What helps this turtle stay protected?

The first grade performance expectation 1-LS1-1 asks students to “use materials to design a solution to a human problem by mimicking how plants and/or animals use their external parts to help them survive, grow, and meet their needs.”  In our first grade informational text for this performance expectation, Just Like Animals by Sarah Wassner Flynn, students learn how human tools can function similarly to plant and animal parts.  You can access the text here.

After students have read the text, you could extend their learning with this video about Biomimicry.

Take advantage of this NGSS-aligned lesson plan that follows the 5Es structure!

And finally, here’s a great collection of 30 examples to share with your students of animals that inspired technological advances.  Enjoy!

Just Like Animals is found in, StarrMatica Texts: Science Your Way, a collection of informational texts written specifically to address every K-5 NGSS Performance Expectation.  All texts in the collection begin with a phenomenon photo and are written at six different Lexile levels, so all students can read the same content at their reading level.  You can find out more about StarrMatica Texts:  Science Your Way here.