GR. 1 SCIENCE UNIT

Lessons

1: Animals
2: Animal Charades
3: Animals Shapes
4: Animal Coats
5: Lunch Time
6: Animal Friends
7: Animal Sort
8: Off to Petland
9: Basic Needs for Pets
10: The Pet Vet
11: Staying Alive
12: Animal Habitats
13: Animal Adaptations
14: Animal Homes
15: Staying Alive
16: Animal Life Cycles
17: Animal Babies
18: Birds and Reptiles

LESSON 14 – ANIMAL HOMES

Background:
Animal homes are everywhere: in trees, in the ocean, under the ground, on grassy plains, and in shells! Wherever home is, it is where an animal finds safety and shelter, where it can store food, and where it may raise a family.

Objective:
Explain how animals are adapted to their environment. Explain how animals depend on their habitats for their basic needs.

Vocabulary: habitat, safety, shelter, storage

Quick Peek: The children compare the basic needs of people with the basic needs of animals, and they sing and compose a song.

Materials:
chart paper
marker
song, “They All Need Shelter” printed on chart paper or displayed on overhead projector

Method:
1. List animal home requirements on chart paper (safety, shelter, food storage, where a family lives – these would be arrived at easily because of previous lessons).
2. Create a second list listing home requirements for a person.
3. Compare how both are very alike.
4. Conclude that both provide safety, shelter, food storage and a place for family to live.
5. Leave the list on display so the students can refer to it as they investigate different animal homes.
6. Read through the words of the song together. Discuss the animals introduced and the places they call home.
7. Sing the song one verse at a time and have the children echo (repeat after you) each time.
8. After going through each verse, sing the song in its entirety and encourage the students to create additional verses for other animal residences.

They All Need Shelter
(sung to the tune of “O Susanna”)

Well, birds and mice and some fish too
Each choose to build a nest.
A cozy place for their babies,
For them, this home is best.

Well, worms and moles and prairie dogs
Dig tunnels underground.
The dirt they move will leave a path,
So they can get around.

(chorus: sing twice)
They all need shelter,
A safe and sturdy home.
A place to raise their families
And to call their very own.

Well, turtles, snails, and hermit crabs
Have houses on their backs.
Their shells provide a hiding place
If an enemy attacks.

Well, gibbons, sloths, and koala bears
Prefer to live in trees.
They hang onto the branches, and
They love to eat the leaves!
(chorus)

They All Need Shelter taken from: The Mailbox Magazine- Primary. The Education Center Inc., Oct/Nov. 2000.

*Excellent books to help teach or reinforce concept:
Animal Homes – A First Look At Animals by Diane James and Sara Lynn
Animal Homes by Illa Podendorf
What’s Inside? Animal Homes by Grolier
Animal Homes by Barbara Taylor
Towns Down Underground by Gene S. Stuart
Homebuilding by David Smith and Derek Newton
Animal Architects by National Geographic Society

*Ideas for creating mini-habitats in the classroom: Habitats by Pamela Hickman