Lesson 3: Guide to Animal Habitats
Getting Started
Questions to Explore
- What makes an environment safe and healthy?
- What do habitats provide for the plants and animals that live in them?
- What do plants and animals need to live and grow in their habitats?
Facts and Definitions
- A habitat is the environment where plants and animals live and grow.
- Wetlands, grasslands, woodlands, and deserts are types of habitats.
Skills
- Listen to and answer questions about text read orally (LA)
- Identify the title, author's name, and illustrator's name on a book (LA)
- Connect literature to prior knowledge or experience (LA)
- Make predictions about a story (LA)
- Identify the sequence of events in a story (LA)
- Sequence events in the correct order (LA)
- Classify plants, animals, and insects (S and M)
Materials
- Crinkleroot's Guide to Knowing Animal Habitats by Jim Arnosky
- black marker
- colored pencils or markers
- crayons or colored pencils
- crayons, colored pencils, or markers
- glue
- green bag (kit)
- instruction page (kit)
- materials will vary based on the craft your child chooses
- poster board* (Activity 2 - Option 2)
- scissors
* - denotes an optional material that may or may not be needed
Introduction
Materials: Crinkleroot's Guide to Knowing Animal Habitats by Jim Arnosky
Review the definition of the word "environment" with your child (the things and people that surround us where we live). Ask her if she can describe the environment in which she lives. Explain to your child that animals also live in particular environments, often called habitats. Tell her that habitats provide animals with everything they need to live and grow, just like your child's home environment provides for her needs. Introduce the idea that there are many different kinds of habitats in the world but that today you will be reading a book about just a few different types.
Show your child the cover of the book Crinkleroot's Guide to Animal Habitats and ask her the following questions:
Show your child the cover of the book Crinkleroot's Guide to Animal Habitats and ask her the following questions:
- Can you point to the title of the book?
- What letters do you recognize in the title? (Read the title to her or let her attempt to read it.)
- Do you see the author's name?
- What letters do you recognize in the author's name? (Read her the author's name or let her attempt to read it.)
- What do you think this book is about?
- Who do you think this man is? (Point to Crinkleroot, who is driving the Jeep.)
- What do you think he will do in the story?