Quality Core Curriculum Objectives:

Science                       (Inquiry)

            #1 – Asks questions, makes/records observations, sorts objects, makes

predictions, communicates with others.

            #2 – Uses books and other media to obtain information.

            #4 -  Actively engages in learning via hands-on/minds-on science activities.

                                         (Life Science)

            #12 – Recognizes & compares basic needs of living things.

            #13 – Recognizes factors leading to survival of living things.

            #14 – Recognizes characteristics, similarities & differences.

Language                    (Listening/Speaking)

            #2 – Listens to a variety of literary forms, including stories.

            #7 – Participates in choral speaking.

            #8 – Increases vocabulary to reflect a growing range of knowledge.

                                       (Reference/Study)

            #41 – Explores the uses of media center, picture books, and other resources for

reading and writing.

Activity 1 “Colorful Animals”

Vocabulary:  names of colors and animals

Materials:  Brown Bear, Brown Bear by Bill Martin Jr. & Eric Carle (Henry Holt & Company, 1996), several circles cut out from different colored paper, a chalkboard, several medium-large pictures of different animals.

Read “Brown Bear, Brown Bear” or “Polar Bear, Polar Bear.”  Have the students finish the phrases.  For example, “I see a white dog….” (students fill in “looking at me.”  Ask the students if they’ve ever seen a “white dog, a purple cat, a green frog.”  Ask them if cats can be purple, bears can be brown, etc.  Ask them what other colors these animals can be.  Ask them to think of as many animals and plants (optional) as they can that can be green, red, brown, blue, or yellow.  Tell them to ask their families and/or look through nature magazines for assistance.

Cut out or use circles of different colors for the following activity:  On the board, place two or more large pictures, each of a different animal.  Draw lines resembling “rays” coming from each animal.  The diagram should look like:

Ask the students to brainstorm all the colors they think each animal can be.  For each correct color, add a corresponding color circle to the end of a “ray” for the appropriate animal.  *If you prefer to use transparent sheets of colored paper, you may place each new color on top of the animal picture to help the students visualize.  Otherwise, place the colored circles around the picture of the animal. 

Kindergarten Preparatory Activities (continued)

Activity #2 “There’s no place like Home” (Adapted from “Everybody Needs a Home” in Project Wild, Washington D.C.: Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies & Western Regional Environmental Education Council, 1989)

Vocabulary:  differences, similarities, survive, survival needs, living vs. nonliving things

Materials:  drawing paper, crayons or chalk,

1.      Ask each student to draw a picture of where he or she lives.  Ask the students to include pictures in their drawing of the things they need to live (for example, a place to cook and keep food, a place to sleep, a neighborhood). 

2.      Once the drawings are finished, place several on a chalkboard or wall for the students to see.  Ask them to name some similarities between the pictures (i.e., what are some common things that the pictures share?  The student’s pictures should show walls, a roof, and places to eat and sleep). 

3.      After identifying the similarities, discuss the differences among the drawings.

4.      Ask the students to close their eyes and imagine what a bird’s home, an ant’s home, a snake’s home, a squirrel’s home, a bat’s home, a beaver’s home, a bear’s home (etc.) may look like.

5.      Talk about the things every animal needs in its home: food, water, shelter, and space in which to live, arranged in a way that the animal can survive. Summarize the discussion by emphasizing that although the homes are different, every animal (people, pets, farm animals, and wildlife) needs a home.  Point out that, just as humans have to go out into their neighborhoods to get food, so do animals.  Therefore, one’s neighborhood (or habitat) is also a part of one’s home.

6.      Have the students pick an animal picture out of a container and draw a picture of what they think that animal’s home would look like.  OPTIONAL:  When finished, compare the drawings to actual pictures of these animals’ homes.

7.      Go outside and look for animal homes.  Be sure not to bother the animals – or the homes- in the process!