All About Animals
Keri Grattagliano
Ramapo MSET Program
Summer 2012
Target Audience
– First Grade Students
– Inclusion Classroom
– Science and Language Arts
Students Will Be Able To…
• Sort animals by their habitat,
number of legs, different body parts,
if they have fur, their color, how
they move, what they eat, etc.
• Write an informative paragraph
about their favorite animal including
the categories listed above
• Create and describe their own
animal
Essential Questions
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How are animals alike?
How are animals different?
How can you sort animals into categories?
What can you learn from sorting animals?
Anticipatory Set
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What animals can you hear?
How do you know?
Think about these animals.
How can you describe them?
Read Aloud
• Read Aloud What Do You Do With a Tail Like This? by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page
• Can you guess which animals we will be reading about?
• Let’s think more like animals! Let’s move!
Categorizing And Sorting
• Let’s sort the animals we have read into many different groups!
• We need to look at what they look like, where they live, what the animal eats, and
how they move.
• Click on the blue word to learn more about where animals live.
• Click on this blue word to learn about classifying animals into categories.
Writing
• After sorting numerous animals, it is now time to construct a
paragraph.
• remember to write the following details:
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what the animal looks like
where the animal lives
what the animal eats
any other interesting facts they have learned
• Don’t forget to write an opening and closing sentence.
Read Aloud
• Read aloud If I Ran the Zoo by Dr. Seuss.
• Click on the picture below to listen and read along.
Project
• Now it is time for you to create your very own animal.
• You will need partners.
• Both of these pages are needed to help you focus on your topic.
• You will be presenting your projects to the class so be ready to answer questions. 
Click on the alligator to open the directions
and get started.
Click on the lion to begin your writing.
Center Activities
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Play a game online!
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Magazine Fun
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Using clay, make real or imaginary animals.
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Rhyme Time
Extra Activities
• Create another animal by
clicking on the zebra.
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Go on a webquest!
Evaluation
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Prewriting Page
Categorizing animals worksheet
Categorizing animals exit ticket
Center Activities
Informative Writing Rubric
– This will be used for both writing pieces.
Teacher Page
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Storytelling Map 1
Storytelling Map 2
Understanding by Design template
Standards
Garner’s Multiple Intelligences
Bloom’s Taxonomy
Gregorc’s Learning Styles
Sense and Meaning
Works Cited
Images Cited
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Standards
Language Arts Common Core Standards
• L.1.5(b): Define words by category and by one or more key attributes
• W.1.2: Write informative/ explanatory texts in which they name a topic, supply some facts
about the topic, and provide some sense of closure
NJ CCCS
Science
• 5.3.2.A.1 Group living and nonliving things according to the characteristics that they share.
• 5.3.2.E.2 Describe how similar structures found in different organisms (e.g., eyes, ears, mouths)
have similar functions and enable those organisms to survive in different environments.
Gardner’s Multiple
Intelligences
Back to Teacher Page
Logical/
Mathematical
• Creating an
animal
• Exploring how
animals are
alike/ different
Visual/ Spatial
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Drawing
Making charts
Multimedia
Creating a clay
animal
• Magazine fun
Musical
Bodily/ Kinesthetic
• Moving like an
animal
• Creating an
animal in clay
• Playing the
animal
movement
song
• Playing animal
sounds while
working
Intrapersonal
Linguistic
Interpersonal
• Working with
partners
• Class
discussions
• Writing their
own
paragraphs
• Working on
center
activities
• Read aloud
• Paragraph
writing
• Rhyme time
Naturalist
• Learning about
nature (animals
and their
environments)
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Bloom’s Taxonomy
Create
-Designing and describing
their own animal
Evaluating
-Decide on favorite animals to
combine features to make their own
animal
-Choose a habitat for their animal to
live in
Analyzing
–Comparing animals’ traits, behaviors, and habitats
Applying
-Report on one animal
Understanding
-Identifying animals
- Classifying animals into groups
Remembering
-Recognizing animals
-Listen to read alouds
-Describing animal traits, behaviors, and habitat
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Gregorc’s Learning Styles
Concrete Sequential
Concrete Random
- Recording facts
-Deciding on animal features to create their own
- Following directions
- Working without the teacher guiding
- Answering questions in a logical sequence
- Can be a busy environment when working with
partners
- Quiet writing environment
Abstract Sequential
Learning
Styles
Abstract Random
- Analyzing animals
- Working together
- Times to work alone
- Creative environment
- Can refer to posters/ books/ references
- Ability to receive small group attention from the
teacher
- Appreciates teacher guided lesson
- Quiet writing environment
- Can be a busy environment when working with
partners
- Understands end goal
Sense and Meaning
• Sense
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Students enjoy learning about animals. They begin mimicking sounds at a young age. They already categorize
animals by where they live, such as the wild, the farm, or in their homes. Students understand that animals can be
similar and can be very different. Students can connect to categorizing and sorting animals, because they have
some prior knowledge of animals.
