Lesson Seven: Animal Habitats

This week, Mrs. Whipple and I decided to try a more integrated art lesson. In a perfect world, I wanted all of my lessons to be integrated, but as I've gone through this experience so far, I've learned that it's also important to establish the basics of art first before you can expect students to be able to bring other content knowledge into what they are creating. Integration is the goal, but as with all goals, it takes some time to get there.

Mrs. Whipple and I discussed some of the topics the students were learning about in class, and the idea of animals and animal homes immediately stood out to me. One of the Science standards for 2nd grade is to "tell how external features affect an animal’s ability to survive in its environment." For this lesson, I wanted to introduce the students to 'habitats' and the characteristics of habitats that allow certain animals to survive in them.

We started the lesson by just talking about what the students already know about animals and animal homes. They told me about a couple of the animals that were in the books they were reading, and which ones they liked. Adyson was able to accurately identify that a 'habitat' is another word for an animal's home. I asked the students whether all animals could live in the same place- which they all responded 'no'. Then, we brainstormed what characteristics of habitats makes them good places for certain animals to live. In other words, what do animals need to survive? Some of the ideas we came up with were food/water, shelter, warmth/temperature, good weather, camouflage, and ability to breathe. We gave examples as we went, such as fish living in water because they can breathe there, snakes living in warm weather places because they are cold-blooded, etc.

Next, I went through the 6 main types of habitats with the students, using a power point. These included oceans, grasslands, deserts, woodlands, rainforests, and the arctic. As we looked through pictures of each type, I asked students to identify characteristics of each that weren't the types of animals that lived there. For example, in the desert there is lots of sand, sparse palm trees, cacti, and is usually pretty hot. Then we talked about what types of animals live in each habitat. For example, in the grassland live zebras, elephants, lions, giraffes, etc. I felt pretty confident at this point that the students had a good grasp of what habitats are, what animals need to survive in a habitat, and which animals lived in each habitat.

Next, we started on our art project for the day. At the end of my power point was just a bullet list of the 6 times of habitats we talked about. I explained to students that we were going to be creating our own habitats and animal puppets. I told them to pick one of the habitats that we talked about, and that I'd be coming around with construction paper that coordinated with each habitat (green=woodland/rainforest, yellow=desert, white=arctic, etc.) When students had their papers, I had them write their habitat name and their name on the back of their sheet. Most students chose either rain forest, desert, or arctic.

Brooklyn's penguin in the arctic.

I explained that on this paper, we were creating our habitat as it would look without any animals. They got out their crayons and colored pencils to start drawing, and I walked around to help think of ideas when needed. Despite a lot of students having the same habitat, they all put their own spin on how it looked. I had some rainforests with fallen trees, archways, waterfalls, rocks, etc. Carson chose a desert, and decided to draw a pyramid in the background, which I thought was really creative.

Next, we started working on our animals. I had students think about the habitat they chose, and pick one animal that would be able to survive in it based on the characteristics that we had decided and written on the board at the start of the lesson. I explained that instead of drawing our animals on our papers, we would be creating 'puppets' that could be moved around. I passed out small white pieces of paper, on which students started drawing their animal. The students were a little nervous that I didn't want them to sketch their animal with pencil first, but when I told them they could turn their paper over if they needed to restart, they were a bit more comfortable. When done, students cut out their animals (or an outline of their animal if it was small) and glued it to a popsicle stick.

Berklee's tiger in the rainforest.

As they finished putting their animal puppets together, I had students clean up their desks and put away all materials except their habitat and their puppet. I had them hold their puppet in front of their habitat, and then tell their partner whether their animal would survive in their habitat, and why or why not. Then, I had the partners switch habitats, and decide whether their animals would be able to survive in their partner's habitat. I was impressed that students could not only tell me whether their animal would survive or not, but they could give evidence that backed up their claim. For example, Charles decided that his parrot would not survive in Ella's arctic habitat because it was way too cold. This review helped me see that the 2nd graders really understood what habitats are, and what animals need to survive. And, they had fun creating their own animals. Hopefully, this will help them remember what they've learned.

Tell me and I'll forget. Show me and I may remember. Involve me and I'll learn. -Benjamin Franklin

Adyson's fox in the desert.

Charles' parrot in the rainforest.

Unfortunately, because I'm doing practicum for my major program, I'm required to be in another class for the month of November, making this week my last lesson in Mrs. Whipple's class until after Thanksgiving Break. I let my students know, but I reminded them that I wanted them to 'keep their artist hats on' as they go through the next month, looking at colors, designs, and patterns they see and continuing to use their creativity in their assignments. I'll miss them for sure, but I'm excited that I get to come back and do a few more lessons before the end of the semester.

**I've posted a link to my lesson plan for this week under the 'Resources' page of this blog.