We Explore Homes and Habitats

Lesson Plan Overview:

Introduction
Flexible 10 lesson sequence: Timing of activities may depend on conditions (location, season, weather)

Activity 1: Sharing Our Ideas about the Needs of Animals
Children share their ideas about what some familiar and not so familiar pets need and how their owners take care of them. They are introduced to the idea that all animals have some needs that are the same (e.g., they all need to eat) but that different animals get their needs met in different ways (e.g., they eat different types of food). This activity also informs teachers about children’s current understanding of animals’ needs and how they get met.

Home Connection: The Home Activity invites families to talk with their children about some of the things that children need to grow healthy and strong. Children draw pictures of themselves and some of the things they need.

Activity 2: Hosting a Pet Visitor in the Classroom
Children investigate the needs of a specific pet by observing it and talking with its owner. In advance of the visit, they discuss what they know about this type of pet and generate questions to learn more. After the visit, they talk about what they learned and share their ideas about what pets need in order to live, grow, and be healthy. 

Home Connection: The Home Activity invites families to talk with their children about how families take care of them and help them get the things they need to grow healthy and strong. Children draw a picture of themselves with their family.

Activity 3: Looking for Places Where Outdoor Animals Live
Children are introduced to the idea that outdoor animals live in particular environments. Children explore outdoor areas, look for animals, and observe and draw the animals they find and the area(s) where they find them. Back in the classroom, they share their ideas about if and how the environments where they found animals are good places for those animals to live and why they think so.

Home Connection: The Home Activity invites families to help their children explore the places where they live and to talk with children about some of their favorite spaces at home. Children then draw themselves in their favorite spaces.

Activity 4: Making a Temporary Home for a Minibeast
Children go back outdoors to look for and observe minibeasts and the features of the areas where they find them. They create one to three temporary homes for minibeasts by replicating their outdoor environments and bring them back to the classroom to observe them more closely. Children share their ideas about if and how the homes they made are good places for the minibeasts to live. They then release the minibeasts back into their outdoor homes.

Home Connection: The Home Activity invites families to talk with their children about what they would take with them if they went to spend the night at a family member’s or friend’s home. Children then draw the items they would take. 

Activity 5: Reading about Animal Homes
Children listen to the story My Home Is Better Than Yours by Stephen Krensky. They use information from the story to generate ideas about how animal homes can meet a range of needs, including shelter from the elements, safety from predators, a place to raise their young, and a spot close to food and water. Children are introduced to the idea that each animal has a home that is the best home for that animal.

Home Connection: The Home Activity invites families to help their children write short stories or draw pictures of their own homes.

Activity 6: Making a Classroom Book about Animal Homes 
Children write and illustrate a classroom book of animals and their homes. They think and talk about how different kinds of homes meet the needs of different animals.

Home Connection: The Home Activity invites families to talk with their children about their own homes and how their own homes are the best homes for them. Children draw pictures of themselves doing favorite home activities.

Activity 7: Creating Animal Habitats
Children are introduced to the concept of a habitat as the place where an animal lives and makes its home. They create their own habitats for toy animals using cardboard trays and natural materials they find outdoors. They then share how they made their habitats and why they are good places for their animals to live.

Home Connection: The Home Activity invites families to talk with their children about the places their families go to spend time together in their community. Children then draw pictures of their favorite place to go with their family.

Activity 8: Creating an Indoor Snail Habitat 
Children reflect on the needs of snails based on their previous outdoor observations and participate in an interactive reading of a snail story. They make a list of materials to collect for a snail habitat and head outdoors to collect the items and assemble the habitat. They observe the snails in their new home and share their ideas about what makes the habitat a good place for snails to live.

Home Connection: The Home Activity invites families to talk with their children about what kind of homes they would set up for toy animals. Children draw pictures of the homes they would make and what they would put inside them that the animals need.

Activity 9: Enriching Outdoor Habitats for Animals
Children generate ideas about how they might enrich the outdoor environment for animals that live around the school. They make one to three different types of birdfeeders and place them in locations that are accessible to birds. They generate ideas about how adding the birdfeeders will change the birds’ habitat and attract more birds.

Home Connection: The Home Activity invites families to talk with their children about the birdfeeders they made at school. Children ask family members to go outdoors with them and look and listen for birds around their home. They draw pictures of the birds they observed and where they observed them.

Activity 10: Mapping the Outdoor Environment
Children are introduced to maps and contribute to creating a map of the outdoor environment, showing landmarks and identifying the places where they found animals. Back indoors they reflect on their learning during We Explore Homes and Habitats and describe their favorite activities. 

Home Connection: The Home Activity invites families to help their children draw maps of their bedrooms or other rooms in their homes.