout and getting home is minus 2 pts.
- Grabbing the correct
cutout and getting tagged is 1 pt for each team.
- Grabbing the incorrect
cutout and getting tagged is minus 1 pt for each team.
Extensions: A
possible extension to this activity would be to have students
a comparison/contrast discussion, mobile, or paper on the differences
between vertebrates and invertebrates.
Suggested Assessment:
Give the “Vertebrate
Clues” page in a test format. Have students respond to the key
objectives given at beginning of activity: (1) define vertebrate,
(2) describe four characteristics that distinguish mammals from
other vertebrates, (3) describe several characteristics of two
other kinds of vertebrates. Each student could make their own
“vertebrate mobile” with the different groups of vertebrates and
text explaining their unique characteristics.
Credit:
Adapted from the Vertebrate
Grab Game, National Wildlife Federation, Nature Scope - Amazing
Mammals, Part I, 1988.
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