ELA Lesson: Animal Adaptation in Biography
Lesson Plan
55 minutesGrades3English Language Arts
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Learn about our review process →
Written by Cari Gallagher, Sustainable Jersey for Schools
About this lesson
Students learn about Jane Goodall, research other environmental leaders, and identify ways to make a difference.
Inquire: Students identify characteristics of biographies and preview a biography about Jane Goodall.
Investigate: Students read a biography about Jane Goodall, watch a video, and discuss Dr. Jane’s views about the environment, climate change, and hope.
Inspire: Students research other environmental leaders, share their findings, and choose an activity to show ways to make a difference.
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Suggestions
- This lesson can be taught in conjunction with an environmental science unit on weather, climate, or animals, or used to introduce storytelling, research, or writing units in ELA.
- This lesson can connect to other subjects and focus areas such as the following:
- SEL: Empathy and standing up for what you believe in
- Math: Using a timeline from the biographies to estimate or calculate the elapsed amount of time between different moments in the person’s life
- Social studies: Students can use maps or globes to locate the destinations and explorations of the figures they researched
- Teacher can use this alternative video, Dr. Jane Goodall 90th Birthday Celebration (3:14) for the Investigate section, and choose a Roots and Shoots project that addresses climate change to complete as a class.
- The Investigate and Inspire sections can be completed on separate days or extended over several classes.
- The research activity in the Inspire section can be extended by students dressing up as the figure and presenting key moments from their lives, or creating a “wax museum” or “hall of fame” with artistic depictions of each person the class researched.
- As an alternative to researching people in the Inspire section, students can research the following New Jersey endangered species and find out how people and organizations in New Jersey are helping them. Students could write a fictional story, an informational text, or a biography about someone helping the animal they researched.
- Horseshoe crabs
- Bobcats
- Bog turtles
- Eastern Tiger Salamanders
- Southern Gray Treefrogs
Prerequisites
- This is lesson 3 of 3 in our 3rd grade ELA Unit: Animal Adaptation in Literary Genres.
- Students should have basic research skills and be familiar with their school's resources in order to complete the activity in the Investigate section.
- Students should have a basic understanding of the differences between climate and weather, and knowledge about climate change. Teacher can use the following videos to teach students these concepts as needed:
- Teachers may want to gather a list or collection of resources about climate leaders for students to use in their research.
Differentiation
- Teachers can provide a tiered approach for vocabulary for lower-level learners, ELL, or SPED students (e.g., environment = outside, activist = helper).
- Teachers can provide supplemental books that highlight environmental activists and scientists for higher-level students.
- Students can use PebbleGo, school libraries, or Epic online to discover more about Jane Goodall’s environmental advocacy timeline. For example, Jane Goodall’s stance on climate change is that climate change causes biodiversity loss, and biodiversity is essential to all life.
- Teachers can add a vocabulary exit ticket by asking students to pick a new word they learned from this lesson, define it, and use it in a sentence. Responses can be oral, written on a post-it, or a dry-erase paddle.
From the scientist review
After reading about the lives of environmental leaders who have made significant contributions to maintaining a healthy environment and ensuring that animals can adapt to climate change and are kept from going extinct, students may develop an aspiration to become environmentalists and climate activists. We conducted a scientific review and we can confirm that the lesson has passed the process satisfactorily.
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About the teacher writers
Cari Gallagher
New Jersey State Lead
Dr. Cari Gallagher holds a B.A. in Elementary Education from Rider University, an M.A. in Education from The College of New Jersey, Educational Leadership certificates from NJExcel, and a Ph.D. in Teaching and Curriculum from National University. She is an elementary school teacher in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, with more than 25 years of experience teaching students in grades PreK–6. In addition to her work in K–12 education, Dr. Gallagher serves as an adjunct professor and student teacher supervisor in the School of Education at The College of New Jersey. She is committed to preparing future educators while fostering innovative, student-centered teaching practices. As the New Jersey State Lead for SubjectToClimate, Dr. Gallagher continues to advance environmental and climate literacy through interdisciplinary education initiatives and provides professional development across the state. Her scholarship and advocacy focus on integrating climate education across the curriculum to empower students as informed, engaged citizens. Dr. Gallagher's insight has been published in Climate Change Education Across Disciplines K–12, The Washington Post, Edutopia, the NJEA Review, and ProQuest. Cari enjoys being outside in her free time, watching her kids play sports, gardening, and cooking.
Sustainable Jersey for Schools
Sustainable Jersey is a network and movement of municipalities, schools and school districts working collectively to bring about a sustainable New Jersey. Acting with state agencies, non-profit organizations, foundations, academia and industry, Sustainable Jersey researches best practices for what communities could and should do to contribute to a sustainable future.
