English

Oral activity

Name an animal that used to live on earth but no longer exists. How did you come to know about this animal?

7.1 Describing prehistoric animals

Activity 1

Listen carefully as your teacher reads the following words and text. Read the words out loud after the teacher.

fossil                    dinosaur            mammoth           prehistoric        palaeontology           palaeontologist

There is a branch of science that specifically studies the remains of animals and plants.

It mainly deals with animals and plants that lived or grew before human beings started keeping records.

This means that these are very old animals.

The name given to this time is the prehistoric period.

The remains of animals and plants that lived during this period are known as fossils.

The people who study fossils are known as paleontologists.

The branch of science that studies fossils is paleontology.

The most common animal that lived in the prehistoric period is the dinosaur.

Most paleontologists have studied dinosaurs in detail. However, there were also other animals that lived during this period.

An example is the mammoth. This was an elephant that had hair unlike the elephants we know today.

Activity 2

Use a dictionary or the Internet to find the meaning of the new words in Activity 1.

Read the passage again to see how the words have been used.

Activity 3

Listen carefully as your teacher reads different texts that describe prehistoric animals.

Identify the animals that the text is talking about from the pictures below.

Activity 4

Read the passage below and answer the questions that follow.
Archaeopteryx was a dinosaur that looked like a bird.

It had teeth and claws but it also had feathers and wings. This type of dinosaurs looked similar

to modern birds.

However, they had a long, stiff, bony tail unlike modern birds.

Each wing of the archaeopteryx had two separate fingers that had sharp, curved claws.

Unlike birds, archaeopteryx did not have a beak. Instead they had jaws with small, sharp teeth.

It mostly ate insects.

Questions
a) Which characteristics of a bird did the archaeopteryx have?
b) Why is it important to learn about animals like the archaeopteryx?
c) In pairs, find out the meaning of the following words as used in the passage:

claws            stiff            bony         beak

Exercise 1

11. There were different types of dinosaurs. Some of them are given below.

Anatosaurus          Apatosaurus           Brachiosaurus           Dilophosaurus

Protoceratops        Ankyylosaurus        Spinosaurus             Stegosaurus

Triceratops            Tyrannosaurus rex

2. Choose one type of dinosaur from the list above.

3. Carry out library research on the type of dinosaur. If possible, you can use the internet for research.

4. Write a brief description of some of the characteristics of the type of dinosaur that you selected by answering the following questions

       a) How big was your dinosaur?

       b) What did it look like?

       c) What did it eat?

       d) Where did it live?

5. Draw a picture of the type of dinosaur that you selected.

7.2 Classifying animals

Activity 1

a) How do we classify animals?
b) Write them down and present to the class.

Activity 2

Discuss the meaning of the following words in pairs. Write the meanings in your exercise books.

vertebrates                 invertebrates             cold blooded                warm–blooded
Back bone                   flora                          fauna                            

Activity 3

Copy the table below into your books.
Discuss and compare the table below by writing yes/no for the characteristics of the different classes of animals. Present your work.

Activity 4

Copy the table below into your books.
Discuss the names of different animals and fill in the table with the correct answers.

Activity 5

Which of the following animals are found in Rwanda?

Activity 6

Your teacher will read different names of animals to the class. (Vertebrates and invertebrates.) Make flash cards and arrange them based on the animal category. Do the same with cold-blooded and warm-blooded animals.

7.3 Recounting personal experiences of seeing animals

Activity 1

1. Read out the following words.

tourist trip             national park               wild                   travel             holiday

2. Do you know the meaning of each word? Try to explain the meaning using your own words.

3. Now use a dictionary or the Internet to find the correct meaning of the words you read.

Activity 2

Look at the following pictures. Tell a story based on the pictures.

Activity 3

1. Interview your friend using the following questions.
• Have you ever visited a game reserve or a national park? If yes, which one? If no, say which

game reserve you would like to visit.
• Which are your favourite wild animals?
• Where can these animals be found?
• Which wild animal would you like to see that have you not seen?

2. Write sentences using the answers that your friend has given.

    For example

   • Uwamahoro has visited Nyungwe National Park. Her favourite wild animal is a mountain gorilla.

   • Mountain gorillas can be found at Volcanoes National Park.

