Slugs and Snails

Summary
Discussion of slugs and snails, and how they are classified, read individually, or with the teacher, followed by comprehension questions. Another activity has children draw their own alien life forms having similar features to slugs and snails.

Objectives
• The children will be able to describe the general structure and life habits of small creatures like slugs and snails.

• The children will be able to understand and explain the classification of different creatures.

Suggested Grades
2nd Grade
3rd Grade

Excerpt
Imagine a creature that has eyes sprouting on tentacles from its head, that breathes through a hole in its back and has a foot attached to its stomach! It sounds like an alien, doesn?t it? But, in fact, there are probably lots of them living in your back garden. Slugs and snails might be common garden pests but they have some very interesting characteristics. In addition to the description above, they also have a second pair of tentacles in front of their heads which they use to smell and taste, and a tongue, called a radula, which is like a rasp, covered with rows of little teeth. If that wasn?t strange enough they have only one foot which moves along on a trail of slime produced by a gland under the foot.

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