March 2022

The Lizard Mystery

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Academic Standards

 

 

Reading Objective:

Students will recognize that investigations involve taking steps to find answers.

 

Reading Level:

480L; GRL: K

 

Next Generation Science Standards:

Practice 3: Planning and Carrying Out Investigations

 

2-LS4-1: Observe the diversity of life in a habitat.

 

Vocabulary:

investigation, sample, laboratory

Use these questions to check students’ understanding and stimulate discussion:

 

1. What did the scientist want to know?
(he wanted to know what the lizard eats)

2. What was the first step in Earyn’s lizard investigation? (She looked around the lizard’s home.)

3. What could happen to the lizard if the stream dried up?
(It could go hungry.)

4. Did Earyn solve the mystery? Explain.
(Answers will vary.)

Go online to print or project the Reading Checkpoint.

 

  • As a kid, Earyn kept a bearded dragon lizard. Her mom said no cats, no dogs—but a lizard was OK!
  • Growing up, Earyn loved watching nature shows on TV. Someday, she’d like a host her own show.
  • Earyn hosts a social media game called Find That Lizard. You try to spot a camouflaged lizard in a photo. She wants to get folks excited about lizards!

Materials: pencils, copies of the skill sheet

Overview: Students will map out steps for their own investigation to answer the question Do plants need sunlight to survive? (If there’s time, they can do the investigation too!)

Directions:

  1. Gather students. Remind them that scientists like Earyn answer questions by doing investigations. An investigation has steps that scientists plan carefully.
  2. Tell students they will plan an investigation to answer the question Do plants need sunlight to survive?
  3. Suggest they start with a guess—yes or no? They can turn and talk about this briefly.
  4. Then ask, “What steps would you take to find out if that’s true? What supplies would you need?” (two potted plants, water for the plants, something like foil to block the sun from one plant, etc.) “How much time would the investigation take?” The goal is to get students thinking and to scaffold their work.
  5. Pass out the skill sheets. Kids can work individually or in groups to plan and write the steps of their investigation.