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

What do you want to be when  you grow up? 

What special skills or talents do you have that will help you excel? 

Craft: Milk Jug Plants
Craft Materials: 1/2 gallon milk jugs, Wiggly Eyes (AD489 from www.ssww.com), Black Sharpie Permanent Markers (AS500 from www.ssww.com), Potting Soil, Plant Seeds, Craft glue (GL422B)
Craft Instructions: Cut the milk jugs below the handle and use the sharpie to color the jug with cow spots.  Use wiggly eyes and leftover pieces of plastic to make cow ears.  Then plant seeds in with the dirt.

Book Give-away: The Trouble with Tuck by Theodore Taylor ISBN: 0440416965

Concept: Animals as more than pets

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 describe different ways animals work in our society.
Students should be able to discuss ethics behind the different ways animals work.
Student should be able to describe how animals and humans work together.

Anticipatory Set: Ask students "What do you want to be when you grow up?"  Start talking about what skills they have that will help them excel at that job (if someone wants to be a basketball player and they are tall that could help them.)  Have students brainstorm jobs that people have that they may need a special skill.  Ask if anyone would want to be an actor.  Transition into animals that are actors and models.  They can't read a script, so how do they know what to do?

Procedure: This lesson looks at what animals do.  They provide entertainment, service, and products.  First students will look at animals as actors, models and athletes, then workers, then producers, and finally service.  This session may be best facilitated by having students choose one or two links in each section and have them research and then share with the group.  Websites that everyone should look at are noted. 

1.  Follow through the links under Actors, Models, & Athletes and have students read and discuss training animals.  Then follow-up with the workers category and have them read the caption under the picture.  Ask students why they think camels were used and why they were replaced by vehicles.  Then click on the camels link to learn more about camels.  Ask students why, even though we have vehicles today, some animals are still used for transporting cargo. 

Benji (Use the picture that shows the trainer just outside the shot.  Discuss how the camera may fool you but the trainer may be close by the animals) - Photos taken during the filming of the movie.

How do they train animals in movies?

Are dogs in dog shows models (Nice website to use as an overview)?

Kids that participate in dog shows.

Movie (This movie clip is great, but is long and doesn't have sound.  Watch the beginning as a group then scroll towards the end and talk about what happens at a dog show *Watch this as a class*)  Watch it from kids at the Westminster Dog Show.

Racehorses have to train to run so fast.

The Pig (Video) Olympics?

Wild camels roam the arid Australian interior. These pack animals were imported from Afghanistan and widely used by early explorers and pioneers. They were eventually replaced by motor vehicles in the 1920s. (Source) (Long and dense article, so just this excerpt was taken.)

What do you know about camels ?

2.  Ask students if they know of an animal that makes something for us.  The left column has links for material that animals help make for us and the right has foods.  Have students explore and discuss the various links. 

Makers

Pashmina - how do they make these scarves?

Sheep shearing (GREAT video, the shearer explains things along the way) (Source) is just like getting a haircut!

What is an Alpaca ?

How is Silk made? 

Milk FAQ's (Information is ok, although all organized in questions)

What do you know about cheese (Gives good list of animals cheese can come from)?

Rutter's - (Nice information with extra about the local dairy) How did this PA dairy get started?

Rutter's Dairy Tour

CowCam - (Nice live webcam, no information) What's happening at at dairy farm in Lancaster right now?

How do bees make honey?

3.  Students should explore and discuss these links.  Ask students if they know of ways animals other than dogs can be heroes.

Dogs can help when someone is recovering or deaf !

Monkeys and horses - they can help too!

Have trouble reading?  You can read to these dogs!

Check out how this girl is making a difference for police dogs !

Balto: A sled dog hero 

Closure:   

Think about it...

What do think this animal is thinking? Have students look at the picture and come up with a caption.

Don't have any pets?  You could have a stuffed animal pet show.  What would you judging criteria be?  Have them brainstorm criteria for judging a stuffed animal pet show.  Would it be like the pig olympics or dog show? 

How do animals and humans rely on each other?  Facilitate this discussion.

Games

Pet Trivia - How much do you know about famous pets?

Honey Games (Some good games, - can you bee-t these games?

On the Moove - connect the dots.

Help George deliver ice cream!

Can you scoop the right ice cream?