Lesson Plan #: AELP-INT0111
Submitted by: Shelda Harella
Email: sjh1254@aol.com
School/University/Affiliation: Claysburg-Kimmel Elementary School Date: July 31, 1999

Grade Level(s): 1

Subject(s):

• Interdisciplinary
• Arts/Visual Arts
• Science/Animals

Duration: 35 – 40 minutes

Description: Animals need a place in which to find food and water. They also need enough space in which to live and find the food, water and shelter they need. Home is more like a neighborhood that has everything in it that is needed for survival. The major purpose of this activity is for students to realize that animals need a home.

Goals: Students will be able to generalize that people and other animals share a basic need to have a home for survival.

Objectives: Students will be able to:

• draw a picture of their homes
• discuss the differences and similarities between homes
• explain why people, animals, and birds need a home

Materials:

• drawing paper
• crayons
• pictures of animals and where they live

Procedure: 1. Ask students to draw a picture of where they live – or to draw a picture of the place where a person they know lives. Ask the students to include pictures in their drawing of the things they need to live where they do; for example, a place to cook and keep food, a place to sleep, a neighborhood.
2. Once the drawings are finished, have a discussion with students about what they drew. Ask the students to point out the things they need to live that they included in their drawings.
3. Make a “gallery of homes” out of the drawings. Point out to the students that everyone has a home.
4. Ask the students to close their eyes and imagine: a bird’s home, an ant’s home, a beaver’s home, the President’s home, their home.
5. Show the students pictures of different places that animals live.
6. Discuss the differences and similarities among the different homes with the students. 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.
7. Summarize the discussion by emphasizing that although the homes are different, every animal – people, pets, farm animals and wildlife – needs a home.
8. Talk about the idea that a home is actually bigger than a house. In some ways, it is more like a neighborhood. For animals, we can call that neighborhood a “habitat”. People go outside their homes to get food at a store, for example. Birds, ants, beavers and other animals have to go out of their “houses” (places of shelter) to get the things they need to live.

Assessment: Student will be able to:

1. name three reasons why people need homes and three reasons why animals need homes.
2. draw a picture of an animal in its habitat and tell how the habitat meets the animal’s needs for survival.

Useful Internet Resources:

Canada’s Aquatic Environments
http://www.aquatic.uoguelph.ca/

National Wildlife Federation–Backyard Wildlife Habitat
http://www.nwf.org/backyardwildlifehabitat/