This worksheet details the types of tracks that can be left by animals and helps students identify the animal that made the tracks based on the pattern, shape, location, and size of their prints.
Teaching Tips
Positives
The graphics included in this worksheet are clear and useful for identifying animal tracks.
This worksheet can be utilized for an array of indoor or outdoor activities.
Additional Prerequisites
Students should be familiar with animal tracks and what they are used for.
Differentiation
A cross-curricular connection can be made in art classes that are using nature as inspiration for their work.
Send out track detectives for a scavenger hunt (around the classroom, playground, or another area) where they identify tracks left on paper or the floor. Have students record their thinking as to which animal left each track.
Scientist Notes
This is a simple guide for students to detect animals tracks based on their footprints. This resource is recommended for teaching.
Standards
Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
LS1: From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes
4-LS1-1 Construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.
LS3: Heredity: Inheritance and Variation of Traits
1-LS3-1 Make observations to construct an evidence-based account that young plants and animals are like, but not exactly like, their parents.
LS4: Biological Evolution: Unity and Diversity
2-LS4-1 Make observations of plants and animals to compare the diversity of life in different habitats.
Common Core English Language Arts Standards (CCSS.ELA)
Reading: Informational Text (K-12)
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.1.1 Ask and answer questions about key details in a text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.1.3 Describe the connection between two individuals, events, ideas, or pieces of information in a text.
