Animals and Habitats: Supplemental Guide 9A | Habitat Destruction and Endangered Species 175
Introducing the Read-Aloud 10 minutes
What Have We Already Learned? 5 minutes
Ask students what it means if an animal or plant is adapted to its
habitat. Tell students that it takes plants and animals a long time
to adapt to their environment. Have them name several animals or
plants they have learned about in the read-alouds and describe
how they are well-adapted to their habitat and surroundings.
Tell students that the next read-aloud is about what happens to
living things when their habitats change. Ask them what they think
would happen to an animal or plant if its surroundings changed.
Tell them to imagine, for example, what would happen if it got hot
in the Arctic and all the snow and ice melted:
- Would the musk ox’s heavy fur coat help it in the hot weather?
- Would the Arctic hare’s white coat still help it blend in?
- Would walruses and seals still have a use for all that blubber?
- Blubber, heavy fur, and camoufl age are all ways that Arctic
animals have adapted to cold weather. Could any of these
adaptations make it hard to live in the new, hot weather? Why or
why not?
Vocabulary Preview 5 minutes
Endangered Species
Show image 9A-4: Bald eagle in fl ight
- In today’s lesson you will hear about an endangered species
called the bald eagle. - Say endangered species with me three times.
- Endangered species are animals or plants that have become
so few in number that they might die out completely.
HHabitat Destruction and abitat Destruction and