Kindergarten 20142015: Super Centers Unit 5: Animals January 12-January 30

ArtEssential Vocabulary: pipe cleaner, fringe, body parts

Sentence Stems:1.  I wonder what would happen if….2.  Let’s find out...

Books: Brown Bear, Brown Bear by Bill Martin, I am Small by Emma Dodd, Tacky the Penguin by Lester and Munsinger, etc.Act 1: Using water bottles, construction paper, feathers, and cotton balls students will make a penguin.

Act 2: Using a paper plate & markers students will make a lion’s head. They will use scissors to make the fringe around the mane.

Act 3: Students will use pipe cleaners, construction paper, and googly eyes to make any animals they choose.

Writing Component: (1) I want a pet penguin because…(2) My lion eats… (3) Write about your animal (what it is, where it lives, eats, etc.)

ConstructionEssential Vocabulary:  shelter, habitat Sentence Stems:

1. How could you…2. I wonder where…

Books: ¿Eres Mi Mama? Are You My Mother?  By P.D. Eastman, Elephant and Piggie books by Mo Willems,   The Three Billy Goats Gruff (Folk Tale Classics) by Paul Galdone , The Mitten by Jan BrettAct 1: Provide resources and anchor charts such as animal charts and books.  You may also provide props such as masks, food bowls, pet toys, stuffed animals, etc.  Children may create homes or cages for animals.  Children may take turns pretending to be animals or animal caregivers.

 

Act 2: Use classroom plants to create a jungle or animal habitat.

Act 3: Children may dramatize a familiar animal story, such as Billy Goats Gruff or The Three Bears .

Writing Component: Children may label the animals, zoo cages, food items, etc.  Children may create names for pets and label the pet’s bowls, toys, etc.  Children may create their own props, script, or labels for dramatizing animal stories.

Pretend & Learn/Social Studies

Kindergarten 20142015: Super Centers Unit 5: Animals January 12-January 30

Essential Vocabulary:  habitat, cage Sentence Stems:1.We can find out more about this animal by …2. I want to know …

Books: Miss Bindergarten Plans a Circus for Kindergarten by Slate and Wolff, Bear Snores On by Wilson and Chapman, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss, etc.Set-up ideas: “Cold Weather Animal Habitat/Campsite”

Cover furniture, using blue or white (for winter look) or brown (for forest look) butcher paper.

Provide large boxes to create a “den” for hibernating animals. Use a “tap” light inside of the box if it is too dark for students, or as a “fire” in the fireplace.

Students can draw, create, and write labels for animals that might be out during the winter and tape the hibernating animals inside of the “den.”

Supply chairs, a tent, pots, mugs, and other camp gear.

Act 1: Students can pretend to be people or animals. Children will use their imaginations, along with animal masks and classroom props, to create a habitat for animals, such as a zoo, a jungle, a bird’s nest, a cave, a doghouse, etc.

Act 2: Provide posters, photos, and/or nonfiction books about animals to “research” what is needed for a particular animal’s habitat.

Writing Component: Create animal masks from paper plates and label with the name of the animal.  Make a list of what is needed for the habitat.  Use sticky notes to create labels for your animal home (Social Studies Flip Chart p.29).  Draw and write about the habitat and the animals that live there.  (Students may extend their animal stories in their writing journals, blank booklets, animal-shaped books, etc.)

Library/ListeningEssential Vocabulary:  fur, feathers, hibernate

Sentence Stems: 1. What interests me is ….2.  Let’s find out …

Books: Pete the Cat by James Dean, Big Dog, Little Dog by P.D. Eastman, Tacky the Penguin by Helen Lester, a variety of non-fiction animal books with photos, etc.Act 1: Provide a variety of books (fiction and nonfiction) about animals, seasonal books, ABC books, counting books, etc.  Display large charts with familiar poems, songs, and finger plays that the class has learned.  Display an anchor chart of animal words (Visual Vocab. p.89, 139) next to a picture of each word (cat, bird, etc.). Children read and talk about books and poems with friends or puppets.  (Reading Flip Chart p.25, 27, 29).

Act 2: Children will refer to animal anchor

charts to try to locate these animals in books.

Children can make up riddles or give clues about an animal picture they have found, and ask a friend to guess their animal.

