Unit Plan: Hot, Hot Hot: Adapting to the Hot Desert 

How do animals meet their needs in hot a desert?

How do plants meet their needs in a hot desert?

Home Economics 

Language Arts

Music 

School to Career 

Social Studies

Industrial Technology 

Math 

Physical Education

Science

Technology

Other: 

ESL

Gifted and Talented

Resource

Other: 

Students will create and organize PowerPoint presentations to inform their classmates about 
hot desert plants and animals adaptations. 

Students will analyze the animals and plants in their PowerPoint presentations to choose
the one that best represents adaptations to the desert environment. 

Students will design and construct imaginary hot desert plants and animals that have the 
adaptations necessary to survive in the desert environment. 

Students will create and write newspapers to describe and analyze their imaginary hot desert plants and animals. 

Students will create and illustrate food chains for their imaginary hot desert animals. 

Students will create and illustrate nourishment cycles for their imaginary hot desert plants. 

Students will judge which imaginary hot desert plants and animals have the best adaptations for survival in the hot desert.

·       State of Virginia - Standards of Learning 

Life Processes

1.4   The student will investigate and understand that plants have

·            life needs and functional parts and can be classified

·            according to certain characteristics.  Key concepts include

·            * needs (food, air, water, light, and a place to grow);

·            * parts (seeds, roots, stems, leaves, blossom, fruit); and

·            * characteristics: edible/non-edible, flowering/non-flowering,

·              evergreen/deciduous.

1.5   The student will investigate and understand that animals,

·            including people, have life needs and specific physical

·            characteristics and can be classified according to certain

·            characteristics.  Key concepts include

·            * life needs (air, food, water, and a suitable place to live);

·            * physical characteristics (body coverings, body shape,

·              appendages, and methods of movement); and

·            * characteristics (wild/tame, water homes/land homes).

1.6   The student will investigate and understand the relationship

·            of seasonal change and weather to the activities and life

·            processes of plants and animals.  Key concepts include how

·            temperature, light, and precipitation bring about changes in

·            * plants (growth, budding, falling leaves, wilting);

·            * animals (behaviors, hibernation, migration, body covering,

·              habitat); and

·            * people (dress, recreation, work).

2.5   The student will investigate and understand that living things

·            are part of a system.  Key concepts include

·            * living organisms are interdependent with their living and

·              nonliving surroundings; and

·            * habitats change over time due to many influences.

2.6   The student will investigate and understand basic types and

·            patterns of weather.  Key concepts include

·            * temperature, wind, condensation, precipitation, drought,

·              flood, and storms; and

·            * the uses and importance of measuring and recording weather

·              data.

3.4   The student will investigate and understand that behavioral

·            and physical adaptations allow animals to respond to life

·            needs.  Key concepts include

·            * methods of gathering and storing food, finding shelter,

·              defending themselves, and rearing young; and

·            * hibernation, migration, camouflage, mimicry, instinct, and

·              learned behavior.

Living System

  

  

3.5   The student will investigate and understand relationships

·            among organisms in aquatic and terrestrial food chains.  Key

·            concepts include

·            * producer, consumer, decomposer;

·            * herbivore, carnivore, omnivore; and

·            * predator - prey.

3.6   The student will investigate and understand that environments

·            support a diversity of plants and animals that share limited

·            resources.  Key concepts include

·            * dry-land environments (desert, grassland, rainforest, and

·              forest environments); and

·            * population and community

Fairfax County POS Science Benchmarks

Life Sciences 

·1.2.3-1 Identify the needs of animals such as food, water, air, and a suitable environment in which to live. 

·1.2.3-2 Observe that living organisms are interdependent with their living and nonliving surroundings. 

·1.2.3-4 Classify vertebrates as mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, or amphibians. 

·1.2.3-5 Define and when possible observe the following behaviors of living things: migration, hibernation, estivation (summer hibernation), camouflage, adaptation, and dormancy 

·1.2.3-7 Describe the interdependency of plants and animals. 

