CONTENT STANDARD: Life Science

CONTENT TOPIC: Animals

CONCEPT: Animals live in a variety of habitats and change with the seasons.

CONTENT OBJECTIVE: E2.00 To understand how seasonal changes affect animals

INSTRUCTIONAL OBJECTIVES: The learner will:

2.01 identify animals as they change during different seasons.

I. Seasons cause changes in animals
II. Children learn camouflage, hibernation and migration

TN COMPONENT OF SCIENCE: Unifying Concepts of Science

TN GOAL:

To enable students to acquire scientific knowledge by applying concepts, theories, principles and laws from life/environmental, physical and earth/space sciences.

2.4 INTERACTIONS - At all levels of living and non-living systems, matter and energy act and react to determine the nature of our environment.

2.4b Interactions of matter and energy shape our world.

BENCHMARK: Changes that occur in an environment may affect both living or non-living things.

30 minutes daily for four days

MATERIALS:

Prepare a large bulletin board. Title it "Animals in Winter." (See picture on page following the lesson.) Colored construction paper, scissors, glue, pictures of animals in winter (Ranger Rick and Your Big Back Yard are two excellent resources), word cards - migrate, hibernate, stay active

Winter is coming. It's getting cold outside. I had t get out my heavy coat and sweaters. Did you? What else do you and your family do to get ready for winter? (Discuss responses) Animals must also get ready for winter. Today and for the next few days, we will be learning what animals do in the winter to stay alive.

Winter in many parts of the world is a time of cold, harsh weather. Snow covers the ground and food is hard to find. In order to survive or live through this difficult time, different animals do different things. Some animals leave. The weather is too cold and there is not enough food. So they migrate to a warmer place (display word card and a picture of migrating animals). Let's all flap our wings to fly away to a warmer place. Other animals go to sleep. They hibernate (display word card and picture). Let's all curl up and take a long winter's nap. We don't have to worry about being cold or hungry. Still other animals stay active (display word card and picture) and either live on stored food or are able to find food. Look around you. Can you find a nut or berry to eat? M-m-m! Animals must prepare for winter. If they didn't , they would die. Different animals prepare in different ways.

Today we have learned that animals get ready for winter in different ways. Why must animals prepare for winter? (response -- too cold, not enough food, they would die). Some animals migrate. What does that mean? (response) Right! They go into a deep sleep. What do other animals do? Yes, they stay active. We will be studying each of these kinds of animals this week. Now I have a song I want to teach each of you:

Winter is Coming (to the tune of "Christmas is Coming")

Winter is coming

The bear is getting fat,

Geese fly away,

And squirrels chit chat.

Now I have a book I want to read to you that tells you all about animals in winter. (Read "The Big Snow" by Berta and Elmer Haden.)

SET:

Today we are going to study about animals who leave or migrate (point out word card and picture) during the winter.

Many animals leave their homes during the cold winter months. They travel south where the weather is warm and there is plenty of food for them to eat. How many of you have seen a large flock of birds traveling together in the sky. (response) These animals are migrating. Many different kinds of birds migrate. Have you ever seen geese migrating? (response) Geese fly in a V-formation as they migrate south. If you listen carefully you can hear them honking to each other. Many butterflies also migrate. Let's flap our wings and migrate south.

Today we have learned that some animals leave their homes during the winter. What do we call this? (response) Right, they migrate. Why do these animals migrate? (response) Who can name some animals that migrate? (response - write responses on chart paper) I am going to give you a sheet of paper. Draw a picture of an animal that migrates and cut it out. (Display the migrating animals on your bulletin board. Put geese in V-formation.)

SET:

We know that different animals do different things to survive the cold, hard winters. Yesterday we studied animals that migrate. Today we are going to learn more about animals who sleep or hibernate (point out word card and picture) during the winter.

Some animals stay during the winter and just sleep it away or hibernate in a dry safe place. They are asleep, so they do not eat. Hibernating animals grow fat during the summer and fall. During the winter, they live on their stored fat inside them. They do not move. They hardly breathe. Even their heart beats very, very slowly. They sleep, sleep, sleep. Bears and bats hibernate in caves. Groundhogs hibernate in their burrows underground. Frogs and turtles dig down into the mud. Lady bugs squeeze into a crack in a tree. They sleep or hibernate all winter. They do not need food and they don't freeze.

Today we learned about animals who sleep during the winter. What do we call this? (response) Right, they hibernate. How does hibernating help them survive the winter? (response) Good. They don't need food which would be hard for them to find and they don't get cold.

Who can name an animal that migrates? (response, write on chart paper) (Put out brown, green, black and red pieces of construction paper. Have children make different animals that hibernate. Display in the proper places on the bulletin board.

SET:

We have been studying about animals in winter. We have learned that some animals migrate or leave during the winter and some animals hibernate or sleep. Today, we are going to learn about animals that stay active (point to word card and picture).

Many animals stay active all winter long. Some of these animals work hard all during the fall to store food for the winter. Remember the busy squirrels scampering around hiding nuts. Some mice also store food. Other active animals do not get ready for winter at all except for growing more hair or fur to keep them warm. These animals must search for food all winter long. Deer, rabbits, foxes, and some birds must find food all winter. Many people enjoy feeding the birds during the winter.

Today we have learned about animals that stay active in winter. What do these animals do to survive during the winter. (response) Yes, some store food and others search for food. Name some animals that store food. (response, write on chart paper) Now, name animals that hunt for food. (response, write on chart paper) Today we are going to finish our bulletin board. Choose an active animal to make for the board. (Put out paper same as yesterday in appropriate colors. Display children's animals on the board.)

Make bird feeders. Wrap 1/2 a pipe cleaner around the top of a pine cone. Spread peanut butter over the pine cone and roll it in bird seed.

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