In this unit, students will learn about inheritance, behavior and adaptations. They will consider these topics through the lens of a bird living in a tree. The Crosscutting Concepts of Patterns, Structure and Function, and Systems and System Models are featured prominently as students explore how birds build nests, interact with their young and adapt to particular food sources. First, students will consider how birds change their environments to meet their needs by learning about different kinds of bird nests and considering what they would need to know to build their own bird nest. Next, students will explore how baby animals, particularly baby birds, are similar yet different from their parents. They will gather observations by using a photo card sort and will make a claim with evidence about parent and offspring characteristics. They will also consider the life cycle of an oak tree and how young plants are similar yet different to parent plants. After this, students will watch live nest-cams and consider how parent birds and offspring birds behave in order to help the offspring survive. After students have learned about bird nests and bird babies, they use a “Bird Beak Buffet”, photo cards and models to consider how different kinds of birds have different beak structures that are adapted to eat particular types of food. The unit culminates with a design challenge in which students apply what they have learned about birds in order to build a bird nest that can hold eggs. Students use the engineering design cycle in order to design, build, test, and redesign their structures.