SEW- Critter Country

Carla Scott

SEW- Critter Country

Critter Country (Grades K-1). Take a walk through Critter Country to discover the many animals around us. What critters might you see scurrying behind a tree? Big ones, little ones, what color might they be? They may be watching as you collect leaves for a leafy critter to hang from our tree. Join the fun and paint portraits of your favorite critters. Read books, sing songs, and use the computer to research and play animal games.

Guiding Questions:

·  Why are animals different?

·  What types of animals live in your community?

·  How are animals classified?

Major Concepts:

·  Students will understand that a variety of animals live in their community.

·  Animals are different.

·  Animals are classified in various ways.

Enrichment Menu:

Type 1 Activities:

·  Read Horton Hatches the Egg by Dr. Seuss to introduce the incubator and eggs.

·  Watch video “A Day At Old MacDonald’s Farm” to spark interest about the various farm animals.

·  Read Furs, Feathers, and Flippers by Patricia Lauber to discover how animals live where they do.

·  Take a Discovery Walk around your school and look and listen for various animals (critters). Use magnifying glasses.

·  Collect leaves to make critters. (Use PT transformation Talent.)

·  Go to Pete’s Power point and view Camouflaged Animals to see how they camouflage themselves.

·  Look at various posters of animals that live in your state to be aware of animals in your environment.

·  Finger paint your favorite animal in its environment.

·  Show students a picture (environment-ocean, forest, and etc.) and have them think of animals that might live in that habitat.

·  Sing various animal songs to engage students and help them retain information.

·  Read various sections of Eyes on Nature Wild Creatures to understand the difference between our pets and wild animals.

·  Listen to an animal expert speaker to learn more about animals.

·  Examine live animals to learn about their anatomy (How do the animals move?) (Do they have eyelids?) (Describe their skin.) (Are there any other differences?)

·  Put together a puzzle and pay close attention to see if the animal(s) are camouflaged.

Type 11 Activities

·  Productive Thinking- have students complete an egg-shaped transformation.

·  After taking discovery walk compare the size and color of the animals you saw. (Blooms)

·  Go to Brain pop Jr.com and find out how much you know about animal classification.

·  Write an acrostic poem about your favorite animal.

·  Peppermint Beetle Activity (Project Wild) –Students will hunt for the “peppermint beetle.” FC lesson- Make many, varied predictions where it is from and why it is here. A simulation for students to use their sense of smell to investigate a pretend insect.

·  Use your forecasting talent to predict many varied effects if all animals were predators. List ideas on chart. What would happen if all animals were predators? How would animals survive? Use resources in classroom to add to your predictions.

·  Create an animal collage using magazine pictures.

·  Create a flip book and glue pictures for each category.

·  Create a tangram of an animal of your choice with the shapes given for a tangram. (PT transformation)

·  Create edible animals out of various snacks. Be creative!

·  Students will use their DM Talent to determine what kind of pet they would like to have.

·  Students will use their PT to plan how they would care for their new pet.

·  Bring in a picture of your pet, or a pet you would like to have, and create a poster with facts about your pet. Include care tips.

·  Go to http://ww.kidsbiology.com/animals-for-children.php to discover exciting information about animals. See if you can learn something new.

·  Create a chart showing animals of different colors and sizes.

·  Make an animal mask to wear.

·  Use many varied single words (communication talent 2) to describe your feelings if you were an animal that lost its home to a forest fire.

·  Make critters out of leaves to hang on our tree.

·  Play animal charades to discover various animal behaviors.

·  Use your Planning Talent to create a plan for building a bird feeder.

·  Use your Productive Thinking Talent to design the bird feeder.

·  Use your productive thinking talent to think of many, varied, and unusual strategies to prevent an endangered animal from becoming extinct. (Teacher will name animal)

·  Cut out magazine pictures of animals (about 40) and see how many ways you can group the animals. Try classifying by color, size, what covers their body (hair, feathers, or scales) where they live, how they move, what they eat, and which make good pets.

·  Create a new animal using camouflage. Think about its habitat and draw it in the habitat you feel it could be best camouflaged.

Type 111 Activities

·  Videotape and Interview with an animal expert (veterinarian, zookeeper, and zoologist) and ask questions to learn more about what interests you.

·  Create a poster encouraging people to adopt animals from the local shelter.

·  Make an ABC book of animals. Students illustrate animals and write information below illustration.

