Adaptations: Match the Trait to the Job

SubstitutePlans.com
Science · Life and Earth Science 6-8
SP-SCI68-002 · Free to print and use in your classroom · substituteplans.com
Page 2
Adaptations: Match the Trait to the Job
Science · Life and Earth Science 6-8 · Grades 6-7 · 45 minutes
Time needed
45 minutes (one class period)
Prep
Copy the 2-page worksheet (one per student).
Technology
None.
Student
independence
High. Students work alone, then check with a partner.
Copies to make
One 2-page worksheet per student
Materials
Pencils, Worksheet
Goal for today: Students will explain how specific adaptations help organisms survive and will distinguish structural
from behavioral adaptations.
Before the bell
☐ Copy the worksheet, one per student (2 pages).
☐ Keep the answer key on your desk.
☐ Optional: write the words STRUCTURAL = a body part and BEHAVIORAL = something an animal does on the
board.
Say this to start
Good morning! Today you are studying adaptations. An adaptation is a feature or behavior that helps a living thing
survive where it lives. You will match some famous adaptations to their jobs, sort some into groups, and then design
your own creature. Read the short passage first. Then work quietly on your own.
Run of show
Minutes
What you do
What students do
0–5
Take attendance. Hand out the worksheet.
Settle in and read the title and directions.
5–10
Ask students to read the short passage silently.
Read the passage.
10–20
Tell students to complete the matching (questions 1–7).
Write the letter of the best job next to each
adaptation.
20–30
Tell students to complete the sorting table and questions
8–9.
Label each adaptation structural or
behavioral and answer the two
multiple-choice questions.
30–40
Tell students to design their creature (question 10) and
finish question 11. Remind them that creative answers are
welcome as long as each adaptation has a clear job.
Write about two adaptations for the desert
creature and one adaptation of a real
animal.
40–45
Read the matching answers (1–9) from the key so students
can check. Collect worksheets.
Check answers and hand in the worksheet.
If things go wrong
• If a student asks whether they can choose any animal for question 11, say yes, as long as it is a real animal.

SubstitutePlans.com
Science · Life and Earth Science 6-8
SP-SCI68-002 · Free to print and use in your classroom · substituteplans.com
Page 3
• If students stall on the design task, point out that each adaptation needs two parts: what it is and what job it
does.
• If students finish quickly, send them to the early finisher list.
• If the class is noisy, move to silent work and let students compare only after question 9.
Early finishers
• Draw your desert creature on the back of the worksheet and label the adaptations.
• Write down two adaptations that help humans survive, such as shivering or sweating, and say what job each
does.
Support and challenge
• Support: Let students work with a partner and skip question 11.
• Challenge: Ask students to explain how a plant in a rainforest and a plant in a desert would differ and why.
Notes for the teacher (you fill this in)
Jot a few lines before you leave. A full Daily Sub Report is in the free Sub Survival Kit at SubstitutePlans.com.
How far the class got / what to pick up next:
Students who were especially helpful:
Anything the teacher should know: