Title:Animals Everywhere

Content Area: Language Arts

NC SCOS Objective(s):2.01 Read and comprehend text (fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama) appropriate for grade two

3.01 Use personal experiences and knowledge to interpret written and oral messages.

2.07 Discuss similarities and differences in events, characters and concepts within and across texts.

Rationale/Relationship to Text:

The students will compare the animals of the rainforest mentioned in the story to other animals of which they are familiar, specifically animals from the zoo.

Instructions/Procedures:

Have them look at the animals that they see around the border on the first page. Which animals do they think will be included in the story?

*Read the story*

Recall which animals were used in the story; why weren’t all the animals from the first page used? Then ask them to name some other animals they have seen in a zoo. What makes the animals different?

Have the students complete a Venn diagram in small groups comparing animals in the rainforest to animals in the zoo. What do they have in common? What do they have that is different?

Come back together as a class and talk about what they wrote in their charts.

Materials:

The Great Kapok Tree

Giant chart paper

Crayons/colored pencils

Document Camera (if the classroom has one)

References:

Cherry, Lynn. (1990). The great kapok tree. Orlando, FL. Harcourt.







Dear ______,

In our class, we learned that it is important to save the wildlife. We have just finished reading The Great Kapok Tree where the ______wanted to save the Kapok tree because ______.

It is also important to save the wildlife because, ______

Sincerely,

______








Teacher Notes – “Wildlife Defenders Activity”

  • This website contains an extensive list of endangered animals from each continent, as well as a picture of each animal:
  • The websites listed below are all great resources for finding an additional picture of a particular endangered animal:
  • NCWise Owl
  • Pics4Learning
  • Discovery Education
  • Destiny
  • Extension/Pull-out Activities:
  1. Make activity a competition to come up with the best argument for saving a particular group’s animal.
  2. Have class vote on which animal to save, and graph results.
  3. Raise money, as a class, to help save the animal
  4. Have class write a letter to Lynn Cherry, explaining their research project, and telling her what they are doing to save their animals
  5. Have a guest speaker come from the Science Center to expand the class’s knowledge about endangered animals.


My animal is ______

It lives in ______

Why is my animal endangered?

  1. ______
  2. ______
  3. ______

What can I do to help my animal?

  1. ______
  2. ______
  3. ______