Mississippi Science ZOO.9.6

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.

Describe how corvids use their intellect for problem solving and locating food storage.

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 crows, ravens, and jays solve food problems, including tool use in some species. They explain how these birds use memory and landmarks to find food they have hidden.
What Mastery Looks Like: A student can explain why a bent twig could pull a grub from a tube. On a sketch of hidden food, they can identify landmarks a bird might use to return to each cache.
Common Misconceptions: Students may think corvids find stored food mainly by smell or retrieve every item they hide. They may also assume every corvid species makes and uses tools.
How to Assess It: Exit ticket: A crow hides food beside a fence post and later uses a bent twig to pull a grub from a tube. Explain how it finds the hidden food and why the twig works.

Lesson moves

Put a paper grub with a thread loop inside a cardboard tube, then have pairs bend a pipe cleaner to hook it out.
Ask students to write which landmarks could help a jay return to seeds hidden beside two similar trees.
Show a map with three caches and landmarks for 20 seconds, then have teams mark the caches on a blank copy.
On a schoolyard walk, sketch three possible cache spots and label fixed landmarks a crow could use to find each one.

Free download

A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to ZOO.9.6, 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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