Define organism as any living thing that carries out life activities on its own.
Define traits as characteristics that determine how an organism looks, acts, or functions.
The following activities give students a chance to move like different organisms based on their traits.
Organism |
Trait |
Dance/Movement |
---|---|---|
Human |
Walks on two legs |
Walk around the room to the beat of the music |
Animal |
Walks on four legs |
Walk on hands and feet |
Bird |
Flies in the air |
Fly around the room with arms outstretched |
Insect |
Has six legs |
With a partner, create a shape with six legs and |
Plant |
Grows from the ground |
Start low and grow high |
Bacterium |
Is incredibly small |
Get really small and move in really minute way |
Divide the class into two groups: parents and offspring. Have each parent pick one offspring to be his or her partner. Discuss heredity, inherited traits, and learned traits. Place a card with the definition of each on the board.
In pairs, have the offspring copy the movement of their parent. Model with a student how this could look.
Teacher: If I were doing human movements on two legs, I would show my offspring how to _________ (tiptoe, walk backward, skip, jump in circles, and so on), and he or she will have to copy as close as he or she can everything I am doing and thus inherit my traits.
After modeling an example, allow the students to dance their assigned part, either as leader (parent) or follower (offspring).
Use the drum for accompaniment. With each activity, switch roles and have the offspring copy the varied movement of the parent.
Organism |
Trait |
Dance/Movement |
---|---|---|
Human |
Stands on two legs |
Tiptoe, walk backward, skip, jump, run, leap, and spin |
Animal |
Stands on four legs |
Move high, low, and sideways with small and large steps |
Bird |
Flies through the air |
Flap around the classroom by diving and swooping low and high |
Insect |
Moves on six legs |
Crawl on hands and feet slowly |
Plant |
Grows from the ground |
Twist straight, wide, symmetrical, low to high, and side |
Bacterium |
Is incredibly small |
Bend down in a small shape and move around with |
Discuss the concept of species and specialized structures. Put a card on the board with the definitions on it.
Discuss environment as the surrounding in which an organism lives.
Play “Sun of Jamaica” by Cusco.
Have the students get into groups of four or five. Assign each group an environment (swamp, forest, ocean, arctic, desert, savanna, and so on). Have the students create with their bodies an imaginary animal and give it traits that it would need in order to survive in its environment.
Create the shape of the animal as a group. Each child will represent one trait. Name the animals. Have the children show their animals to the class.
When they show the animal, state the environment it lives in. Have all the students who are observing make shapes like that environment. (For example, they might make cacti and sand for desert.) The group performing will state the animal’s name, and then move like their imaginary animal would move through the student-created environment.
Discuss the special structures that each group chose for their animal to adapt to fit into their environment. Discuss the effectiveness of having these traits as opposed to others.
This lesson can be used to meet standards in many grades and subject areas. We will highlight one grade’s standards to give an example of application.
Image 1: BYU Arts Bridge Student Blogs (http://education.byu.edu/arts/bridge/2016).
Images 2–3: Bradley Slade.
www.education.byu.edu/arts/lessons