Home Geography for Primary Grades · Lesson XXXVII · Unit 8: Animals and the seasons
37. The parts of animals
Goal: Your child tells domestic from wild animals and explains how a cat's claws, a duck's bill and feet, a hen's feet and a sheep's hoofs fit the life each animal leads.
You'll need
- A family pet, or animals to watch at a park, pond or farm
- Pictures of a cat, dog, duck, owl, hen and sheep
- Colored pencils
- A geography notebook (any notebook kept just for these lessons) and a pencil
What's in the book
Domestic animals live near people and are tame; others are wild. Questions about what local animals eat, the cat's claws, a cat's paw versus a dog's, the duck's broad bill versus an owl's hooked bill, a duck's webbed foot versus a hen's, and a sheep's hoofs. Each animal has parts well fitted for the life it leads.
The lesson, step by step
Tame or wild?
Read the opening. Ask: What animals live around here? Which are domestic (tame)? Which are wild? Make two lists.
What do they eat?
Ask: Which of these animals eat grass? Grain? Fruit? Meat?
Claws and paws
If you have a cat, look at its paws gently (or at pictures). Ask the book's questions: What does a cat use its claws for? How is a cat's paw different from a dog's? How does a dog catch hold of things?
Bills
Look at pictures, or at ducks on a pond. Ask: What does a duck use its broad, flat bill for? What does an owl use its sharp, hooked bill for? Would a hen's pecking bill be as useful to a duck?
Feet
Ask: What does a duck use its webbed feet for? A hen its slender toes? Would webbed feet help a hen? What are a sheep's hoofs good for?
The book asks: Can you draw a duck's foot and a hen's foot? Your child draws them side by side.
The big idea
Read the last line aloud.
You see each animal has parts well fitted for the life it leads.
Ask your child to say it in their own words, with one example.
Afterwards
At a duck pond, watch how ducks paddle and dabble. Watch a cat or dog for five minutes and notice how it uses its paws.
Tip
Watch wild animals from a distance and never touch them. Wash hands after handling pets.
Answers to the book's problems
A cat uses its claws to catch and hold its prey and to climb. A cat can pull its claws in; a dog's claws always stay out, and a dog seizes its prey with its teeth. A duck uses its broad, flat bill to scoop and strain food from mud and water; an owl uses its sharp, hooked bill to tear meat. A hen has a pointed bill for pecking seeds; it would not suit a duck. A duck uses its webbed feet for swimming; a hen uses its slender toes for walking and scratching for food, and webbed feet would not help it scratch. A sheep's hoofs are only for walking and climbing; it could not use a cat's claws or a hen's toes. Each animal has parts well fitted for the life it leads.
Worked out for this site from the scan. If a number in your copy differs, trust the book.