Week 4-Camouflage

Week 4 for the Primary group was on camouflage. The lesson dealt with moths that had adapted to their environment, by camouflaging themselves. At the end of the lesson the students were able to make masks to blend into their environment just like the monsters from the book. Science After School (SAS) was a great experience. However, like all great experiences you deal with hardships and victories. The hardship that I had to endure was finding the right lesson plan. I was originally thinking about topics that were too broad and common. Once I finally arrived at the right lesson plan, everything fell into place and my stress started to diminish. The victories that I dealt with were intuitive, attentive, and excited students who were willing to participate, this made the lesson a success. I experienced hardships and victories, which is what every teacher goes through. Science After School gave me an opportunity that I will always be grateful for and I can’t thank the parents enough for bringing their children to this event. Let’s keep Science After School going!

Here is a copy of Miss Megan and Miss Traci's Lesson Plan.
I. Instructional Objectives: At the end of the lesson, the student will be able to: distinguish why an animal uses camouflage by creating a mask with 70% accuracy.

II. Assessment:
Method: Check list
Mastery: 5/7 satisfactory

III. Materials/Preparation:

§ Construction Paper
§ Pencils
§ Crayons
§ Markers
§ Glue
§ Magazines
§ Scissors
§ Feathers
§ Leaves
§ Pipe cleaners
§ Tissue papers
§ Cups
§ Paint brushes
§ Newspaper want ads
§ Activity Sheets

IV. Technology:
§ Picture of moth projected onto screen

V. Vocabulary:
§ Camouflage- to hide from an enemy by appearing to be part of a natural surrounding
§ Predators- an animal that lives by hunting for prey
§ Prey- a creature hunted or caught for food


VI. Instructional Processes:
A. Transition:
§ Flash lights to get students attention

B. Introduction:
§ Ask students:
o Based on the decorations of the room, do you think we are inside or outside?
o Are we in the desert or in the woods?
o What do you think we are going to learn about today?
o I guess you will have to wait and see!!

C. Procedures:
-Exploration
§ Go through old science or nature magazines in search of cool pictures of animals, insects or reptiles. Choose one of the pictures and carefully cut away the background so that only the animal remains.
§ Next, glue the picture on a similar color of construction paper.
§ Then create an environment that your animal will feel safe to be in. You can use colored markers, colored construction paper and/or textures cut from magazine illustrations to create your animal's habitat.
§ When your picture is finished, show it to a family member, classmate or friend to see if they can easily find the animal in your picture.

-Concept Development
o Ask students:
§ What is it called when an animal blends into its environment? (Camouflage)
§ Why would an animal need to blend into their environment? (Hide from predators or prey)
§ What is a predator?
§ What is a prey?
o To begin the lesson, tell the class that you have a page of paper moths under the sheet. Their task will be to look at the paper for 10-15 seconds and estimate the total number of moths and the number of different kinds (colors) of moths.
o Pass out the student activity sheet.
o Remove the sheet and allow students to observe for 10 seconds. Recover it with the sheet.
o Have students complete the first section by recording their estimates of the number of types of moths and the total number of moths they saw. Discuss their estimations.
o Uncover the paper and count the actual number of types and the total number of moths. Record this data in section 2 of the activity sheet.
o Discuss how the predictions and results compared.
o Complete section 3 by having the students count and record the number of each type of moth.
o Complete the bar graph by asking the students to raise their hands when you call out the color of the moth that was the easiest for them to see. Record this data on the board and have the student color the graph accordingly.
o Discussion Questions
· Which moths were the most camouflaged? The least?
· What would happen if the background had been red? Black? White?
o The moths that you looked at on the board have a relationship to the pepper moth.
o The pepper moths that lived in England were light colored so that they blended into the light colored bark of the surrounding trees.
o Before 1850 most of the moths were light colored.
o But by 1894 many of the moths were dark colored.
o This was because of the industrial revolution.
o The local factories were burning large amounts of fuel that produced air pollution.
o The trees and plants became coated with this pollution and turned darker in color.
o The light colored moths became highly visible on the darkened trees and were easy targets for their predators.
o In 47 years the moths had changed their color to adapt to the darker environment.
o Luckily, now that we are burning cleaner fuels the light colored moths are making a comeback.

If Extra Time:
o Cut out moth at top of activity sheet
o Tell students that they are going to choose a spot in the room to tape their moth.
o Each student will select a place and color their moth so that it blends into that location and is camouflaged.
o Students leave the class and reenter one at a time to tape their moth to its location.
o Moths cannot be placed under anything. Must be in plain sight.
o All students return and look around to see how many moths they can see.


-Application
§ Now, just like those Wild Things in the book, the children will create a mask that let’s other animals know they are dangerous J And then we will let the Wild Rumpus start ~
D. Closure/Conclusion:
So, let’s review:
What does it mean to be camouflaged?
What is a predator?
What is a prey?
What happened to the pepper moth a long time ago?