Lesson video

Hello everyone, my name is Mr. Brown and I am here with your English lesson for today.

And today we are generating information, generating information about bats.

And this is to be used in a non-chronological report all about nocturnal animals.

So are you ready to become bat experts? Of course you are, let's get started.

The outcome for today's lesson is I can gain knowledge about bats to use in a non-chronological report.

The keywords that will help us on our learning journey are nocturnal, echolocation, adaptations, habitat.

Some big words in there.

Okay, let's say them together, my turn, then your turn.

Nocturnal, echolocation, well done.

Okay, another big one, here we go.

Adaptations and habitat, excellent work, well done.

By the end of this lesson, I promise you will know what each of these words means really well.

So the lesson outline, we are going to first look at a bat's adaptations.

Then we'll be focusing on a bat's habitat.

All animals have changed and adapted to survive.

These changes and adaptations have happened over millions of years and were very, very gradual.

Lots of times, hundreds of millions of years.

Adaptations are changes that have been made across such a long period of time, not things that animals can do overnight to fix a problem.

But what exactly are adaptations? Adaptations can be thought of as a superhero skill that animals and plants have developed to help them survive and thrive, which means do really well in their homes.

Just like we wear coats in the winter to stay warm, animals and plants have special things about them that make it easier for them to live in their own specific habitats.

That's the environment that they live.

True or false, adaptations are skills that animals and plants have developed to help them survive in their homes.

Is that true? Or is that false? Pause the video and decide for yourself now.

Welcome back, everyone.

Okay, let's see.

Adaptations are skills that animals and plants have developed over millions of years to help them survive in their homes.

It's absolutely true.

Well done if you said true.

For example, a polar bear has a thick white fur coat to stay warm in the snowy Arctic.

So because it is so cold in the Arctic, the polar bear over millions of years has made an adaptation to grow a thick, warm coat to help it stay nice and cosy, even when it's very, very cold.

Another example is a cactus in the desert.

So a completely different environment, very different habitat.

We've gone from the Arctic where it's cold and snowy to the desert where it's dry and hot.

A cactus in the desert has spiky skin to help keep water inside.

So animals are not going to go up to a cactus and take a little nibble and suck out the water inside because it's covered in spikes.

So the cactus has adapted to help it survive and thrive.

Adaptations are nature's way of giving everyone the tools they need to have the best chance of survival in the place where they live.

Just like how we learn and use things to make our lives better, animals and plants have their own amazing tools to help them live happier in their homes.

So just like when it's winter, we wrap up warm and we wear coats and scarves and hats and gloves.

These are not adaptations.

They're things that we are adapting to our dress code, to what we're wearing.

Animals don't have the chance to go out and buy a coat or a hat or a scarf.

So they've had to adapt to it for millions of years so that they don't require those things, so that they are thriving in their different environments.

Have you seen a bat before? We know today's lesson is focusing on bats, but have you seen one before? Most people have only seen bats in zoos or on documentary films. So maybe my question to you now should be, have you seen a bat before and it wasn't in a zoo or on a documentary? This is because when bats are active, we are sleeping.

Most people haven't seen a bat and that's because when bats are active, we're fast asleep.

Bats are nocturnal animals.

We know we are learning about nocturnal animals and bats are nocturnal.

This means they sleep during the day and are awake at night.

There are many different nocturnal animals such as hedgehogs, badgers, foxes, and owls.

Let's check our understanding.

When are nocturnal animals active? Is it A, during the day? B, at night? Or C, when the lights are on? A, B, or C, when are nocturnal animals active? Pause the video and decide for yourself now.

Welcome back, everyone.

Let's see if you found the right answer.

Nocturnal animals are active at night.

They sleep during the day and are active at night.

Well done if you said B.

You will be gaining knowledge about bats in this lesson.

This will help prepare you to write a non-chronological report about nocturnal animals with a section that is all about bats.

So we will write a non-chronological report but it will have a section that is focused just on bats, which is why you need today's lesson to become experts on bats.

So let's begin.

Bats are nocturnal mammals and are awake at night, dusk and dawn.

They are the only mammals that can fly, which makes them quite unique.

The only mammals of all the hundreds of mammals in the world, they're the only ones that can fly.

That is quite an incredible fact.

Bats fly through the air using their thin, leathery wings.

And if you look closely at that picture, you can see that their wings spread out wide but they're very thin.

And leathery is a great adjective to use to describe how they might feel.

They're thin like the leather on a shoe.

A bat's wing is made up of an arm and a hand.

