Theme Unit: Animals
The theme of animals can incorporate MANY opportunities for learning. If a specific animal becomes of interest to the class, explore! Watch videos and read different types of texts about that animal (non-fiction books, magazines, websites, storybooks, poems). Below are some ideas for talking about story elements, plots, and focus on fictional texts. The TLC library is full of great non-fiction texts about animals. Explore!
Materials
-Felt board animals: alligator, lion, monkey, seal, snake, polar bear, shark, elephant, tiger, rhino, zebra
-Action cards: each card features picture of animal and the way they move
-Animal flash cards: giraffe, gorilla, zebra, rhino, monkey, lion, bear, jaguar, elephant, tiger
-Animal template (craft)
-Monkey mask materials
-“The Pop-Up Rumble in the Jungle”
-“Tavi Tiger”
-“Cuddly Dudey”
Learning Opportunities
-Characters in a story Children will learn that characters are the people or animals in our story. Books about animals present an interesting way to talk about story elements.
-Movement Walking like a bear or a turkey is a fun way for students to become engaged. Great to use for transitions into the next activity “Let’s hop like bunnies to the carpet for a story”.
-Descriptive words Children can answer questions and come up with questions about animals: “What color is this bear?” Practice answering questions in full statements. For example, instead of saying “brown”, encourage students to practice saying “this bear is brown”.
-Same/Different Children can identify characteristics of animals: horses and dogs have the SAME number of legs. Tigers and lions are the SAME color, but tigers are different because they have stripes.
-Non-fiction/Fiction The topic of animals present a great way to explore non-fiction and fiction. Find a non-fiction book about an animal, and find a fictional story about the same animal. Children will love to answer questions like, “Do bear wear pajamas?” Or, “Do tigers talk?”
Reader’s Workshop Lesson Ideas
Felt Board Story: Animal Sounds and Story Retell
1. Have children sit in a circle and pass out felt board animals to each student.
2. Make up a story about animal sounds, using the felt animals that were passed out.
3. “I’m going to tell a story about animals. One day, I was walking along and saw a LION and it said roar-roar-roar” Have the child who has the lion place the lion on the felt board. “Then, I ran into a SNAKE and it said S-S-S”. (Place snake up on the board).
4. After making animal sounds for group, repeat story asking children to help you. “I saw a lion and it said roar-roar-roar” “I saw a snake and it said s-s-s”
“Tavi Tiger” Making Predictions
*Some animals featured in this story may be unknown. It is helpful to note which animals make sounds that students will know: Rib-bit, squawk, hiss
Before reading, tell students you want them to predict what animal Tavi is hearing on pages with familiar animal sounds. After reading the storybook clue, say to them “Predict what animal woke Tavi up!” This is a great opportunity to use partner talk if you have multiple age groups in class. “Talk to your partner about who you predict woke Tavi”. After reading, review animals sounds (from flashcards, internet videos, felt animals or plastic animals). Play “Guess the Animal” by making an animal sound. Once children have made guesses, ask for students to be the leader and make animal sounds while the class guesses.
”Cuddly Dudley”
In this story about penguins, model previewing the book to see what it may be about. Talk about parts of the book (cover, back, title). Other relevant topics may include: characters, setting, beginning, middle, and end.
Possible talking points:
“What animal do you think this book is about”.
“Why do you think Dudley ran away?”
“Do penguins or animals wear clothes?”
“How do you think Dudley felt when he could not find his way home?”
“What does Dudley like to do?”
Family: How does Dudley’s family feel when he leaves? How do they feel when he comes home? What makes your family happy.
Walking like a penguin:
Use animal action cards to act out and move like animals. See what other animals you can move like!
Writer’s Workshop Lesson Ideas
1. (Extended from Story Retell lesson) What animal would you want to see on a walk? Write about an animal you want to see on a walk. Write (or for younger ages, talk) about your favorite animal.
2. Class Book: Have each student write a story about an animal. Model drawing an animal and writing about what sound the animal makes. (For younger ages, you may want to write the name of their animal on their page to help in the rereading of story). When students work is finished, staple pages together and read story aloud, using similar sentence stem from story retell: “I saw a ____and it said ______.”
a. For younger children, gather magazines that feature animals. Pair younger/older students together and cut out animal pictures they see. Make an animal collage, and have pairs share the animals they found.
3. Gather books/magazines that talk about where animals live. Lead a discussion about where animals live. What animals live in trees? What animals live in the water? Do you know any animals that live where it’s cold? What animals live in the jungle. Have students look through books about animal habitat and talk to their partner about what they see. After talking about where animals live, students choose an animal and write about where that animal lives.
a. As a side activity, use photos of ocean, tree and jungle and felt animals to classify where animals live. Setting photos can be place on felt board, and younger children can place each animal where it belong.
4. Report Writing: Choose an animal to learn more about. Have students look through books about that animal and talk about what they know (FACTS) Together, create a large poster about that animal. Younger students can help cut out pictures from magazines of that animal and glue to poster. Students of all ages can identify what facts they know about the animal. After creating a class poster, encourage students to write their own report of what they know about the chosen animal.
Craft:
Learn to draw animals
1. Today, we’re going to use shapes to draw Animals!
2. If I want to draw a bear, but don’t know how- I can use shapes to help me!
3. (Review shapes) This is a ____(triangle, circle, square, rectangle, oval)
4. First, I draw a big OVAL for the body of my bear.
5. Then, I draw a circle for my bear’s head.
6. (Have discussion about what else to add to draw bear: arms, legs, paws, eyes, nose).
