Homes around the world
by Erika Albright, Jessica Hamm, Jamie Rappley
Grade level: 3
Time allotted: 4 days
Rationale
Through this lesson, the students will become familiar with various habitats found throughout the world. They will also learn more about plants and animals found in these regions. This lesson will also enhance their reading and writing skills, as well as their artistic abilities. We believe this is a lesson that is important for children to learn because it will create awareness and sensitivity of the important roles plants and animals play within their habitat.
Objectives
After completing this lesson, the students will:
Be able to identify and describe eight
different habitats found throughout the world.
Be able to identify four animals found in
each habitat.
Be able to identify two plants found in
each habitat.
Be able to identify where their chosen
animals can be found in their respective habitats (they will
choose one from a specific habitat to research).
Have constructed a two-dimensional model
of a certain habitat, which would contain plants and animals
found within that habitat.
Materials
 | Old nature magazines (ex: National Geographic, Outdoor, and Wyoming Wildlife). |
| Pictures of the eight different habitats (rain forest, temperate forest, tundra, safari, desert, grassland/prairie, ocean, and wetland). |
| Paints. |
| Markers. |
| Scissors. |
| Glue. |
| Butcher paper. |
| Drawing paper. |
| Books to research their chosen plants and/or animals. |
| Books describing the various habitats. |
| Eight pieces of tag board. |
Pre-activity
Procedure
| Prior to this lesson, we will set out the magazines and pictures on a table. |
| We will probe the students about their prior knowledge of habitats with questions such as: What is a habitat? Who lives in a habitat? What do you know about habitats? |
| As a class, we will make a KWL (what they know, want to know, and what they learned) chart. |
|
On-site activity
Prior to going on the trip, we will have taken care of permission slips, entrance fees, remind the students of the appropriate clothing (if it is cold outside, dress warm), bus arrangements, any medical concerns, and chaperones. Also, we would have sent a copy of our lesson plan to their chaperones so that they know the itinerary for the day. We will also have called the museum to confirm our field trip a day before our arrival.
| 9:05—We will explain to the students that once at the museum they will be given drawing paper on which they will draw their favorite part of each exhibit (habitat). |
| 9:15—Load the bus. |
| 9:30—arrive at the museum. As they are departing from the bus, we will hand out the drawing paper. |
| We will make sure that the chaperones are evenly dispersed throughout the museum. |
| The students are sent into the museum to explore and do their drawings. |
| 10:25—We will all meet in front of the museum store and make sure all are accounted for. If the students finish early, we will meet in the museum auditorium and discuss what they children liked and disliked about the museum. |
| 10:30—We will depart and return to school. While on the bus, we will further discuss the students likes and dislikes about the museum. |
| 10:45—We arrive at school. Once there, we will divide the class into groups of four, in which they will discuss their pictures. Later, as a class, we will expand on the ideas they talked about, relating what we learned in the pre-activity. |
| We will fill in any additional questions and/or learned knowledge on our KWL chart. |
Assessment
We will give the students a short, eight-question, fill-in-the-blank handout where they need to name a plant and animal that can be found in each of the eight habitats. Then they need to tell why that plant or animal is important to its habitat. (We discussed this earlier in the lesson and in the previous one.)
Post-activity
We will split the class into eight groups, with roughly three students per group. Each group will assign a person to randomly pick a name of a habitat out of a hat. They will first draw the habitats, including plants, soil, rocks, grass, etc. on butcher paper. Others in the group will assist the students that are not as adept at drawing.
Once the habitats are created, each student will choose two animals from their assigned habitat to draw in their habitat. We will try to alleviate any disputes between the students about the animals. They will draw and, if desired, paint their chosen animals on a separate piece of paper to be cut out and placed on the butcher paper habitat.
Before displaying their finished product, we will ask the students if they can see any food webs or chains within the habitats. This will help to glide us into our next activity—food webs and chains. Their finished products will be displayed in the hallway.
Each student will pick one of his or her animals to research. Examples of the questions we will have them research are:
| Where does the animal live? |
| What part of the world can it be found? |
| Does it live in warm or cold weather? |
| What does it looks like? Coloring? |
| What does it eat? |
| How big is it? |
From their research, studenta will put together a miniature booklet on their animal, including drawn or cutout pictures of their animal and its habitat. They can also include any other items they find interesting or pertinent to their animal. We will display the booklets in the classroom after assessing the craftsmanship and effort.
Extension activity
We will allot five to ten minutes each day to add to and discuss information for the KWL chart. As we learn more about food chains and webs, the students will draw a food chain that can be found in their butcher paper habitat. This will be done in their groups.