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COPYRIGHT 2008 National Science Teachers Association
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Are you the Zoo Lady?" Joshua excitedly asked me on the first day of school. "Our kindergarten class came to your zoo last year. It was awesome! Are we going to make a zoo this year? Do we get to be zookeepers?" The answer to all of these questions is "yes"!
Joshua was remembering the special day each year when students from other classes come to visit our first-grade classroom's "zoo." Students see life-size recreations of animal habitats and the animals that live in each one; they marvel at the many animals native to America, such as wolves, bears, white-tailed deer, rabbits, owls, bald eagles, and frogs; and they are amazed at the different sizes of penguins in our Antarctic exhibit.
Real animals like this would never be allowed in a school setting, but the life-size models students create are. An interdisciplinary zoo project requires plenty of planning, hard work, and preparation, but the results are worth it. (For a timeline for the monthlong project, see NSTA Connection.)
A zoo project provides numerous opportunities to integrate science, math, reading, and art, and teachers can easily adjust the level of work to suit any elementary grade level. The nearly monthlong experience described here was conducted with a group of top-notch first-grade zookeepers!
Introducing Animals
The zoo project begins by learning the characteristics of mammals and later expanding our studies to learn the characteristics of birds, amphibians, reptiles, and insects. Students learn that animals can be classified according to physical characteristics and identify examples of animals that belong in each of the groups we study. If you teach one lesson per day, expect to spend about one week on this process.
Begin day one with the study of mammals. Engage students by allowing them to observe one mammal, either in the classroom (taking all appropriate safety precautions) or on a video or computer screen. Have students draw and describe the animal. Encourage them to think about and answer questions like: What is the animal doing? What is the animal covered with (fur, feathers, scales)? How does it move? Does it have legs? How many? Does it have wings?
Students can then...
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