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What do dogs and pigeons have in common?
Fates of Traits Unit | Lesson 2 of 5
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What do dogs and pigeons have in common?

Fates of Traits Unit | Lesson 2 of 5
Lesson narration:
English Spanish
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DISCUSS:
What differences can you notice in these pigeons’ traits?
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DISCUSS:
Look at these pigeon offspring. Can you find some traits that look more like one parent and some traits that look more like the other parent?
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DISCUSS:
Do you think the park pigeons could have offspring that look like this?
Why or why not?
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Step
01/16
You’ll work with a partner.
Decide who will be Trait Tracker and who will be Similarity Sleuth.
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Step
02/16
Get your supplies.
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Step
03/16
Cut along the thick black line.
Sleuth: Cut out the 4 parent cards.
Tracker: Cut out the 8 offspring cards & put them to the side.
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Step
04/16
Carefully observe Charlie’s pet pigeons.
Discuss:
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05/16
Tracker: Glue the Tango & Toto cards into the top two boxes.
Sleuth: Glue the Sonic & Stardust cards into the top two boxes.
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06/16
Tracker: Get the 8 offspring cards and lay them all out on your desk.
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07/16
Look carefully at all the traits of the pigeon offspring.
Try to match each pigeon with the correct pair of parents.
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08a/16
Review how you sorted your pigeon cards with your partner.
Make your final choices about which offspring belong to which
parents.
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Step
08b/16
Here’s what we said.
Check your pigeon families to make sure they look like this.
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09/16
Sleuth: Glue all of Sonic & Stardust’s offspring into the boxes.
Tracker: Glue all of Tango & Toto’s offspring into the boxes.
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10/16
Discuss as a class.
Sleuth: Answer question 1 on your Sonic & Stardust worksheet.
Tracker: Answer question 1 on your Tango & Toto worksheet.
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11/16
Discuss as a class.
Sleuth: Answer question 2 on your Sonic & Stardust worksheet.
Tracker: Answer question 2 on your Tango & Toto worksheet.
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Discuss as a class.
Sleuth: Answer question 3 on your Sonic & Stardust worksheet.
Tracker: Answer question 3 on your Tango & Toto worksheet.
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Charlie wants her future pigeons to have even more foot feathers.
Discuss:
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Sable and Doodle had babies together.
Examine the traits of their offspring.
Discuss:
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Charlie wants her future pigeons to have even more head feathers.
Discuss:
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Topaz and Cookie had babies together.
Examine the traits of their offspring.
Discuss:
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DISCUSS:
Which traits do you think people selected for in each of these pigeon breeds?
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DISCUSS:
How could all these different dog breeds be related to ancient wolves?
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Anchor Connection In the past lesson, you learned that animals can have different characteristics even if they are the same kind of animal. Discuss. How are these pigeons different from each other? Look for as many differences as you can.
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These ants are actually the same kind of ant. They are also all adult ants. None of these are baby ants. Discuss. What differences do you notice? Why do you think they look so different?
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One ant is much larger and it has wings. The other ants are much smaller and don’t have wings. Even though all of these ants are the same kind of ant, you can see many differences between them.
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But all of these ants don’t just look different. They also do very different things. You might already know that the ant with wings is a queen ant, and that she has a special job. Discuss. What do you think the large ant does that makes her special?
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Within an ant colony, different ants have different jobs. Some (but not all) of the jobs of each kind of ant are shown below. Discuss. How do you think it helps ants survive if they have different jobs?
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The worker ants don’t have to worry about laying eggs, so they can focus on taking care of all of the ants in the nest, including the queen. The queen doesn’t need to worry about finding food, so she can focus on laying eggs.
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By focusing on different jobs and working together, the ants help each other survive. People do this, too!
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Step
01/03
Get your Amazing Ants worksheet.
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Step
02/03
Many ants have different jobs. This helps them survive in many different places. As a class, discuss different ways that you can update your notes with this information. Then, update your notes.
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Step
03/03
Save your Amazing Ants worksheet. You will update it after the next lesson in this unit.
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Look at the "Wonder" column of your class See-Think-Wonder chart. Have any questions been answered by this lesson?
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offspring


1 of 8

babies
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siblings


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offspring that have the same parents
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trait


3 of 8

something you can observe about a living thing, such as the color of a pigeon’s feathers
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variation


4 of 8

differences in a trait between living things of the same kind, such as different feather colors of pigeons
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inherit


5 of 8

to get a trait from parents
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artificial selection


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the process of humans choosing certain traits of living things so that they are passed to the offspring
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ancestor


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a relative that lived long ago
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breed


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a group of living things with specific traits that have been selected by people over time; for example, pugs are a breed of dog
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Lesson narration:
English Spanish

Grade 3

Heredity, Survival, & Selection

Trait Variation, Inheritance, & Artificial Selection

3-LS3-1

237 reviews

Activity Prep

Print Prep
This lesson was revised on May 31, 2024. Here is a link to the previous version.
In this lesson, students explore the extreme trait variation of different dog breeds -- and pet pigeon breeds! In the activity, Pigeon Pairings, students analyze trait similarities and differences among parent, offspring, and sibling pigeons. They interpret this data to discover that the variation and inheritance of traits creates a pattern that explains why we see such extreme traits in artificially selected animal breeds.
Preview activity
Number of students:

I have a Mystery Pack

Pigeon Cards printout Print 15 copies
Pigeon Pairings worksheet 15 copies
Pigeon Pairings Answer Key teacher-only resource 1 copy
Glue Sticks
30 glue sticks
Scissors
30 pairs
Prep Instructions

We suggest students work in pairs. Homeschool students can work on their own.

Exploration

12 mins

Hands-On Activity

35 mins

Grade 3

Heredity, Survival, & Selection

Trait Variation, Inheritance, & Artificial Selection

3-LS3-1

237 reviews
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