Carla Scott

Animal Unit

Wild About Animals

Have a wild and crazy adventure discovering animals and learning more about their homes by creating shoebox habitats. Use technology to create a Power Point presentation to show how animals adapt to different environments. How would you adapt to different environments? In what ways would you have to make changes? Would you survive the Wild?

COSS- Life Science, 3rd, 8., 4th5., 6., 5th7., 8.

Technology- (3-5)- 1., 5., 8., 10

Guiding Questions:

·  What animals live in our environment?

·  How do animals adapt to survive?

·  What is the relationship between animals and their environment?

Major Concepts:

·  Students will understand the variety of animals in their environment.

·  Animal adaptations are developed based on its habitat, and the interdependence of animals and plants within their habitat.

Enrichment Menu:

Type 1 Activities:

·  Do KWL to determine what the students know, want to know, and what they learned (completed later).

·  Productive Thinking- have students complete an egg-shaped transformation.

·  Read Horton Hatches the Egg by Dr. Seuss to introduce the eggs in the incubator.

·  Watch video “A Day At Old MacDonald’s Farm” to spark interest about the various farm animals.

·  Look and read different books to discover information about animals.

·  Visit the interest learning center and examine the various resources to help you get answers to questions you may have.

·  Go to Brain pop Jr. com and find out how much you know about animal habitats by taking the quiz.

·  Examine live animals to learn more about their anatomy and complete the observation sheet.

·  Listen to an animal expert speaker to learn more information about animal behaviors and care.

·  Look at a map and globe to find locations for the various animal habitats.

·  Go to National Geographic Animals for Kids to learn more about animals, habitats, play games, or watch videos.

·  Read the book The Lorax by Dr. Seuss and have students use their PT talent to list the many, varied and unusual ways humans can impact the environment for students to realize the human impact on the environment.

·  Read Fur, Feathers, and Flippers by Patricia Lauber to discover How Animals Live Where They Do. DM Talent- Which would you rather have fur, feathers, or flippers?

·  Take a nature walk and pretend to be a scientist observing animals. (magnifying glasses)

·  Sing animal songs to engage the students and help them retain information.

Type 2 Activities:

·  Make a flip book and write the different classifications of animals and under each flap write information about each.

·  Students will keep a journal about their pet or a class pet.

·  Write a poem about animal habitats.

·  Write basic colors on board and have students’ name animals of each color or how they would use this color for adaptation.

·  Critique two articles from the National Geographic Kids magazines (or others) from the interest center. (will define critique for students)

·  Tell or Write how you would survive in a different habitat and explain the changes you would have to make.

·  Play animal charades. Students choose animal and write on sticky note. Give sticky to teacher.

·  Compare and contrast two different habitats. Can use Venn diagram.

·  Use communication #3 to finish animal similes.

·  Students will pretend to be a certain animal and must go to correct habitat area in room.

·  Peppermint Beetle Activity (Project Wild) – Students will hunt for the “peppermint beetle.” FC lesson- Make many, varied predictions where it is from and why it is here. A simulation for students to use their sense of smell to investigate a pretend insect.

·  Pretend you are an animal living in your habitat. Write a story telling how you feel, (Use C #2 – use many, varied single words to describe someone’s feelings) what you are afraid of, what you eat, and what humans need to do to preserve your habitat.

·  Paint habitat t-shirts to wear. Students can choose one habitat or several.

·  Make a shoebox habitat to display.

·  Group students in groups and have them pretend to be Travel Agents. They have a group of tourists that are interested in seeing many different and interesting animals. They must persuade these tourists to visit their country instead of the other groups’ country.

·  Show animal pictures and ask what habitat the animal lives in and ask what changes they would have to make to live in another habitat (give specific habitat). Use your FC Talent #2 to make many, varied predictions about the changes this animal would have to make to move from habitat A to habitat B.

·  Beanie Baby Lab- Students will use a Dichotomous Key to identify the scientific name for each animal.

·  Students will use the DM Talent to name a live animal in the classroom.

·  Students will use their Communication Talent #2 to tell many, varied single words to describe how they would FEEL if they were an animal who lost its home to a forest fire.

·  Students will use their Communication Talent #3 to tell many, varied things that swims like a fish______,______,______, etc. Extension can be using the similes to write a poem or story.

Type 3 Activities

·  Wax Museum- Students will pretend to be a certain animal and when their button is pressed they will tell about that animal.

·  Students will create a power point on the animal of their choice. Students will present to class.

·  Students will write a short story about an animal and turn it into a skit to perform for the class, school, or parents. (As a group or small group)

·  Create a board game to teach others about animal habitats.