Animal:
Welcome to a sensational curriculum structure that offers children a dynamic lesson plan to clinch their natural intellect of interest through practical education. This lesson will focus on and explore a variety of animals and their purpose. Also, the lesson will teach the life, home, food and related topics that can be used in each animal’s daily activity. For instance, a list of the word that children may not familiar with will be posted on the classroom wall with pictures to guide the lessons. Each animal’s purpose will be explained in detail, including communication/sounds for sensory, home and body cover such as fur for survival and the reason each animal is useful to the child’s community and daily life.
The curriculum
The lesson in this theme can teach children many skills when participating in the suggested activities in the daily lesson plan.
Set the classroom:
- Place stuffed animal toys around the room
- hang down the animal picture pages and theme song on the walls
- play music in the morning, gently through
- art/craft time and at the end of the day
Curriculum ideas and material need:
- Animal puppets and puppets show can be used to add little interest and idea of the type of animal in the daily activities.
- If it is possible a field trip to the zoo will be schedule to see real animal.
- Reading books
- Puzzles and games
- Singing songs
- Craft material
- Flash card
- Songs, and poem & finger plays.
- A Journal for each child
Animal Books Reading list Songs
- Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type by Cronin, Doreen And Betsy Lewis 1- “Three Blind Mice”
- The Good Little Bad Little Pig, by Margret Wise Brown 2- “Farmer in the Dell”
- I Love Animals by Flora McDonnell 3- “B-I-N-G-O”
- Barnyard Banter by Denise Fleming 4- “Marry had a Little Lamb”
- The Cows that when Oink by Bernard most 5- “Old McDonald had a Farm”
Music in the lesson plan can help the children to develop large and small muscles as well as adding physical fitness.
■ Dramatic Play
For Dramatic Play, help the children build a Fish Pond learning about marine life. The materials needed are: blue paper, white construction paper, gray paint, rubber ducks and paper puppet fish made the day before in the art activity. First, we will put down a sheet of blue the dramatic play centre. Then, make rocks with construction paper and painting them gray, or use crumpled brown bags. Next, use torn pieces of paper for bread to feed the fish or ducks. Throughout the activity I will ask the children open questions of what they are doing to encourage the dramatic play.
■ Language and Literacy
Sing “Farmer in the Dell” or Read “I love Animals”. After singing the song or reading this book, I would love to help the children further identify animals by using a centres activity with sensory and sound. Each child can close their eyes as pieces of fur, felt, leather and other objects that identify with animals are passed around. Then, listen to sounds that animals make in order to fully identify with the animals for an interactive literacy learning time.
■ Literature
Using “I love Animals”, read the book in circle time to the classroom. Then list each animal in the book. Next, teach the children how to sign each animal in ASL (American Sign Language) in order to help them identify the literature to another language; this activity can also promote language and literacy and help children identify each animal in a new way.
■ Puppets
Assign each child a different barnyard animal. Then using paper plates have each child free draw their animal on a paper plate using crayons. Once the children are finished with their art, glue the paper plate to a paper bag. Then, have the children put on a one minute puppet play in groups of three. *Remember to time them, as children get bored sitting watching others, and may argue if others are too long in the spotlight.
■ Math
Sing rhymes and fun songs to teach the children math skills. For instance, The Duck Math Rhyme is a great way to teach children how to count. The object of the game and rhyme are to count the number of feet coming out of the eggs. The rhyme goes:
One nest, one egg – how many feet walked away?
One nest, two eggs – how many feet walked away?
One nest, three eggs – how many feet walked away?
For older children you could make it harder by adding more eggs or more nests. The children can then waddle like ducks and sing the song as they enjoy circle time with math. Encourage finger, hand and feet play.
■ Music and movement
Learning music and movement through finger play and song is a great exercise for children to also learn cleanliness through a fun activity. While it is often hard to get children to wash their hands, this is a good way to help them remember and have fun doing it. You will need a small bowl for each child, preferably a sink in you classroom, and soap. Teach the children to wet their hands and using the soap wash their fingers really well; this also promotes finger play. Sing the song to the tune of “Row, Row, Row your Boat”: Wash, wash, wash my hands, make them nice and clean! Rub the bottoms and the tops, and fingers in between."
■ Science
Teach the children about recycling in order to promote health, safety and preserving the environment. Using the fish pond, before the children get to class, throw a bunch of soda cans, litter, paper, etc. Take the fish and the ducks out. Ask the children to identify what is wrong with their environment. Ask why the ducks and fish may have left their home. Teach them how to clean up and where the litter belongs. Start a mini-recycling center where children can learn what items like paper, plastic, cans, etc. can be recycled and promote this daily in class.
■ Sensory center
After the language and literacy activity, make an entire center: sensory center activity with sensory and sound should contain: pieces of fur, felt, leather and other objects that identify with animals studied, music to sounds that animals make in order to fully identify with the animals for an interactive learning time.
■ Art
“Barnyard, Farmyard Mural”. An interactive art project that involves the whole classroom by hanging a large piece of brown or white paper on the wall, then drawing a barn, the farm gate and various living quarters for the animals. Then the children are assigned and animal and are to draw where they learned this animal lives; other children can go to centers during the individual art time with the teacher to promote a one on one learning experience. The whole group gets to color in the barn and the grass together as a finale to their art.
■ Social studies
Each day of the week one to three students (depending on the size of the classroom) will get a turn to pick an item out of the ‘Plot-Luck-Pot’. Then, students will use each item to make one sentence up in order to tell a story. As each student makes a sentence, the teacher writes them down on a large piece of white paper. The story is then read to the classroom once finished; the children will laugh as the story may not make sense this promotes social studies and a sense of whole classroom participation. Stories can be hung for children to direct parents to read each day. Thus, the parent can see what the children are creatively learning.
