Plant and Animal Adaptations_Project Blog (10/24-10/28)

Summary:

This week we were making posters about plant and animal adaptations. Adaptations are things that help plants and animals survive. Every plant and every animal has an adaptation. The animal that I chose is a porcupine. The plant that I chose is a birch tree.

Here are some porcupine adaptations that I decided to write about:

Structural Adaptations:

• Porcupines have sharp quills on their back that stand up when the porcupine is threatened. These quills will hurt the predator when they get near them, even though they will not stay in for very long. Quills will grow back once they fall out.

• Toes and claws help the porcupine dig up plants to eat, tear up tree bark to eat, and climb trees to get away from predators.

• Underfur is a warm layer of fur that warms up the porcupine in the winter. 

• Porcupines have really good ears to help listen to predators coming, and to hear other porcupines.

Behavioral Adaptations:

• Smells help the porcupine to communicate with other porcupines, and to mate.

• Sounds help the porcupine to speak to other porcupines. They are also helpful because they scare off predators.

Here are some birch tree adaptations that I decided to write about:

Structural Adaptations:

• Leaves on a birch tree have a very small surface area (in other words, they are very thin) that helps reduce water waste.

• The trunk is very thick and strong to protect the wood inside from getting damaged, or drying out.

• The root system is shallow and wide which helps get enough moisture for the birch tree.

• The twigs or branches are very flexible which helps so they won't break to strong winds or piles of snow.

Backward - Looking

How much did you know about the subject before we started?

Before we started learning about adaptations, I knew that they were things that helped plants. I did not know that there are specific adaptations for each animal and each plant. I also did not know that there are different kinds of adaptations (structural and behavioral) and how they differ.

What process did you go through to produce this piece?

To make these posters, first we had to decide what biome we are going to learn about, and one plant, and one animal that lives in that biome. Then, we did research about these adaptations and how they help these plants and animals in daily life. One we knew enough about the topic, we created our posters on google draw, and printed them out for presentations. We will be competing for which animal will be the flagship species.

Inward - Looking

How do you feel about this piece of work? What parts of it do you particularly like? Dislike? Why? What did/do you enjoy about this piece or work?

I feel good about this piece of work. I took a long time on my posters because I wanted them to look nice and pleasing to the eye. I particularly like that I made the background blend in with the image for my birch tree. I enjoy how we will be competing against the other people doing the same biome because it makes the project fun and interesting to learn.

Outward - Looking

What the one thing you particularly want people to notice when they look at your work?

I want people to notice the time and effort I took creating and printing my posters. I want people to notice the images because that is what is important to grab people's attention to read the poster. I also want people to notice the facts I put on my poster.

Forward - Looking

What's one goal you would like to set for yourself for next time?

One goal that I would like to set for myself next time is the time that I take on this project. I took too long researching for my poster, and making my poster. I think that next time I will try to be more efficient to get things done faster, but at a pace that I can still make the project look nice.