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Mi Casa Es Su Casa - Habitats

Animals everywhere you turn…Animals on the couch, your front lawn, and on your TV

Ch-ch-changes - Extinct, Endangered, and Adapted

Why Is that Cow Wearing a Suit? Animals Go to Work

Can Your Hamster Paint? Animals in Art

Teacher Resources
*Includes Standards and Anchors*



	Animals Everywhere You Turn...Animals on the Couch, Your Front Lawn, and on Your TV - Lesson Plan

Number of students: Students should be able to each have a computer. Two students per computer will work, but three becomes difficult. Grade: 3 - 6 Subject: Technology, Language Arts, Math Time: Total time is 120 minutes but lesson can be modified by excluding websites or craft. Materials: Computers with internet access, stuffed animals (or construction paper animals) for each student (at least one of each: small dog, medium dog, large dog, cat, rabbit, guinea pig, hamster, bird, fish), fake money and description cards, insects in SEALED containers that are local (it's your choice if they are alive). Craft: Make your own tail Craft Materials: (Items from www.ssww.com) Pipecleaners (CC687), Feathers (TR173), Bag of Ribbon (FA3236), Pompom beadz (TR182), Colossal Chenille Stems (TR230S), Blue yarn (YA881), Green yarn (YA881) Craft Instructions: Students can make their own tail out of the materials provided. The yarn is used to tie the tail around their waists, and can be used as part of the tail too. Book Give-away: More Pet Bugs: A Kid's Guide to Catching & Keeping Insects and Other Small Creatures by Sally Kneidel ISBN: 0471254894 Concept: Responsibility of pet ownership, insect identification, mascots as representatives Content: Websites, class discussion Special Needs adaptations: Students can be paired to aide special needs Pennsylvania Content Area Standards and Assessment Anchors Objective: Students should be able to determine quality of the websites. Students should be able to select a "pet" according to information presented to them and explain why they chose it. Students should be able to identify provided insects. Students should be able to infer why a team, group, or region has a specific mascot. Anticipatory Set: Ask students "If someone wants to get a pet, how should they chose one?" Things to consider - where do they live? A great dane might not be a good choice if you live in an apartment. What kind of animals do you like? How much responsibility is involved? You'll spend more time taking care of a puppy than a fish. One of the most important things to consider is how much money can you spend on a pet? At this point each student receives an envelope and the lesson begins. Procedure: This lesson starts with a simulation of pet ownership. Students choose a "pet" based on how much money they are given and a profile of where they live. They then name and learn how to care for and train their pet. The next section has them identifying insects using web resources. The last section looks at mascots and what they say about a team or business. The craft is probably best placed after the pet section and before the insect section.
1. Each student receives an envelope with a different amount of money (monopoly or any kind of fake money) and a card describing their likes and home life. They should then use the "How much do they cost?" worksheet and the ASPCA link (realistically adopt) to determine which animal they can buy. Once each student has bought an appropriate animal they should name it by clicking on the "name" link. Then they should learn how to care for their animal.
Pets! How much do they cost? Use this worksheet (Answers) to see how much a new pet would cost. What is the right pet for you? Compare costs of animals and see what animals you can realistically adopt.		Now that you have made a good decision about what kind of pet to get, it needs a name! Learn about how to care for the newest addition to your family! Training your pet - what is the best way? Are you a dog or cat owner? Check out these tips
2. Insects - Take some time and collect some critters from your backyard or park before the session. Depending on where you are running the session you may want to let the insects die. Make sure you correctly identify them before the session. Have the students identify the defining features of the critters and use the "link" below to identify. Afterwards, let the kids explore the Backyard Jungle and create an account if they'd like. Make one ahead of time for yourself and show them yours. You can add the critters you identified to your backyard on this website.
What's in your front lawn? Use this link (no date, some ads) to identify critters!		Create your own Backyard Jungle! (Great website by PBS, but be careful that users can send messages to other users.)
3. Mascots are a great way for kids to talk about representation. What are the functions of a mascot? How are the actual suits made? Use the first two links to learn about mascots. The right side links are for discussion of what a mascot says about a team or group.
Mascots Do you have what it takes to be a Sports Mascot? (Website is very busy with many unrelated links within the article, content is good.) How do you make a mascot?		Why do you think these teams chose their mascot? Animal Mascots Baseball Mascots Check out all of these mascots.
Closure
Think about it... If you had a personal mascot, what would it be? Why? What makes your backyard or local park a jungle? If you could train your pet to do anything, what would it be?		Games Pet Trivia - How much do you know about famous pets? Animal Codebreaker - Can you break this code? Kid's Puzzle - What does the picture say? NATURE: Puzzles & Fun - You'll never be bored with all these games! Animaland.org - This website has some fun games and LOTS of information on pets. Purina Dog Breed Finder (Uses "bitch" in discussion of dogs) - What is the best kind of dog for you?