Homes for Animals: Exploring Habitats and Food Webs

Science Grades 2nd Grade 4:42 Video
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Lesson Description

Learn about habitats, food webs, and how animals are suited to live in specific environments. Discover how plants and animals depend on each other for survival.

Video Resource

Home Sweet Habitat: Crash Course Kids #21.1

Crash Course Kids

Duration: 4:42
Watch on YouTube

Key Concepts

  • Habitat: A place where an animal lives and finds food, water, shelter, and space.
  • Food Web: A system of interconnected food chains showing how plants and animals get energy from each other.
  • Adaptation: How animals' bodies and behaviors help them survive in their habitat.

Learning Objectives

  • Students will be able to define 'habitat' and identify the four basic needs of animals.
  • Students will be able to describe how plants and animals are connected in a food web.
  • Students will be able to compare and contrast the food webs of different habitats (forest and arctic).

Educator Instructions

  • Introduction (5 mins)
    Begin by asking students where their home is and what they need to live comfortably there. Then, introduce the video and explain that it will show how animals have homes called habitats.
  • Video Viewing (7 mins)
    Play the Crash Course Kids video: 'Home Sweet Habitat: Crash Course Kids #21.1'. Encourage students to pay attention to the different habitats discussed and the animals that live there.
  • Discussion (8 mins)
    After the video, lead a class discussion using the provided discussion questions.
  • Interactive Exercise: Food Web Creation (10 mins)
    Divide students into small groups. Provide each group with pictures of plants and animals found in either a forest or arctic habitat. Have them create a food web by connecting the plants and animals based on what eats what. They can use yarn or draw arrows to show the connections.
  • Wrap Up (5 mins)
    Review the key concepts of habitat, food web, and adaptation. Ask students to share one thing they learned from the lesson.

Interactive Exercises

  • Habitat Diorama
    Students create small dioramas showcasing either a forest or arctic habitat. They should include examples of plants and animals that live there and label the diorama with the name of the habitat. This can be done individually or in small groups.

Discussion Questions

  • What is a habitat?
  • What are the four things that animals need in their habitat?
  • How is a food web different from a food chain?
  • What are some of the animals and plants that live in a forest? In the Arctic?
  • Why can't a polar bear live in the desert?

Skills Developed

  • Observation
  • Critical thinking
  • Collaboration
  • Communication

Multiple Choice Questions

Question 1:

A habitat is a place where an animal _________.

Correct Answer: Lives

Question 2:

What is something an animal needs in its habitat?

Correct Answer: Food

Question 3:

In a food web, animals get energy from _________.

Correct Answer: Other plants and animals

Question 4:

A polar bear lives in a very _________ place.

Correct Answer: Cold

Question 5:

What do plants need to grow?

Correct Answer: Sunlight and water

Question 6:

Which animal eats seals?

Correct Answer: Polar Bear

Question 7:

What is a forest full of?

Correct Answer: Trees

Question 8:

What is it called when things that are dead are broken down?

Correct Answer: Decomposers

Question 9:

What is the tiny plant that lives in the ocean?

Correct Answer: Phytoplankton

Question 10:

What animal eats plankton and krill?

Correct Answer: Humpback Whale

Fill in the Blank Questions

Question 1:

A __________ is the area where something lives.

Correct Answer: habitat

Question 2:

Animals need food, water, __________, and space to live.

Correct Answer: shelter

Question 3:

Plants and animals fall along the __________ __________.

Correct Answer: food chain

Question 4:

Food chains tangled together make a __________ __________.

Correct Answer: food web

Question 5:

__________ change energy from the sun into sugar.

Correct Answer: plants

Question 6:

Trees and grass are types of __________.

Correct Answer: plants

Question 7:

An __________ eats a mouse for lunch.

Correct Answer: owl

Question 8:

__________ break down matter.

Correct Answer: Decomposers

Question 9:

__________ are tiny plants that convert energy from the sun.

Correct Answer: Phytoplankton

Question 10:

Seals eat __________.

Correct Answer: fish

Educational Standards

2.LS4.1:Make observations of plants and animals to compare the diversity of life in different habitats. 2.LS2: Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy and Dynamics:Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy and Dynamics

Teaching Materials

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