Adapting & Coexisting

This interdisciplinary unit is designed to be used in a fourth grade classroom. Throughout the unit’s activities, students will understand how living things use their structures to help them survive. By the end of the unit, students will understand that everything plays a part in the community and that we all need each other.
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Standards Aligned

Next Generation Science Standards, Social Studies (C3), Na Hapena A'o

Community Partner(s)

Learning Journeys: Loko’ia, Lo’i Patch, Geography Field Trip, Aquarium- anywhere you will be able to see living plants/animals. Without knowing anything about it- you can observe and engage in discourse about the structure, function, adaptations, and more.  These learning journeys usually take place in the first and second quarter. I would plan to teach this unit alongside the Loko’ia learning journey. As the teacher, it is okay that you are not the expert during these learning journeys. It is important to communicate with your community partners key points/themes you’d like for them to address and trust the experiences. You are facilitating these learning experiences and humbly entertaining another’s space.

Essential Question

Why do living things need one another to coexist?

Enduring Understanding

  • Students will understand that organisms have adaptations that help them survive
  • Students will understand that if we don’t preserve these environments, then these organisms won’t survive
  • Students will understand how we can be detrimental or positively impact the environment
  • Students will understand how our actions affect the survival of other species

Learner Level Elementary

Primary Content Science, STEM, Social Studies