Animals Without Backbones, Grades 1-3

For hands-on activities involving snails, insects, squid, and starfish that connect science with real life, choose Animals without Backbones. This book, designed with good science and easy teaching in mind, covers these concepts:
animals without backbones are called invertebrates
invertebrates are classified by their body characteristics
most kinds of invertebrates live in the ocean
invertebrates have developed different ways of acquiring food
invertebrates' movements are adapted to the animals' needs
invertebrates have developed many forms of self-defense
some invertebrates build homes

Activities help children practice skills in: observation, analysis, communication, making comparisons, prediction, critical thinking, and recording. Areas of study address major themes such as: change, structure, function, diversity, and cause and effect.

Samples of the hands-on learning experiences:
observe and record information about invertebrates kept in the classroom-spiders, ants, earthworms, snails
examine shells and exoskeletons of ocean invertebrates
raise mealworms to observe a complete metamorphosis
experiment to find out what kind of foods ants prefer
design an insect that is camouflaged to "hide" in the classroom

Contains many reproducible, ready-to-go resources, such as record sheets, logbook forms, minibooks, and picture cards. Illustrated throughout with fun, yet accurate animal line art. All 80 pages perforated for easy removal.