·1.2.3 ?8 Create food chains and define terms such as producer, consumer, decomposer, herbivore, carnivore, omnivore, predator, and prey. 

·1.2.3 ? 9 Describe the effect of natural forces, such as volcanoes, and living organisms on the living and nonliving parts of the environment. 

·1.2.3 ? 10 Describe plants and animals that live in the desert environment. 

·1.2.3 ?12 Investigate how habitats change over time due to many influences. 

1.2.3 ?16 Describe how plants provide homes for animals and reduce soil pollution. 

Activity 2 - Teacher PowerPoint ?Includes - Introduction to unit, background information on animal groups, discussion on how deserts are formed, discussion on hot deserts, intro on animal survival in the hot desert, intro on plant survival in the hot desert. 

Activity 3 ? Technology Lesson - Web search and student Power points on desert animals’ and plants’ survival skills and adaptations. 

Activity 4 - Math graphing ? Sort adaptations list into graph format. After student have presented their power points to the class. A list will be developed of adaptations seen in the Power points. The class will create a large wall graph with the adaptations listed at the bottom of the columns. The groups will put pictures of their animals or plants into the appropriate columns. The students may use pictures printed from their PowerPoint presentations or if time permits they may draw pictures using Kid Pix. We will use this graph for analyzing likenesses and differences. It will also serve as a reference for students to look at adaptations. 

Activity 5 ? Read aloud the book “Deserts” by Gail Gibbons. Compare what we have learned about deserts with information from the book. Add information to KWL. 

Activity 6 ? Art ? Students will build large hot desert murals in hallway. 

Activity 7 ? (Student directions included in Unit Support materials) Students will create their own unique desert animal or plant using art materials from school or home. The animal or plant will need to have the necessary adaptations to survive in the desert. 

Activity 8 ? (Templates included in Unit Support Materials) Students will write descriptions of their animal or plant using data cards templates. 

Activity 9 ? Students will create foods chains or webs for their imaginary animal. Students will create water and nourishment webs for their imaginary plants. They will use Kid Pix to create a scientific like illustration with labels of their imaginary plants or animals food or nourishment web. 

Activity 10 ? (Technology Lesson) Students will create newspapers that have at least two articles. One article will be an exciting description of how they found their imaginary animal or plant. The second article will describe how scientist examined their imaginary plant or animal. It will tell what the scientific findings were for their imaginary plant or animal. 

Activity 11 ? (Voting Forms included in Unit Support Folder) Students will share their imaginary plants and animals with the class. The class will vote using template sheets that require them to explain their reasons as to why they believe, the plant or animal they are voting for has the best adaptations to live in the desert. 

Activity 12 ? (Technology Lesson) Students will create a web site where the school can learn about desert animals and vote on the imaginary desert plant and animal they feel could survive best.

Activity 13 ? Students will use the data collected from the web site response forms
to graph and analyze the data. They will then post the results on the website. 

Activity 14 ? Students will discuss what they have learned about how animals and plants can adapt to their environment. They will complete the KWL chart. 
 
 

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Technology Lessons

1)Web Search and PowerPoint presentations - (Activity 3)
(Example in Student Sample Folder) 
(Support materials included in Unit Support Folder) 
(PowerPoint Rubric in evaluation tools folder)

Students will work in groups of four. They will take on the role of scientific investigators. Each group will choose one card from a bag. The cards contain the following titles: Mammals, Amphibians, Reptiles, Insects, Arachnids, Birds, and Plants. 

Using a hot linked page (found in Unit Support Folder) the students will search through designated web sites looking for desert animals or plants that fit into the category on their card. It is the group’s job to find out information about the animals or plants in their category that shows how they have adapted to living in an environment where water is scarce. The groups will be given data collection guide sheets (found in Unit Support Folder) to help them remember their objectives. 