   • Uwamahoro would like to see a shark.

3. Read the sentences to your classmates.

Activity 4

Read, discuss and answer questions about the passage below.

                                           The Roadside Monkeys

Gatera was travelling from Kigali to Musanze by bus. When they reached Nyamweru, they saw three monkeys squatting by the roadside. They looked hungry. Gatera felt sorry for them.

“What can I do to help them?” Gatera thought. Then he remembered that he had packed some bananas.

He asked his father if he could throw one yellow banana to the monkeys. He got so excited when his father agreed.

Gatera threw the banana out. In a short while, the monkeys were fighting for it. The other passengers joined Gatera in throwing food to the monkeys. They were throwing any food item that they had. One passenger who was sitting at the back was throwing maize cobs.

Questions
a) Where was Gatera going?
b) What did he see along the way?
c) How did the passengers help the monkeys?
d) Which food items are mentioned in the passage?
e) Find the meaning of the following words as used in the passage?

excited                      squatting                passengers

Activity 5

Share your personal experience of how you reacted after seeing a wild animal.

Remember to use the past continuous tense.

You may start your narration with any of the following sentence starters

a) One day, I was walking-------------------------------------.

b) Last term when our social studies teacher took us to ---------------------------.
c) The first time I saw a baboon was when my father-------------------------------.

d) The monkey was eating maize in the neighbour’s garden. When it saw me,--------------------------.

Activity 6

Write a story of between 250-350 words about seeing an animal in a forest. Pay attention to the past continuous tense. Read your story to the class.

Grammar point

Adjectives are placed before nouns to modify the noun. For example, We saw a big elephant.

We use the past continous tense to talk about the past. We also use it to talk about things that

continued happening for a period of time.

Activity 7

Study the list of adjectives below. Use the adjectives to construct sentences about animals.

sharp         long       large            heavy            cold             blooded             warm               blooded

• Lions have sharp canines.

• An elephant has got very large ears.

Activity 8

Ask your friend questions about things you want to know about animals.
Begin your questions like this:

a) How big ?--------------------------?
b) How many-------------------------?
c) What .....................................?

Your friend will respond by giving a declarative sentence.
A declarative sentence is a sentence in the form of a statement.

For example

Mahoro: How big is an elephant?

Ganza: An adult elephant weighs about 24,000 pounds and stands at about 13 feet tall.

Mahoro: How many lions are in Akagera National Park?
Ganza: There are five lions in Akagera National Park.

Sounds and spelling

Activity 1

Listen carefully as your teacher reads out different words. Write these words down in your exercise book.

Activity 2

Re-arrange the following distorted/disorganised letters to form correct words and read the word to your friend.

lmamam …………….
etxticn ……………….
ssilfo ………………...
anlsima ……………...
storichirep…………...

Riddle

I am strong. I have long hair around my neck. I feed on meat. What am I?

Debate

Hold a class debate on the motion “Climatic Change is the major cause of animal extinction in the world.”

Think, pair and share.
Discuss and share:
What would happen to animals if their habitat is destroyed by man?

                            Unit 7 Assessment

1. What are prehistoric animals?

2. Match the following prehistoric animals with their names.

3. Write a short text about an animal of your choice and state:

     a) Whether it is a vertebrate or invertebrate.

    b) Where it lives (land or water).

    c) How it reproduces (give birth or lays eggs).

4. What do the following words mean in the study of animals?

     a) aquatic                 b) endangered              c) habitat

5. Write a simple poem about your favourite prehistoric animal.

6. a) Collect the following items and classify them into different groups. Fish backbones, feathers, eggs,   shells, legs of insects. For example, grass–hoppers fur or hair from animals. Write down the names of the animals the objects come from.

b) Explain to the class why your group decided to classify the animals into that particular group.

For example one group could write fish for a ‘backbone corner’ and explain that fish is a vertebrate. Vertebrates are animals with backbones. Almost all fish are cold–blooded. Fish live in water and …

7. List three:

 a) cold blooded animals.

b) warm blooded animals

8. Write a short story about your experience of seeing an animal in a forest. Pay attention to the past continuous tense.

9. Write a story about prehistoric animals and read it to the class.

10 What do the following animals eat?

lions                  elephants               giraffes                 gorillas                zebras