Goal of this exercise: To start students thinking about what animals who move similarly have in common, and what is different about them. For instance, what do animals that use walking or running as their main method of transportation have in common? Where do they live? What is different about them? These are the questions scientists must ask to learn more about how animals have come to live, eat, move, and appear the way they do.

You will need:

• A set of animal cards

Instructions: Hold up two animals who both use a similar mode of transportation (i.e. flying, swimming, walking/running) but are very different in appearance. Ask the students to identify the animal and its mode of transportation. For example: "What is this animal?" "A bird!" "How does a bird move?" "by flying!" Do the same for the second animal. Now ask what is similar about the two animals and what is different. Then ask where each animal lives. Do this again, but this time use two very different animals, for instance, a bird and a horse. Ask how they move, and what is similar and what is different about the animals. Again, ask where they live. Do this with a few more sets of animals and, if possible, write down what they have in common, what is different, and where they live on the board.

Then ask the students whether they think that a bird could live under the water? How about whether a horse could live in a tree? Why not? Because they can't swim/fly! So do you think that how an animal moves has something to do with where it lives? Yes!

They are going to go home and play a game where they will try to race across a board using different animals. Some animals are faster than others, and some animals are better at getting past some places than others. They should think about where each animal lives, and how well the animal can move in areas that are very different from it's home. They should also think about how these homes are different from one another.

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