Animals -- Piece by Piece

In this lesson plan students identify body parts of animals from puzzel pieces, assembles the puzzle, and names the animal and how their parts work together.  This task assesses students' abilities to sort organisms and objects into groups according to their parts and describe how the groups are formed; record observations about parts of animals including wings, feet, heads, and tails; and identify parts that, when separated from the whole, may result in the part or the whole not working, such as cars without wheels, and plants without roots. 

Weblink address (URL): 
Animals -- Piece by Piece

Standards & Objectives

Learning objectives: 

Students will:

  • conduct investigations
  • gather, organize, and represent data
  • formulate conclusions from investigational data
  • apply scientific principles to develop explanations and solve new problems

Lesson Variations

Blooms taxonomy level: 
Applying
Extension suggestions: 

Compile a collection of animal pictures from magazines, coloring books, etc. Mount each animal picture on tag board. Texture can be added to pictures by gluing on different materials such as net, waxed paper cotton, sand, or fur. Cut each animal picture into four parts: legs, arms or wings, head, and tail. Do not try to keep the body intact as you cut the picture into parts. Prepare one puzzle for every four students. Place each four-part animal puzzle in a clear plastic bag. Make student Animal Journals by stapling drawing paper into a cover labeled Animal Journal.

Helpful Hints

At each station students should have:

  • Animal pictures from magazines, coloring books, etc. (1 per group of 4 students)
  • Tag board
  • Clear plastic bags (1 per group of 4 students)
  • Glue
  • Scissors
  • Drawing paper (4 to 6 pages per student)
  • Markers/crayons
  • Stapler
  • Construction paper (1 sheet per student)
  • Materials to add texture to pictures (optional)

References

Contributors: 
Sarah Armstrong
Originator: 
Ayers Institute for Learning & Innovation