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Animals in Winter: STRANGER IN THE WOODS
Description:
This lesson is designed for 1st or 2nd grade and includes motivational activities to teach students about animals that live in the woods in the winter. The lesson includes a read aloud of STRANGER IN THE WOODS by Carl R. Sams II and Jean Stoick, animal research, creative writing, singing, drawing or painting, and possibly snow sculpturing. This lesson can be integrated into the Language Arts, Science, Art, Music, and Physical Education curriculum and taught collaboratively with the classroom teachers as well as the art, music, and physical education teacher. The class time needed depends on which components you choose to include in your lesson. Have fun !
Goals & Objectives:
The students will be able to:
  • listen attentively and respond to a story.
  • work cooperatively in a group.
  • research an animal to complete a graphic organizer.
  • locate and access resources for research.
  • write a paragraph or short story about an animal.
  • illustrate their animal on a mural.
  • sing birdsongs.
  • build a snow sculpture (optional)!
Materials & Sources:
  • STRANGER IN THE WOODS by Carl R. Sams II and Jean Stoick;
  • graphic organizer, paper, pencils;
  • craft materials for mural: paper, paints, etc.;
  • music CD; software CD or Website (see http:www.birding.com ) with birdsongs;
  • snow !
Procedures:
1. Ask students to recall what they know about animals in the winter. Get them thinking with these questions: Do all animals hibernate? Why do they hibernate? What animals have they seen in the wintertime?

2. Introduce and read STRANGER IN THE WOODS. Discuss afterwards:Ask the students if they noticed something about the pictures in this book. (They are real photographs- unlike illustrations in most picture books). Have they ever been in woods? What animals were in the story? Why were the animals afraid ? Who is the stranger in the woods? What surprise did the stranger bring?

3. With the classroom teacher's assistance, divide the students into groups of 2. Allow each group to choose a different animal from the story to research. (porcupine, deer, owl, blue jay, chick-a-dee, cardinal, mouse, etc.) The students will research their animal by locating and accessing a variety of resources-encyclopedias, magazines, non-fiction books, Websites, etc. to complete the graphic organizer. (see PowerPoint) Older students (2nd grade) may use OPAC to search for materials. For younger students (1st grade) you may wish to have resourses available for use in centers.

4. Using the graphic organizer, have each student write a paragraph or short story about their animal during the wintertime. Encourage them to be creative.

5. Collaborate with your art teacher to have the students create a large mural of a winter scene of STRANGER IN THE WOODS. Each pair of students should draw or paint a large picture of their animal. All students can share in illustrating the snowman. Have the students display their written work nearby. 6. Collaborate with your music teacher to teach the children to sing birdsongs of the chickadee, morning dove, blue jay, cardinal and owl. Bird songs can be found on music CD's, computer software and on the Internet. (Check out this site - http://www.birding.com , it also has photos of birds and bird Webcams! )

7. If you live where there is snow, collaborate with your physical education teacher to make snow sculptures of animals and or snowmen outdoors using the 'recipe' from the back pages of the book 'STRANGER IN THE WOODS'.
Assessment:
The teachers will observe the students:

listening attentively and responding to a story.

working cooperatively in a group.

researching an animal.

illustrating their animal on a mural.

singing bird songs.
building a snow sculpture.
The teachers will grade the written work on spelling, grammar, punctuation, and content. (You may wish to use a rubric).
Sources:
STRANGER IN THE WOODS by Carl R. Sams II
Print this Lesson Plan
Presented By: Cynthia Tidd
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