Natalie Schafer & Hillary Dankel

This unit entitled Reptiles is designed for 3rd grade students. The
unit itself will consist of many academic disciplines while teaching
students about reptiles. This includes characteristics, adaptations,
habitats, and specific information about chameleons and sea turtles.
Students will complete a variety of activities to enhance their
learning. First, the students explore characteristics of reptiles with a
hands on activity and inquiry. Next, students will discover where
reptiles can be found, and what distinguishes these habitats from
each other. Then, students will be exposed to a variety of
adaptations that help reptiles survive. They will connect the use of
these adaptations to habitats they are well suited for. Finally,
students will be presented with information about chameleons and
sea turtles, and discuss their role in sea turtle conservation.
According to the Pennsylvania Department of Education
Standards, 3.1.3.A1: Describe characteristics of living things that
help to identify and classify them. The students will be producing a
field journal entry about a reptile as well as a clay sea turtle,
speaking and listening during discussions, applying knowledge that
enables them to become independent learners through inquiry and
design, and study living things and their characteristics.
When the unit is complete, the students will be able to describe
characteristics of reptiles, several adaptations that reptiles use for
survival, habitats where they can be found, and more specific facts
about chameleons and sea turtles. They will end the unit with a
connection to real world conservation efforts for sea turtles. This
content is key in a students ability to understanding, comparing and
contrasting, and describing traits of reptiles that distinguish them
from one another.