A = Excellent    A means really great work, work that shows effort, imagination, thought, and special care.

Requirements for an A:

All links work. Spelling is correct. Page is legible and attractive.

Draft of assignment is completed on time.

For this assignment you will need to need to name your land animals and describe them and their environments.

Names: choose your own.

Environment: This has great influence on the biome (community of living things) . Check Biomes for suggestions.to start with. You should describe the environment, including temperature, rainfall, seasonal variations and the vegetation that your animals will eat.

Describe the Animal: Tell the size of the animal and describe its appearance and structure. Describe specific adaptations that make it able to survive in its environment. Tell what the animal eats and how it reproduces. Check Reproductive Stratgies for some useful ideas.

Illustrations: May be drawn or gathered from other sources. Illustrations may be diagrammatic so long as they get the concepts across.

Table of Animal Facts: Make a table. This table should have seven columns: see Make Your Animal Calorie Chart  for details.  Put in the names of your animals and what they weigh. Go to Make Your Animal Calorie Chart and find out how many calories an animal of that weight needs per day. Note that there are two tables, one for warm blooded animals and one for cold blooded animals. Note which the animal is on your chart. In Column Four (Eat It Cal) we are trying to figure out  how many calories a predator would get if it ate this animal.

Diagram of Animal Species Relationships: This is a sort of genealogical chart of the different species and how they are related to each other because of descent from a common ancestor.

An A assignment will demonstrate that you understand the concepts of Evolution and Adaptation to the Environment. Adaptations will follow from the parents' characteristics and will be appropriate to the environment.

Assignments that get a B will show that:

All parts of the assignment have been attempted, but the page shows deficiencies such as:

• spelling errors
• minimal animal descriptions
• minimal biome descriptions
• inappropriate adaptations
• illustrations that don't make sense
• poor understanding of evolution and adaptation
• draft not turned in by deadline
• minor information errors

Assignments that get a C will show that:

Only parts of the assignment will have been attempted, and/or the page shows deficiencies such as:

• spelling and grammatical errors
• poor page layout and organization
• incomplete or missing animal descriptions
• incomplete or missing biome descriptions
• inappropriate adaptations or adaptations without reasons given
• illustrations that don't make sense or are inappropriate
• very little understanding of evolution and adaptation
• draft not turned in by deadline and so late as to cause problems for the group
• incorrect information
• indications that student did not do research or read the Science Notes