GoalSay what changes and what stays the same as an animal grows, and use a block graph of growth to make a prediction.
New words
change · to become differentstay the same · to not become differentpredict · to say what you think will happen next
Explanation
When an animal grows, some things change and some stay the same. A kitten gets taller and heavier. Its legs get longer and its fur gets longer. It gets bigger teeth. But a kitten does not grow extra legs. It does not turn into a different animal. It has the same number of legs when it is an adult. We can measure how an animal grows. Look at the pattern in the results to predict. A young animal grows quickly at first, and later it stops growing because it is an adult.
a growing kitten
changes
stays the same
body
taller, heavier
four legs
fur and teeth
longer fur, bigger teeth
still a cat
Worked examples
Ravi’s puppy was small and could not jump. After a year it is bigger and heavier and can jump high. Its size changed, but it still has four legs.
Ravi measured his puppy’s height in cubes. At 1 month it was 2 cubes tall, at 2 months 3 cubes, and at 3 months 4 cubes. It grows by one cube every month. The pattern lets him predict 5 cubes at 4 months.
A puppy, a kitten and a chick all grow bigger. A chick gets feathers instead of fluff, but it keeps its two legs and its beak.
Class activity
Measure and predict (with an adult): measure how tall you are with a strip of paper, or measure your hand with cubes or paperclips. Write it down. Ask a grown-up to measure you again in a month. What do you predict? Also ask about a pet or a baby you know: what has changed and what has stayed the same?
Practice
1
Does the number of legs change as a kitten grows?
No. It stays the same: four legs.
2
Write changes or stays the same for each one.
a changes; b stays the same; c changes; d stays the same.
3
A foal (a young horse) was 6 hand spans tall at 1 month, 7 at 2 months and 8 at 3 months. If it grows in the same way, how tall will it be at 4 months?
9 hand spans. It grows 1 hand span every month.
4
Ravi’s dog is three years old. It did not grow any taller this year. Why not?
It is an adult, so it has finished growing taller.
