Learning Objectives :
- Children will experience “wondering” about familiar and unfamiliar animals.
- Children will create a visual representation of what they know about an animal, and formulate a question about their “wonderings”
Duration :
Approximately 45 minutes for reading, questioning, and working on activity sheet.
Materials :
One of Bill Martin and Eric Carle's picture books
Directions :
- Begin by reading one of Bill Martin and Eric Carle’s picture books such as Baby Bear, Baby Bear, What Do You See? In the story, the narrator asks each animal what they can see, and they in turn introduce the next animal (“Red fox, Red fox, what do you see? I see a flying squirrel gliding by me.”)
- After reading the story, take some time to discuss with your child the kinds of questions they might want to ask the animals in the book. Encourage them to think about what they already know about each animal, and what they would like to know. Then use the Activity sheet to organize your “wonderings”. Your child can draw a picture of the animal and write their questions and comments. This informal “book” can serve as the basis of further research to answer the questions.
- This activity is the perfect prelude to a visit to the zoo. Your child can bring their Activity sheets to the zoo and look for evidence to answer their questions or confirm their comments. Take along a camera, and take a picture of the animals. You and your child can create an animal scrapbook, much like Stanley’s Great Big Book of Everything!
Additional Information :
Credits :
Activity created by Julie Matz. The examples come from a first grade class of “wonderers” from P. S. 160 in Queens, New York.
Printables :
