Below are ideas for extending this topic beyond the Exploration & Activity you just completed.

• Lesson Assessment and Answer Key
• Readings: Readings about mammal traits and a spider with a strange name.
• Videos: Challenge your students to identify what kind of animal is in each of these short videos.
• Activities: Practice sorting with these activities.
• Activity: Extend your lesson with a bulletin board.
• Activity extension: Where do these animals belong?

Set up the bulletin board by dividing it into 5 blocks, labeling one for each group of animals:

• Mammals (bones, hair/fur, live birth)
• Birds (bones, feathers, lays eggs)
• Reptiles (bones, scales, lays eggs)
• Boneless Animals (no bones, no fur/feathers, lays eggs)
• ?? Where do these belong??

If you like, have students color these full-page animal cards . Go to the next slide for how to use the bulletin board as a class activity.

Use the bulletin board to review and expand students' knowledge of animal groups.

1) Put animal cards into the appropriate blocks. (You can use cards from the activity or full-page animal cards .

2) Challenge students to suggest other animals, then write (or draw) them on 3 x 5 cards. Discuss where each animal belongs, then put the card in that group.

3) If students can't agree, put that animal in the “??” block. Ask students how they could figure out where it belongs. (Scientists sometimes disagree on how to classify animals, too.)

Here's a great addition to your bulletin board.

• Print out more challenge cards for each student. (Each printout includes two sets of three cards.)
• Use these step-by-step instructions to figure out where each of these animals belongs. Be warned: these animals are really challenging. Expect a lot of discussion!
• Put each card in the appropriate group on your bulletin board.
  

These readings are free with registration at Newsela or Readworks, both excellent sources of supplemental reading.

• Mammals (like us!) are warm-blooded, while reptiles are cold-blooded. Find out more about warm- and cold-blooded animals here. (Readworks, Grade 3)

• If you discover a new animal, you get to name it. Read about the scientists who named a strange new spiderfor its familiar—but unexpected—shape. (Newsela, Grade 2, English and Spanish)

Watch these videos to meet a cute baby sloth (2:20), a rare cassowary (2:58), and a bad-tempered snapping turtle (3:09). Can you figure out what kind of animal each one is? Discuss:

• What group does each animal belong in?
• How can you tell? (Does it have fur? Feathers? Scales?)
• Have you ever seen an animal like this before? Where?
• Which animal is your favorite? Why?

For more videos like this, check out the Brave Wildernesswebsite, featuring naturalist Coyote Peterson and a host of fascinating creatures from around the world.

These activities from Science NetLinks let students develop their sorting skills. When they sort animals or objects, they are learning to think about characteristics.

• This online animal sorting game is great for students to play on their own—or in teams in the classroom.

• Create your own game guided by this “Classify Classroom Objects” activity. Grouping objects—like LEGO pieces or books or crayons—will help students understand that there are many ways to sort. Students could group by color, by shape, or by size.