Animal Homes
Know that animals make or find different shelters. Many birds build nests for eggs and young, some rabbits dig burrows, honeybees share hives, and hermit crabs use empty shells. Some spiders spin webs to catch food. Shelters can help protect animals and their young.
What a learner can do afterwards
- Names at least four animal shelters, such as a nest, burrow, hive and shell
- Explains that shelters can help protect animals or their young from weather and animals that might eat them
- Matches the lesson's animals to shelters and identifies a catching web's food-trapping job
1 · Read
You have met animals living in forests, oceans and other places. A forest is a wider place to live. A nest or burrow is a smaller shelter within a place. Animals make or find different shelters.
Many birds build nests for eggs and young. The bird in this lesson uses twigs and grass. Other birds can use different materials, and not every nest is in a tree. Some rabbits dig burrows: tunnels and spaces underground. A burrowing rabbit can hide inside.
Honeybees live together in a hive. Other kinds of bees can live differently; not all bees share hives. A hermit crab first finds an empty shell. Then it moves in and carries the shell along. It does not make that shell. The shell helps protect its soft body.
Some spiders spin catching webs from silk. Other spiders hunt without a catching web. A catching web traps food; it is not a roof that keeps rain off. Nests, burrows, hives and shells are shelters. Shelters can help against bad weather or animals that might eat the sheltered animal. They do not stop every danger.
Small animals need protection too. A nest can help protect eggs and baby birds. To count kinds of shelters, count each different name once. A burrow and a shell are two kinds, even if there are several of each. To check a group, check every name in it.
A shell carried by a hermit crab does not grow with the crab. A growing crab may need a larger empty shell. Heavy rain can flood a burrow. This shows that shelters do not stop every danger. One example that breaks an 'every' claim is enough to show that claim is false.
These word cards show two changes that can affect an animal's shelter.
Animals make or find shelters such as nests, burrows, hives and shells. Shelters can help protect animals or their young. Some spiders use webs to catch food.
Lesson, questions and flashcards written for this dataset.
Readings written for this dataset.
More to read
Protection that moves with the crab
A hermit crab can tuck the soft part of its body inside an empty shell. The hard shell helps protect that soft part. The crab finds the shell rather than making it. When it walks away, it carries the shell along. As the crab grows, it may need to find a larger shell with more room.
What can a hole tell you?
A hole in the ground may lead to an animal's burrow. Some rabbits dig underground tunnels and spaces where they can hide. Other animals use underground shelters too. A hole alone does not tell us which animal made it. A burrow can offer protection, but it is not safe from every danger. Heavy rain can send water into it.
Different places, different jobs
A forest is a wide living place. Inside it, animals may use smaller structures. A bird may have a nest for eggs and young. A rabbit may hide in a burrow. A spider's catching web does a different job: it traps food. Calling every structure a home can hide these differences. Ask what the animal uses each structure for.
2 · Watch
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Where it sits
Where this leads
Jobs that lean on this skill. Follow one to see everything it is built on.
24 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.