They will use Microsoft Word to copy pictures and collect information about their category, as well as for their cited work annotations. After completing the data collection students will create Power point presentations that contain at least five plants or animals that fit into their category. 

The purpose of the Power point presentation is to have each group write facts about the animals or plants in their group that would provide clues or reasons for their audience to understand how this animal or plant has adapted to survive in an environment where water is scarce. 

The students will be required to use at least 6 slides per animal or plant in their slide show. 
 

·The First Slide - This slide will contain the name of the plant or animal as well as its location. 
 

·The Second, Third and Fourth slides ? These slides are where the students will place the information they feel will lead their audience to understand how this plant or animal can survive in the desert environment. 
 

·The Fifth Slide - This slide will ask the audience, “Why do you think this plant or animal can survive in the desert?” At this point the group will lead a class discussion asking their classmates to give them reasons as to why this plant or animal can survive in the desert. 
After the discussion the group will share their 

·TheSixth Slide - This slide will share the reasons why the group feels the animal or plant can survive in the desert. 
 

At the completion of the entire PowerPoint presentation the students will need to put a “Cited Works” slide. 
 
 

After all the students have presented their Power Points the class will discuss what they have learned and add information to their KWL chart. 
 
 
 
 

2)Creating a Newsletter using Microsoft Publisher - (Activity 10) 
(Example in Student Sample Folder)
(Desert Newsletter Checklist available in Unit Support Folder) 
(Newsletter Grading Rubric available in evaluation tools folder)

Prior to this activity student will have created their own imaginary desert plant or animals in activities 7, 8, & 9.

Students will use Microsoft Publisher to create their own newsletter about their imaginary plant or animal. They will use the descriptions they wrote about their imaginary plant or animal as a support for drafting their newsletter. Digital photos of their imaginary plant or animal will be included in their newsletter. Their newsletter will also include at least two articles. The Desert Newspaper Checklist contains the same information for the students as the bulleted information below.
 

·The First Article will describe how the student found or caught the animal or plant. The article will need to include:

Location where animal was found 
Description of the desert environment
Description of the animal
Description of how the plant or animal was found ? This should be story like with lots of details.
Describe what plant or animal was doing when it was found.
Describe how the plant or animal was caught or picked up.
Tell where the plant or animal was sent for further study by scientists.
 
 

·The Second Article will describe what facts scientist used to determine 

What group the animal or plant belonged to
What the plant or animal used for nourishment
How the plant or animal defended itself
How the plant or animal is able to survive in the desert
The student can also name the animal or plant based on its characteristics. 
like scientists who name dinosaurs. 
 
 
 

3)Student Web Site - (Activity 12) 
(Sample in Student Sample Folder) 
(Voting Forms in Unit Support Folder)

Using Microsoft Publisher - The class and teacher will develop a student web site using materials the students created in the unit. 

·The web site will begin with an opening statement from the class inviting the reader to learn more about desert animals and plants and their adaptations.

·The second part of the web site the students will return to their PowerPoint animal or plant groups. The groups will determine which animal or plant in their PowerPoint slide show is the best example of animal or plant adaptation in the desert. We will then use that portion of their slideshow to post on the web. The students will write descriptive paragraphs about their slideshows.

·On the third part of the website the students will use their imaginary desert plants and animals. Prior to creating this page the students will have presented their animals to the class. At the completion of all class presentations the students will vote for the animal and plant that they believe can survive the best in a hot desert. They will use the voting forms included in the unit support materials. These forms require the students to explain why they believe the plant or animal is the best suited for survival in the hot desert. After the voting is completed digital photos of the winners will be taken. These photos will be posted on the website along with a descriptive paragraph about each plant or animal. There will be one page for the animals and one page for the plants. 

·Viewers of the website will be asked to go to our voting pages to vote for the animal and plant they think would survive best in a hot desert. There will be separate voting forms for the plant and animals. 