Free animal masks and puppets are available at

http://www.wildlifefun4kids.com/printables/

Kindergarten 20142015: Super Centers Unit 5: Animals January 12-January 30

Writing Component: Children make their own “retelling” cards (Reading Flip Chart p.26). Create a new page for a favorite book (Reading Flip Chart p.28).  Children draw or write a response about a book in this center (Reading Flip Chart p.30). Children draw or write about an animal from one of the books, including information from the books such as the animal’s habitat, what it eats, where it lives, etc.

Writing/ABCEssential Vocabulary:  consonant, vowel Sentence Stems:

 I want to know….2.  I wonder why….

Books: Listen Buddy by Helen Lester, Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister, Harry the Dirty Dog by Zion, Fox in Socks by Dr. Seuss, Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss, a variety of non-fiction animal books with photos, etc.Act 1: Use letter cards to practice letter-sound correspondence and form CVC words (Phonics Flip Chart p.25-28).

Act 2: Use word cards to make pairs of rhyming words (Phonics Flip Chart p.29).  Free winter rhyming cards: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Winter-Rhyming-Picture-Match-192399

Act 3: Form words by matching initial consonants with the word families –an and –at.

Writing Component: Practice writing this week’s focus letters and add pictures (Writing Flip Chart p.25-27, 29).  Write sentences using high-frequency words (Writing Flip Chart p.28, 30). Write pairs of rhyming words (Phonics Flip Chart p.29).  Make a list of words in a word family (Phonics Flip Chart p.30).

MathEssential Vocabulary:  longer/shorter, more/less

Sentence Stems:1. I want to know ….2. We already know …

Books: What is a Thermometer? by Trumbauer, Length by Pluckrose, How Many, How Much by Wells, A Second is a Hiccup by Hutchins and Denton, etc.Act 1: Provide a variety of objects for comparing length (pencil, crayon, paint brush, etc.)  Provide yarn or links for measuring each other!

Act 2: Provide containers (such as assorted sizes of paper cups) and a supply of identical objects (such as cubes, pom poms, beans, or cotton balls) to fill cups for determining and comparing capacity.

Act 3: Provide toy animals or animal pictures for sorting (Soc. Studies Flip Chart p.27).

Kindergarten 20142015: Super Centers Unit 5: Animals January 12-January 30

Writing Component: Draw (or trace) and label objects to compare length.  Trace toy animals or other objects onto graph paper, label, and shade enclosed squares to determine and compare areas.  Create a graph to represent groups of animals; sort, count, record.

ScienceEssential Vocabulary: living, onliving, fur, feathers, scales, food, air water, shelter

Sentence Stems: 1.  _______ makes me wonder2.  This reminds me of ….

Books: Provide a variety of non-fiction books about animals with photos, Biggest, Strongest, Fastest by Jenkins, Miss Bindergarten Has a Wild Day in Kindergarten by Slate and Wolff, I Spy Animals by Marzollo and Wick, etc.Act 1: Display a variety of animal pictures and posters in this center and around the room.  Include labels for the names of the animals.  Provide toy animals and/or animal pictures for the children to manipulate.

Act 2: Categorize animals by how they move (Treasures Science Flip Chart p.26).  Sort toy animals or animal picture cards in various ways (See Fusion Flip Chart p. 21, 22.)  Children may come up with their own ways to sort the animals, such as stripes or spots, what they eat, how they move, etc. At the following link, you can download a free animal sorting game in which the children will use magnifying glasses:http://www.biblestoryprintables.com/Pages/FileFolderGames/GodsCreaturesGame.html#.U6hAcb-gTVQ

Act 3: Recognize that living things grow and change (Treasures Science Flip Chart p.28).  Make a model of a bird’s nest (Treaures Science Flip Chart p.30).

Sensory Table Activities: Animal HabitatsMaterials: gravel, animal figurines, real or fake plants, sticks, rocks, etc.

Writing Component: Draw and write about ways animals move.  Draw, label, and sequence the life cycle of an animal.  Use words or pictures to describe the nest.  Research and write about a pet or animal habitat (Science Flip Chart 25, 29).Thematic Printables: (free from TeachersPayTeachers.com at ABC Tracer Card Game, CVC

Kindergarten 20142015: Super Centers Unit 5: Animals January 12-January 30

Word Building Cards , Chinese New Year Math Game, -at Family Write the Room, Dr. Seuss CVC Real/Nonsense Game