It is similar to the bone structure of a human's.

Now, if we look closely at that picture, you can see that I've labelled the arm section of a bat's wing and the hand section.

And this picture, even though this picture was taken during the day and nocturnal animals like bats are asleep during the day, this particular bat was flying during the day.

And there's a reason I chose this picture because the light from the sun coming through the bat's wing helps you to see the shape of the bones in the bat's wing.

So look closely and you can see there is the arm bone and then there are those hand bones, those long hand bones, which are a bit like fingers.

Their wings help them to fly swiftly and skillfully.

Also, the bones in their wings help them to change direction easily when flying, which supports them to avoid objects such as trees.

So if a bat is flying through the trees, they can use the bones in their wings to be able to quickly change direction, which is a really important skill to have.

True or false, the skin on a bat's wings helps them to change direction easily when flying.

So is it the skin on a bat's wings which help them to change direction easily when flying? Is that true or is that false? Pause the video and decide for yourself now.

Welcome back, everyone.

So the skin on a bat's wing helps it to fly.

False, it's not the skin, it is the bones which help it to change direction.

So the skin, I should say, is something that helps it to fly.

The thin leathery skin helps its wing to be successful, but it's the bones which help the bat to be able to change direction easily.

Well done if you said false.

Bats have very poor eyesight and are almost completely blind, which means that they can see very, very little.

However, they have made an adaptation that has helped them to survive and fly around without bumping into things.

I wonder what that adaptation might be.

Bats use an amazing skill called echolocation.

There it is, that's one of our key words, echolocation.

Should we say it together one more time? My turn, your turn, echolocation.

Very good.

Let's have a good look at echolocation.

Echolocation is a special tool that some animals like bats and dolphins use to help them understand their surroundings when they cannot see.

So a dolphin might be in very murky, dark water, and so therefore it can't see, so it uses echolocation.

A bat we know has very poor eyesight, so it has to use echolocation to be able to help it to see.

They make sound waves.

So when each of us makes a noise, sound waves come out from our mouths and into the surrounding area.

That's what people hear, the sound waves.

And when those sound waves bounce off objects and come back to their ears, it helps them to know where things are.

So we might make a loud noise, produce sound waves, and if we're in a small room, perhaps those sound waves will bounce off the walls and then come back to our ears and we'll hear them.

Bats have an incredible sense of hearing, and this allows them to use echolocation to know the information that they gain when the sound waves come back to their ears helps them to know where things are.

This means that they don't need to use their eyes because they can hear where things are and then avoid those objects if they're flying perhaps.

An incredible adaptation, something that the bats have evolved to have over millions of years.

It is almost like having a built-in radar.

So you might have seen before perhaps submarines where they can use their radar to see if another submarine is approaching them.

It's exactly like that.

The sound waves help a bat to know where things are.

Okay, let's check our understanding on echolocation because that is a tricky thing to understand.

Echolocation is used by bats to help them understand where objects are in their surroundings.

Is that true or is that false? Pause the video and decide for yourself now.

Okay, welcome back all you bat experts out there.

Echolocation is used by bats to help them understand where objects are in their surroundings.

Well done if you said true, it is.

That is what echolocation does.

An incredible adaptation that I am so happy that you are now experts at.

So let's put that expertise to the test.

I would like you to fill in the blanks using the words from the box below.

So you can see at the bottom of the page, we have the words eyesight, wings, nocturnal, echolocation, and fly.

Your job is to use those words to fill in the blanks in this text that I'm going to read for you now.

Bats sleep during the day and are awake at night, which means they are called something animals.

Could that be eyesight, eyesight animals, wings? Your job is to decide.

They are the only mammals that can something.

They fly using their thin, leathery something.

Bats have very poor something and use an adaptation called something to understand their surroundings.

What do you think? Use the box at the bottom of the page to decide where those words should go to fill in the blanks.

Pause the video and have a go now.

Welcome back, everyone.

Let's see if you managed to use your newfound expertise on bats to fill in the blanks correctly.

Bats sleep during the day and are awake at night, which means they are called nocturnal animals.

Well done if you said nocturnal.

They are the only mammals that can fly.

They fly using their thin, leathery wings.

Bats have very poor eyesight and use an adaptation called echolocation to understand their surroundings.

Well done if you were able to fill in those blanks correctly.

Okay, let's move on to a bat's habitat.

Different animals live in lots of different places around the world.

Some places are very hot, some are very cold, some are full of trees and plants, and some are almost completely empty.

The environment where an animal lives is called its habitat.

