Mississippi Science ZOO.9.5

ScienceGrades 9–12Zoology I and II

The Standard

ZOO.9: Students will understand the structure and function of phylum Chordata, class Aves, and how they demonstrate the characteristics of living things.

Explain how birds of prey use their keen sense of sight to locate and attack prey.

2026 Mississippi College- and Career-Readiness Standards for Science · Phylum Chordata, Class Aves

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students explain how a bird of prey spots a small animal from a distance. They describe how it tracks the animal, judges where it is, and grabs it with its talons.
What Mastery Looks Like: Given a hawk hunting scene, a student can point out what the hawk might see, such as a mouse moving through grass. They can explain why judging the mouse’s position helps the hawk time its strike.
Common Misconceptions: Students may think hawks find prey mainly by smell or can see through thick cover. Some think a hawk catches prey with its beak rather than its talons.
How to Assess It: Show a picture of a hawk on a branch and a mouse on the ground. Ask: How would the hawk find the mouse, and how would it catch it?

Lesson moves

Hide a small paper mouse among strips of green paper, then have students try to spot it from different distances.
Show a photo of a hawk above a field and ask students to write what it needs to see before it strikes.
Give pairs four field pictures with tiny prey shapes; have them race to find each one and name the visual clue.
Show a photo of a hawk on a roadside pole; students draw its sight line to prey below and mark its flight path.

Free download

A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to ZOO.9.5, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.

PDF, US Letter, prints cleanly in black and white.

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