Survival Extravaganza

Designed by: Andress Carter-Sims

Grade: Five            Subject: Science

South Carolina Science Standards: Life Science -  Describe the effect of limiting factors such as food, water, space and shelter, on a population. (II.B.4.c.)

Overview: Through active engagement students will experience survival skills/techniques and strategies that animals use to survive in the wild. Small pieces of different color paper will represent what a population needs to survive. As the activity develops under different situations, students should develop an understanding of animal survival skills. To test student mastery, students will be given four open-ended statements and of the four they must write a response reacting to two of the statements.

Focus/Essential Question: Explain what would happen if a population had little or no food or water. Describe why shelter and space are important for animals. Analyze why animals in the same population kill each other.

Time Frame: Three fifty minute class periods

Resource Materials: 

* Four different colors of copy or construction paper
 * Four pieces of paper per color of paper 
* Stickers (optional) Use to mark some paper 
* Marker (optional) Use to mark some paper 
* Pencil 
* Notebook paper 
* Chalkboard/chalk (optional)
* Overhead/overhead pen (optional) 
* Culminating Assessment Response Sheet (provided) 
* Graphic Organizer (example provided)

Culminating Assessment: During the culminating assessment students should work independently to complete the culminating assessment response sheet. The culminating assessment will consist of four open-ended statements. Of the four statements students must respond to two of them.

Culminating Assessment Rubric

Culminating Assessment Response Sheet

1. Write a letter to the Federal Government explaining how a population of bears is being affected because they have limited space and shelter. After explaining how they are being affected ask them to provide you with funds so that you can help alleviate the situation and explain what you would do with the funds to help.

2. Using the limiting factors, which are food, water, shelter and space, describe how a population could become extinct or endangered because they do not have one of the four limiting factors. Please identify the limiting factor that is missing. 

3. Provide four scenarios that could occur with a population of fish after experiencing a drought. 

4. Six hundred acres of woodlands are about to be destroyed in South Carolina to build the largest Shopping Mall in the United States. Write a letter to the Governor explaining at least three ways that this could affect the populations that live in that area.

 Instructional Activities: 

Activity One: 
To prepare for this lesson, the teacher should locate the variety of colored paper and cut each sheet of paper into nine different pieces (two cuts both horizontally and vertically) trying to make sure that each sheet of paper is the same or about the same size. Next, the teacher should place three stickers on three pieces of colored paper from each group. Now the teacher should decide from the four colors selected what each color will represent. Example: Blue paper will represent water, red will represent food and so on. The colors that are selected may be any that the teacher has available.

* Red = food 
* Blue = water 
* Brown = shelter 
* Green = space

Now the activity is ready to begin. The teacher will begin by posing this question to the class. "What do animals need to survive?" Accept all reasonable answers. As students provide responses list them on the board or overhead. After having several responses have the students to debate with each other and decide out of the answers provided the four that should be the top four or the most important four. The teacher should help to facilitate as the students come down to the final four. Allow the final four choices to be based on what the students say which should be based on their prior knowledge. Students should give a reason why they support a certain word. Later in the lesson the teacher will provide the students with the correct answers.

The teacher is now ready to explain to the students that they will participate in a survival activity. Note: This part of the activity can take place in the classroom in an open area or outside on the school ground. The teacher should have the students to stand in a large circle. The teacher should get in the middle of the circle and spread the variety of colored cards out in the inside of the circle. The teacher should next instruct the students that they are to pick up the cards until they are all gone.

Once all the cards are picked up, the students should sit in a circle. Students should be asked to place all the colors together as if they were playing a card game with all of the same colors together. The teacher should walk around the inside of the survival circle and identify those students that did not survive the survival game. Once those students have been identified, those students should stand up and hold their cards so that their classmates can see them. The teacher should now ask the students that are seated on the floor why did these students not survive the survival game. If students do not come to the conclusion that they do not have all of the colors, which is why they did not survive, the teacher may help to lead the students to the answer.

Once the teacher has received the correct response the teacher should reinforce that they did not survive because they do not have all four things that are needed in an environment for an animal to survive.

The teacher should refer to the four final words that were debated on and explain to the students that all animals need food, water, space, and shelter to survive. The teacher should also explain to the students what each color represents in the environment and explain that animals need all four. Animals may be able to survive without one or two of these things for a short period of time but after a while the animal cannot survive. The teacher may choose to use the term death or die depending on the level of students.

At this point the teacher should also correct the four words that were debated or confirm the answers. The teacher should again have the students to explain why food, water, space and shelter are needed for survival. The teacher should monitor responses closely and assist where needed.

Then, the teacher should have students to look at their cards to see if anyone has a sticker or a mark on their cards. Those students should now stand up. Note: The teacher may use any scenario they like, these are just some examples. "If you have a sticker on your green paper which represents space your space was taken over by a larger animal and because you had no space you can not survive." "If you have a sticker on your red paper which represents food your food was diseased so you were killed by the food." " If you have a sticker on your brown paper which represents shelter your shelter was destroyed by a hurricane so you did not survive." Note: These are just some examples.

Now the teacher should hold a discussion with the students as to what other situations could occur that would cause animals to loose their food, water, shelter or space. At this point in the lesson the teacher should place a graphic organizer on the board. As students provide situations that could cause an animal not to survive the teacher should place them in the graphic organizer. The teacher should get two different responses in each column.

This graphic organizer may be used.

Next, the students should be placed in the small groups of three, no more than four. The students should discuss in their groups other situations that could cause animals to loose their food, water, space, or shelter. After about fifteen minutes of discussion the students should come back together and share what they discussed. Be sure to discuss with students that some situations could cause an animal to loose all four things at the same time. Accept all reasonable answers. After sharing in a large group, students could discuss how a population of any group of animals could be affected.

Activity Two:

 At this point in the lesson the survival game should be played. The second time that the survival game is played the cards should be mixed up and placed in the inside of the circle. The cards should be turned over so that students do not see the ones that have the stickers on them. Remind students that they must have all four colors in order to survive. The teacher should also remind students that once they pick up the cards they cannot put them down. After students have picked up the cards, the teacher should again ask who survived and who did not. The students who do not survive should be those students who do not have all four items.

Students should begin to say that they have a sticker on one or some of their cards so they did not survive either. Let them know that this time the rules have changed and now the stickers represents that they have an offspring and so they must have at least one of each color to give to their offspring. If they can give their offspring one of each color and they still have one of each color then they live. If they cannot do this then they must die and the offspring can live.

At this point the teacher should discuss how animals naturally provide for their offspring until they are able to provide for themselves.

The survival game may be played several times under different rules. However, the rules should not be shared with the students until they have picked up the cards. Note: The game should be played several times with different rules because so many different things cause populations to decrease or increase.

As the game continues a small group of students could be selected each time to come up with the rules. Again the rules should not be discussed until students have picked up the cards.

Activity Three: 

Students will complete the culminating assessments independently. Assessment and rubric provided earlier in the lesson.