That's one of our keywords, habitat.

Different habitats around the world.

Jungle, that's a habitat full of plants and leaves.

It's lush and leafy and green.

The desert, dry, sandy, hot, empty.

And the city, full of buildings and people, perhaps a river running through.

What is the name for the environment where an animal lives? Is it A, adaptation, B, nocturnal, or C, habitat? Pause the video and decide for yourself now.

Welcome back, everyone.

Let's see if you were right.

The name for the environment where an animal lives is, of course, C, habitat.

Well done.

Bats are very diverse creatures, and they can be found in lots of different habitats around the world.

The ability to adapt to different environments is another reason why bats are such super animals.

Some bats love cosy caves where it's dark and quiet.

Others prefer big trees in the forest where they can hide inside tree hollows.

Interestingly, some bats live in cities alongside millions of humans.

And there are even bats that have made hot deserts and leafy jungles their home.

So all those different habitats around the world, bats have managed to adapt to thrive in lots of different ones.

True or false, bats only like to live in cities.

Is that true or is that false? Pause the video and decide for yourself now.

Well done, everyone.

Welcome back.

Let's see if you're right.

Bats only like to live in cities is, of course, false.

We know bats live in a diverse range of habitats, lots of different habitats around the world.

In the United Kingdom, where the habitat is not like a desert or jungle, bats have made a few different places their favourite spots to live.

Bats can mostly be found in the following places.

Trees, old buildings, caves, and under bridges.

Bats like habitats that are dark, are safe from predators, have a stable temperature, which means it doesn't change, doesn't go up and down a lot, and provide protection from weather conditions.

For example, caves.

And you can see this bat in a cave.

It's dark in there.

It's safe from predators, 'cause some predators might be too big to get in, too dark in there to be able to see a bat.

It has a stable temperature, so the cave helps to keep the temperature stable and provides cover from the weather.

So if it's raining lots or there's lots of wind, the weather isn't going to be able to get into a cave.

So a cave is a really good place for a bat to make its home.

Other places such as the roofs of old buildings, like churches, provide perfect habitats too.

So all those things we just listed about caves, well, the roof of a church could do exactly the same.

Let's check your understanding.

Which two of these conditions make an old church's roof an ideal spot for a bat's habitat? Is it A, stable temperature? B, music and singing to listen to.

So there might be people singing in church.

Or C, protected from the weather.

Which two of these make an old church's roof an ideal spot for a bat's habitat? A, B, or C? You're choosing two.

Pause the video and decide for yourself now.

Welcome back, everyone.

Let's see if you managed to find the two correct answers.

So a stable temperature, absolutely.

Bats love a stable temperature in their habitat.

And an old church's roof would provide that.

So it's B or C, singing and music to listen to.

Now, we know that bats have a very good sense of hearing, not eyesight, but they can hear well.

But we don't know that they really like music and singing to listen to.

But we do know for sure that protection from the weather is so important to a bat in its habitat.

So the other correct answer was C.

Well done if you said A and C.

Okay, time to practise.

I would like you to write a list of reasons why underneath a bridge would make an excellent habitat for a bat.

So we said that bats love to live in caves, in trees, in the roofs of old buildings, such as churches, but they also like living underneath bridges.

But why is that? I would like you to write a list of reasons why underneath a bridge would make an excellent habitat for a bat.

And here's a picture of an example of a bridge that perhaps a bat might want to live under.

So pause the video and write a list of reasons why underneath a bridge would make an excellent habitat for a bat now.

Welcome back, everyone.

Let's take a look at a list and see if you had any of these reasons on yours.

So underneath a bridge is dark, and we know that bats like somewhere that is nice and dark.

It is high up, therefore safe and away from predators, which is really important for a bat's survival.

The bridge gives protection from weather conditions, such as wind and rain, which we know that bats like.

And of course, the bridge would help to provide a stable temperature.

So the bridge provides a habitat that is perfect for a bat, which is why in the United Kingdom, one of the places that bats like to make their homes is under bridges.

Okay, let's summarise the fabulous learning that you've done today.

Bats are nocturnal animals, which means they sleep during the day and are awake at night.

Bats have very poor eyesight, but use echolocation to help them navigate their way around.

Bats have leathery wings, which helps them to fly quickly.

And over millions of years, bats have made adaptations, which have helped them to survive and thrive in the different environments that they live in.

I am confident now that you are all bat experts.

So you'll be able to use that knowledge to write a section on bats in a non-chronological report all about nocturnal animals.

I will see you again very soon.