Create an animal
As an open-ended free art craft, place various materials at the tables (beads, buttons, fabric pieces, feathers, yarn) and have students “make their own animal”. For younger ones or as a choice, use animal templates (bear, parrot, dolphin) for students to decorate with their choice of materials).
Materials
-Felt board animals: alligator, lion, monkey, seal, snake, polar bear, shark, elephant, tiger, rhino, zebra
-Action cards: each card features picture of animal and the way they move
-Animal flash cards: giraffe, gorilla, zebra, rhino, monkey, lion, bear, jaguar, elephant, tiger
-Animal template (craft)
-Monkey mask materials
-“The Pop-Up Rumble in the Jungle”
-“Tavi Tiger”
-“Cuddly Dudey”
Learning Opportunities
-Characters in a story Children will learn that characters are the people or animals in our story. Books about animals present an interesting way to talk about story elements.
-Movement Walking like a bear or a turkey is a fun way for students to become engaged. Great to use for transitions into the next activity “Let’s hop like bunnies to the carpet for a story”.
-Descriptive words Children can answer questions and come up with questions about animals: “What color is this bear?” Practice answering questions in full statements. For example, instead of saying “brown”, encourage students to practice saying “this bear is brown”.
-Same/Different Children can identify characteristics of animals: horses and dogs have the SAME number of legs. Tigers and lions are the SAME color, but tigers are different because they have stripes.
-Non-fiction/Fiction The topic of animals present a great way to explore non-fiction and fiction. Find a non-fiction book about an animal, and find a fictional story about the same animal. Children will love to answer questions like, “Do bear wear pajamas?” Or, “Do tigers talk?”
Reader’s Workshop Lesson Ideas
Felt Board Story: Animal Sounds and Story Retell
1. Have children sit in a circle and pass out felt board animals to each student.
2. Make up a story about animal sounds, using the felt animals that were passed out.
3. “I’m going to tell a story about animals. One day, I was walking along and saw a LION and it said roar-roar-roar” Have the child who has the lion place the lion on the felt board. “Then, I ran into a SNAKE and it said S-S-S”. (Place snake up on the board).
4. After making animal sounds for group, repeat story asking children to help you. “I saw a lion and it said roar-roar-roar” “I saw a snake and it said s-s-s”
“Tavi Tiger” Making Predictions
*Some animals featured in this story may be unknown. It is helpful to note which animals make sounds that students will know: Rib-bit, squawk, hiss
Before reading, tell students you want them to predict what animal Tavi is hearing on pages with familiar animal sounds. After reading the storybook clue, say to them “Predict what animal woke Tavi up!” This is a great opportunity to use partner talk if you have multiple age groups in class. “Talk to your partner about who you predict woke Tavi”. After reading, review animals sounds (from flashcards, internet videos, felt animals or plastic animals). Play “Guess the Animal” by making an animal sound. Once children have made guesses, ask for students to be the leader and make animal sounds while the class guesses.
”Cuddly Dudley”
In this story about penguins, model previewing the book to see what it may be about. Talk about parts of the book (cover, back, title). Other relevant topics may include: characters, setting, beginning, middle, and end.
Possible talking points:
“What animal do you think this book is about”.
“Why do you think Dudley ran away?”
“Do penguins or animals wear clothes?”
“How do you think Dudley felt when he could not find his way home?”
“What does Dudley like to do?”
Family: How does Dudley’s family feel when he leaves? How do they feel when he comes home? What makes your family happy.
Walking like a penguin:
Use animal action cards to act out and move like animals. See what other animals you can move like!
Writer’s Workshop Lesson Ideas
1. (Extended from Story Retell lesson) What animal would you want to see on a walk? Write about an animal you want to see on a walk. Write (or for younger ages, talk) about your favorite animal.
2. Class Book: Have each student write a story about an animal. Model drawing an animal and writing about what sound the animal makes. (For younger ages, you may want to write the name of their animal on their page to help in the rereading of story). When students work is finished, staple pages together and read story aloud, using similar sentence stem from story retell: “I saw a ____and it said ______.”
a. For younger children, gather magazines that feature animals. Pair younger/older students together and cut out animal pictures they see. Make an animal collage, and have pairs share the animals they found.
3. Gather books/magazines that talk about where animals live. Lead a discussion about where animals live. What animals live in trees? What animals live in the water? Do you know any animals that live where it’s cold? What animals live in the jungle. Have students look through books about animal habitat and talk to their partner about what they see. After talking about where animals live, students choose an animal and write about where that animal lives.
a. As a side activity, use photos of ocean, tree and jungle and felt animals to classify where animals live. Setting photos can be place on felt board, and younger children can place each animal where it belong.
4. Report Writing: Choose an animal to learn more about. Have students look through books about that animal and talk about what they know (FACTS) Together, create a large poster about that animal. Younger students can help cut out pictures from magazines of that animal and glue to poster. Students of all ages can identify what facts they know about the animal. After creating a class poster, encourage students to write their own report of what they know about the chosen animal.
Craft:
Learn to draw animals
1. Today, we’re going to use shapes to draw Animals!
2. If I want to draw a bear, but don’t know how- I can use shapes to help me!
3. (Review shapes) This is a ____(triangle, circle, square, rectangle, oval)
4. First, I draw a big OVAL for the body of my bear.
5. Then, I draw a circle for my bear’s head.
6. (Have discussion about what else to add to draw bear: arms, legs, paws, eyes, nose).
Create an animal
As an open-ended free art craft, place various materials at the tables (beads, buttons, fabric pieces, feathers, yarn) and have students “make their own animal”. For younger ones or as a choice, use animal templates (bear, parrot, dolphin) for students to decorate with their choice of materials).