Plants and Animals Working Together is a four-page 2nd grade science matching sheet for NGSS 2-LS2-2. Students join a bee, a squirrel, a dog, and a bird to pictures that show how each one moves seeds or pollen. They then match craft materials, such as a fuzzy pipe cleaner and sticky tape, to the animal or plant part each one mimics. A written question asks how one animal carries seeds or pollen to a new place.
2-LS2-2
“Develop a simple model that mimics the function of an animal in dispersing seeds or pollinating plants.”
Materials Matching links each classroom material to the part it mimics, which is the plan for a simple model of pollination or seed dispersal.
Students join four animals to pictures: a bee covered in pollen, a squirrel burying an acorn, a dog with burrs in its fur, and a bird eating a berry.
Students write a letter beside each material. A fuzzy pipe cleaner stands for a bee's hairy legs, a cotton ball for pollen, a plastic spoon for a bird's beak, and sticky tape for a seed burr.
Students pick one animal from the first match and explain how it helps seeds or pollen travel.
Before a build
Set out pipe cleaners, cotton balls, spoons, and tape after the sheet. Students can then build the bee leg or burr they just matched.
Seed hunt
Take students outside to look for burrs or seed heads before question 5. The dog example in the key makes more sense once they have seen a burr stick to a sock.
Quick check
The first materials match is done for students. Ask them to explain the other three aloud, and not only write the letters.
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