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Seasonal Camouflage

Seasonal Camouflage

Students will learn about animals that can change their color with the season, then choose one to illustrate.

Lesson Plan

Supplies Needed

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  • Paper

Steps

  • Step 1

    Animals need special abilities to be able to exist in the wild. Being able to camouflage themselves is important for survival of many creatures. Have students learn about some animals whose color changes based on the seasons. Examples include snowshoe hares, stoats, lemmings, goldfinches, etc. Have a discussion about other features animals have that help them survive. For example, many birds have eyes on either side of their heads which helps them assess their surroundings in almost a full 360 degrees, and pufferfish (also known as blowfish) are small and slow, so they are able to grow several times larger, making it difficult for predators to eat them.

  • Step 2

    Ask students to choose an animal that changes color with the seasons and illustrate it in camouflaged settings.

  • Step 3

    Have students present their drawings to the class and talk about some of the facts they learned about this chosen animal.

Standards

LA: Read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, at the high end of the grade level text complexity band independently and proficiently.

LA: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.

LA: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade level topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.

LA: Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience with appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking clearly at an understandable pace.

MATH: Convert like measurement units within a given measurement system.

SCI: Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the types of habitats in which organisms live, and ask questions based on that information.

SCI: Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information that in any particular environment, some kinds of organisms survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all.

VA: Use different media, techniques, and processes to communicate ideas, experiences, and stories.

VA: Use visual structures of art to communicate ideas.

Adaptations

Published shortly before his death, artist Andy Warhol's Camouflage series was the last portfolio he created. Have students learn about and view images from this series. What was his inspiration for creating it? Why did the typical pattern of military camouflage appeal to Warhol?

Have students create a diorama of a camouflaged animal. They might mold the animal out of Model Magic, then place it in a setting that camouflages it. For example, a light brown wildcat could be placed among tall blades of wheat colored long grass, or a green tree frog could be nestled among leaves.