• Meaning
- Students will find meaning in this exploration of animals, because they will be creating their own animal in the end.
They will be building new knowledge about animals throughout the lesson and are expecting to show what they know
through a creative way.
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Works Cited
Back to Teacher Page
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Animal Action song. Harry Kindergarten, 2010. Film. 28 Jul 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lhYjSgkZgg>.
Churches, Andrew. "Bloom's Taxonomy Blooms Digitally." TechLearning. N.p., April 1, 2008. Web. 28 Jul 2012. <http://www.techlearning.com/article/blooms-
taxonomy-blooms-digitally/44988>.
Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences. New York: Basic Books.
Grade 3, Theme 4, Animal Habitats.wmv . Dir. curriculum companion. Houghton Mifflin, 2009. Film. 28 Jul 2012.
Gregorc, A. (1985). Gregorc style delineator. a self-assessment instrument for adults.
Houghton Mifflin, , prod. Grade 3, Theme 4, Animal Habitats.wmv. curriculumcompanion, 2009. Film. 28 Jul 2012.
Introduction. Prod. 100% Educational Videos. 100% Educational Videos, 2000. Discovery Education. Web. 29 July 2012. <http://www.discoveryeducation.com/>.
Jenkins, Steve, and Robin Page. What Do You Do With a Tail Like This?. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2003. Print.
"New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards." New Jersey Core Curriculum Standards Resource. New Jersey Department of Education. 22 Jan. 2006
<http://education.state.nj.us/njsdb/>.
Seuss, Dr. If I Ran the Zoo. Oceanhouse Media, eBook.
Sousa, D. (2001). How The Brain Learns. 2nd Edition. California, Corwin Press, Inc.
Sweger, Kara. "School Zoo Adventure." . N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Jul 2012. <http://www.nycsd.k12.pa.us/tchr/sweger/questks/index.html>.
"The Standards » English Language Arts Standards." Common Core State Standards. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Jul 2012. <http://www.corestandards.org/thestandards/english-language-arts-standards/>.
"What Kind of Animal Is This?." Sheppard Software. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Jul 2012.
<http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/content/animals/kidscorner/kidscorner_games.htm>.
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Image Credits
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Background
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http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/CT010238336.aspx
celebaddicts.com (cheetah print)
Pictures
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Clip art (all animals not listed below)
cartoon-animals-homepage.clipartonline.net (Clip Art Animals)
onceuponagoodtime.com (book)
doyourownpestcontrol.com (Mole)
en.wikipedia.org (jackrabbit)
globalanimal.org (humpback whale)
giraffes.org (giraffe)
quantumbiologist.wordpress.com (four eyed fish)
southwesternherp.com (horned lizard)
wildadventures.com (bush baby)
homewithpurpose.blogspot.com (blue-footed booby)
fcps.edu (water strider)
biolib.cz (gecko)
thefeaturedcreature.com (archerfish)
sciencephoto.com (egg-eating snake)
appsforipads.net (If I Ran the Zoo book)