Elementary Library

Introduce the new habitat. Ask what students know already about deserts. Record student knowledge. Read a title about desert habitats from the Animal Habitat series or Biomes of North America (or another series in the school library). Add to the list of student knowledge with new knowledge from the text. Prompt students to look for details about animals or plants that help them survive in the desert. During the read aloud or after ask students, How did the animals in this story survive in the desert? Make a list of student ideas and try to cite pages. You can choose to record habitat traits and living thing traits in two columns on the same poster. Then, with student help connect ideas between the two columns with lines. (For example, the desert is hot…animals are cold-blooded). Ask students how is an animal in a desert different from an animal in a tundra. Why are they different? Read I’m a Hare, So There or The Night Flower

Remind students of the big question. Ask if plants are living things and how they know. Students make hypotheses about what plants need to survive based on background knowledge. Have students answer big question using evidence from the story. This discussion can take place while reading. Students color a plant and label what it needs to survive. (Light, air, soil, water) Read How Do Plants Grow?

Read Joey: A Baby Koala & His Mother or Does a Kangaroo Have a Mother Too? Repeat discussion of previous week. Ask specifically for students to look for new similarities and differences. Repeat discussion. Ask if they noticed any repeating patterns between what they learned this week and last. Students draw a baby animal and its parent to show a similarity and difference. In small groups, students complete a Venn Diagram (can draw instead of write if necessary) Read any from Adorable Animals series

Students draw a desert and living thing there. Finish the sentence

124