1. Nocturnal and Diurnal Animals
A First Grade STEM Project

2. What do all of these animals have in common?
They
All
Come
Out At
Night!
What do all of these animals have in common?

3. Nocturnal and Diurnal Animals
Nocturnal- Animals that are active at night
Diurnal- Animals that are active in the daytime

4. Night Hunt
Search with a partner and a flashlight. Draw all of the nocturnal animals you find on your search.
Beanie babies are hidden around the dark room. Half of the class will use flashlights and go on a night hunt looking for the animals while the other half does the following activity. As they find animals they will draw them on their paper.

5. What is one special adaptation you would need to be nocturnal?
If I were nocturnal…
What is one special adaptation you would need to be nocturnal?
Design some sort of technology for humans to adapt to nighttime activity.
Half the class will do this while the other half is night hunting. Then we switch groups. We will discuss the Think and Talk questions on the following page and then allow students to draw their invention.

6. Think and Talk
What adaptations do animals have that allow them to function at night?
What power did you need to give humans so they could function at night?
How did your technology allow humans to have this adaptation?

7. I Can… I can infer common traits of nocturnal animals.
I can design technology for humans to adapt to nighttime activity.

8. Evaluate
What would your technology design have to have to be an A+ design?
Do you think yours is an A+ design?
What can you do to improve your design?
Students will come up with a list of things that they would have to have in order to have an A+ design. (Examples: detailed drawing, helped humans in dark, labeled drawing, able to explain drawing, name on paper, etc.) After they have created this list, they will help their partner IMPROVE their design to make sure it is A+.