·At a predetermined time the class will tabulate all the votes and create a graph showing the results. The results will then be posted on the website. 

The characteristics of the different animal groups. Ex: Mammals, Reptiles, Amphibians, Fish, Insects, Arachnids, & Birds. 

The earth is made up of different environments. 

Plants and animals are interdependent. 

Animal’s survival depends on food, protection, and the ability to adapt to their environment.
 
 

Technology Skills: 

Students will need prior experience with PowerPoint and Publisher. 
Students will need to have prior experience using the Internet.
Students will need to have prior experience copy, or saving graphics from the 
Internet and Microsoft Encarta. 

Technology ? Hardware (Click boxes of all equipment needed.)

Digital Camera 

DVD Player

Internet Connection 

Projection System 

Scanner 

Television 

Video Conferencing Equip.

Other: 

E-mail Software

Encyclopedia on CD-ROM 

Multimedia 

Other: 

“Welcome To The Sea of Sand” by Jane Yolen

“Life in the Desert” by Melvin Berger

“Cactus Hotel” by Brenda Z. Guiberson 

“Cactus Café’ “ by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld

“Desert Alphabet Book” by Jerry Pallotta

Teacher Resource:

“Discovering Deserts” by Ranger Rick, Naturescopes

or plant.

http://www.sonoranbounty.com/Desert_Facts/Wildlife_2/wildlife_2.html 

http://www.desertusa.com/animal.html 

http://www.sonoranbounty.com/Desert_Facts/Wildlife_3/wildlife_3.html 

http://www.greeceny.com/ls/grade4/desert.htm 

http://www.lhric.org/kat/3desert.htm 

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/biomes/desert/desert.shtml 

http://www.ontheline.org.uk/explore/nature/deserts/animals_insects.htm 

http://www.ontheline.org.uk/explore/nature/deserts/animals.htm 

http://www.ontheline.org.uk/explore/nature/deserts/animals_birds.htm 

http://www.ontheline.org.uk/explore/nature/deserts/animals_mammals.htm 

http://www.seaworld.org/animal%5Fbytes/addaxab.html 

http://www.seaworld.org/animal%5Fbytes/dromedary%5Fcamelab.html 

http://www.seaworld.org/animal%5Fbytes/abspurredtortoise.htm 

http://www.sasionline.org/arthzoo/zooframe.html 

http://library.thinkquest.org/28855/scorpions.html
http://www.myrtlekraftcottage.com/myrtlekraftcottage/ScorpionsPhoto.html 

http://www.desertusa.com/flora.html 

http://personal.riverusers.com/~sabinocanyon/sag.html 

http://www.nps.gov/moja/mojaan.htm 

http://www.sonoranbounty.com/Desert_Facts/Desert_Plants/desert_plants.html 

http://personal.riverusers.com/~sabinocanyon/syc.html 

http://kidscience.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.blueplanetbiomes.org%2Fdesert.htm 

http://www.nps.gov/moja/mojaan.htm 

http://www.sonoranbounty.com/Desert_Facts/Desert_Plants/desert_plants.html 

http://personal.riverusers.com/~sabinocanyon/syc.html 

http://kidscience.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.blueplanetbiomes.o

in this unit. The resource students will also have support from using the templates and grids 
associated with the activities. 

They need to describe how the desert environment where their plant or animal
exists is interdependent. 

They need to explain how humans must treat the desert to protect it. 

They also need to explain why this desert is a wonderful place on earth
where people would want to visit. 

Students will be graded using a Publication Rubric that gives points for 
pre-planning, content, technology use, and cited works. 

Student voting forms from activity 12 will be evaluated on the student reasons
for believing the imaginary hot desert plant and animal are the best suited
to survive in the desert.

vegetation, equator, tropics, adaptations, succulents, taproot, deciduous, saguaro,
spines, environment, diurnal, nocturnal, estivation, adaptations, camouflage,