Created by Tara Goodloe de Fuentes
Where Do Animals Live?
Activity Objectives
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Students will be able to classify animals by where they live (arctic, forest, ocean, desert).
Students will be able to collaborate in groups to make digital posters of a chosen habitat and animals that live in that habitat with teacher guidance.
Students will be able to describe 3 characteristics of each of the different habitats.
Students will be able to use their critical thinking skills to organize information about their chosen habitat.
Students will be able to evaluate their peers’ work by reflecting on what they learned.
Students will be able to use their communication skills to share what they have learned, what they liked about each poster, and suggestions for each poster.
About This Activity
This activity should be done at the beginning of the zoo project since learning about the different animal habitats are crucial to setting up the zoo. The activity can be done in the classroom or in a computer lab, but a projector, as well as devices or computers will be necessary. This activity will take a couple of days to complete if only working during the allotted time for science, or one day if the curriculum is Reggio Emilia or project based. Students will work in 4 heterogeneous groups of 4.
Task 1
Research The Habit
Each group will receive a different habitat to research (forest, ocean, arctic, desert).
Each group will receive 3-5 different YouTube video links (already previewed by the teacher) about their habitat to watch.
Each group will fill out a graphic organizer online with the name of the habitat, animals that live there, characteristics of the habitat.
During this task, students will need to communicate and collaborate with each other when filling out the graphic organizer. Watching the videos of their habitat and then deciding what information to put on their poster will help the students deepen their critical thinking skills. They will learn more about their specific habitat and will be using information, media, and technology skills.
Task 2
Students make a digital poster of their habitat
This can be done during art time as well.
Each group will create a poster of their habitat on a design platform.
Each poster will have the following: name of the habitat and pictures of animals that live in the habitat.
Scaffolding: Students will be able to choose the name of their habitat from among others to copy and paste to their poster, choose from a variety of different animal clip art, and choose from a variety of different clip art images of characteristics of each habitat (i.e. bubbles, seaweed, pine trees, sun, snow, rocks, wind, rivers etc.)
During this task, the students will practice their collaboration skills when working together to make their poster. They will also practice their problem solving skills on the computer, because there will inevitably be some trouble shooting with the copying and pasting, colors, navigating between windows, etc. They will practice creativity as well as information, media, and technology skills. It is a cross curricular activity as it requires art and technology.
Evaluation 1
Students present their habitat and evaluate peers' posters
Each group will present their posters to the rest of their class. After each presentation…
Each student will complete a Google Form Evaluation for each digital poster with the following questions and multiple choice answers (including pictures):
1. What habitat are you evaluating?
2. What are 3 animals that live in this habitat?
3. What are 3 characteristics of this habitat?
After each presentation, the teacher will ask for volunteers from each group to share one thing they learned, one thing they liked, and one question or suggestion. Different students will share. Each student should share something, and the teacher should keep track of this information as part of the evaluation.
When the students share and receive feedback, they are practicing communication and collaboration.
Students are learning about the other habitats when their peers present, and students are able to recall what they learned during the evaluation.
The teacher can gauge the quality of the posters by what the students put on their Google Forms.
Example: A group who does a poster on the arctic has pictures of polar bears, penguins, reindeer, and foxes. Most of the students will be able to list the animals on their evaluations therefore allowing the teacher to gauge the quality of the poster about the arctic.
Evaluation 2
Students will work in groups to sort plastic animals by habitat into sensory bins
Each group will then go to a set of 4 bins. Each set of bins will have a bin with water, a bin with sand, a bin with dirt, and a bin with tiny styrofoam balls.
As part of the assessment, the students will then take plastic animals and sort them into their appropriate habitats based on what they learned.
The teacher can also provide different accessories, like trees, rocks, sticks, etc. to allow the students to dig into their creativity.
Students will be able to collaborate and help each other since they will be in heterogeneous groups.
The teacher can walk around the room and help as needed.
