This lesson is about the extinct relatives of the modern elephant - woolly mammoth and mastodons. By looking at the teeth of these animals, scientists can discover what the animals are capable of eating and figure out how species are the same and different. Children are encouraged to look closely at woolly mammoth and mastodon teeth and describe how they are similar and different. Children will explore how different teeth allow animals to eat different types of food. To finish the lesson, they will take puppet woolly mammoths and mastodons (which they make) out to eat. 

Designed as part of the Get a Head Start with the Smithsonian collaboration with the National Head Start Association, these activities support the following Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework (ELOF) standards:

- Goal P-LC 1. Child attends to communication and language from others.

- Goal P-LC 2. Child understands and responds to increasingly complex communication and language from others.

- Goal P-LIT 2. Child demonstrates an understanding of how print is used (functions of print) and the rules that govern how print works (conventions of print).

- Goal P-LIT 5: Child asks and answers questions about a book that was read aloud.

- Goal P-ATL 11. Child shows interest in and curiosity about the world around them.

- Goal P-ATL 13. Child uses imagination in play and interactions with others.

- Goal P-SCI 1. Child observes and describes observable phenomena (objects, materials, organisms, and events).

- Goal P-SCI 2. Child engages in scientific talk.

- Goal P-SCI 3. Child compares and categorizes observable phenomena.

- Goal P-SCI 5. Child plans and conducts investigations and experiments.

- Goal P-SCI 6. Child analyzes results, draws conclusions, and communicates results.

Goals for Scaffolding for Infants/Toddlers:

- Goal IT-LC 12. Child comprehends meaning from pictures and stories.

- Goal IT-ATL 7. Child shows interest in and curiosity about objects, materials, or events.

- Goal IT-ATL 8. Child uses creativity to increase understanding and learning.

- Goal IT-C 1. Child actively explores people and objects to understand self, others, and objects.

- Goal IT-C 2. Child uses understanding of causal relationships to act on social and physical environments.