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Why do family members look alike?
Animal Superpowers Unit | Lesson 5 of 5

Why do family members look alike?

Animal Superpowers Unit | Lesson 5 of 5
Lesson narration:
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Hi, my name is Amy.

Do you notice anything special about me?

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That’s right! My ears are kind of big, and they stick out.

Sometimes other kids say, “Hey! Where did you get those ears?”

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I wonder the same thing myself.

Where did I get my ears?

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I live on a farm.

I look at the animals.

I notice their ears.

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There are many different kinds of ears.

Turtles have ears you can’t even see.

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Hey, baby turtles!

Where did you get those ears that are inside your head?

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Here’s our dog and her puppies.

The puppies’ ears are furry and floppy.

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Look what happens when our dogs run!

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Hey, puppies!

Where did you get those furry, floppy ears?

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Out in the field, we have a mother cow and her baby.

The baby cow is called a calf.

Look! The calf's body is white, but its ears are black.

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Hey, little calf!

Where did you get those ears?

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stop and talk

Stop and Talk

Look at the ears of these mother animals and their babies. What do you notice?

Where do you think the babies got their ears? Why do you think that?

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Look! The babies have ears like their mothers.

Maybe babies get their ears from their parents.

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get up and move

Get Up and Move!

Let’s be turtles. Move like you have a shell on your back!
Now be a dog. Wag your tail!
Now let’s be cows. Sniff for grass with your big snout!

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I run to tell my mother what I’ve figured out.

She says, “You’re right. We get a lot from our families!”

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I ask my mother, “Why aren’t my ears like your ears?"

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My mother says, “Let me show you something.”

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She takes me to the back room.

Our cat just had kittens!

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She asks, “Are all the kittens like their mother?”

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stop and talk Stop and Talk: How are the kittens like their mother? How are the kittens different from their mother?

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I look closely.

Most of the kittens look a lot like their mother. But a few look different.

Their colors don’t match.

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“Maybe those kittens look more like their father,” Mom says.

“Or maybe the kittens’ grandparents were those colors.”

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Just then, my grandfather comes to visit.

He wants to see the kittens, too.

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My mother asks me, “Do you notice anything about your grandpa?”

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I can’t believe I never noticed before, but Grandpa has big ears like mine!

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Grandpa says, “We have the same ears. My dad had ears like that, too.”

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“It’s because we’re family.”

THE END

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# Optional Activity: Matchup Game

In this game, you match animal mothers to their babies. Here's how to play with a group:

  1. Each person gets an envelope.
  2. Open your envelope and look for your match: mothers find their babies and babies find their mothers.
  3. When everyone has found a match, show them to the rest of the class.

See the Extensions at the end of this lesson for variations on the game.

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Anchor Connection In the past lesson, you learned that baby animals look like their parents. This is true for squirrels, too!
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Look at the baby squirrels in each of these pictures, then discuss. How are these squirrels similar? How are they different?
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Let’s match the baby squirrels to their parents. Discuss. Which baby squirrel goes with which parent? How do you know?
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Some types of squirrels are called tree squirrels. Some types of squirrels are called ground squirrels. Discuss. Which of these are tree squirrels? Which are ground squirrels? How do you know?
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Baby squirrels don’t just look like their parents. They act like their parents, too.
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Tree squirrel babies usually stay in trees, just like their parents. Ground squirrel babies usually stay on the ground, just like their parents.
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No matter where they live, tree squirrels and ground squirrels save food. Discuss. How does this help them survive?
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No matter where they live, tree squirrels and ground squirrels take care of their babies. Discuss. How does this help them survive?
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No matter where they live, tree squirrels and ground squirrels can be camouflaged to hide from predators. Discuss. How does this help them survive?
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Get the See-Think-Wonder charts you saved from earlier. One chart is all about squirrels saving food. One chart is all about squirrels carrying their babies in their mouths.
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Look at the "Wonder" columns of your charts. Have any of your questions been answered now that you have learned more about squirrels?
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observe


1 of 2

to pay close attention to something
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trait


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something you can observe about a living thing, such as the pointy beak of a bird
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🎉 That’s it for this lesson! How did it go?
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Lesson narration:

Grade 1

Animal Traits & Survival

Inheritance & Variation of Traits

1-LS3-1

3816 reviews

Activity Prep

Print Prep
In this Read-Along lesson, Amy notices that baby animals look a lot like the adults in their families—and then discovers that she does, too! The lesson includes a short exercise where students get moving by acting like farm animals. You can extend the lesson with the optional activity, Matchup Game, where students work together to match pictures of animals with their babies.
Preview optional activity

Grade 1

Animal Traits & Survival

Inheritance & Variation of Traits

1-LS3-1

3816 reviews
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