animals unit

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Archive : 2002 : April : 1

animals unit
By Julianne

It is helpful to start putting together an animal photo file. I started mine many (many, many) years ago. Just cut out interesting or cute or unusual photos of animals from magazines and newspapers. Mount them on oaktag
or construction paper and laminate them if you have access to a laminator. I've used my file over and over in grades k through 6. In the younger grades we talk about what the animals eat, where they live, how they survive winter, how they care for their babies. In the older grades we compare and contrast animals to form groups that become the basis for the scientific classification

of the animal kingdom.

A couple of other things to try with your little ones:

Put out a large piece of paper (bulletin board paper or chart paper works). Have students color an environment on the paper. You can have them work in groups, each group creating a different environment - a rainforest, desert, alpine forest, etc. Then, have students research what kinds of wildlife would live in their environment. Have them draw pictures of different kinds of animals, cut them out and glue them where they belong in the picture - birds in the trees, fish in the water, etc.

Have students create a "food chain" by drawing a preditor animal, that animal's food source, and so on until they reach the lowest organism on that particular food chain. Glue each drawing to a strip of oaktag, then form a paper chain by stapling the oaktag strips into circles in the correct order. - a FOOD CHAIN!