Where Do Animals Come From

eLibrary Elementary Standards-Based Learning Activity Where Do Animals Come From? Teacher Procedures

APPROPRIATE FOR: Social Studies, Grades K-2

TIMELINE: Two to three class periods

SOCIAL STUDIES STANDARDS ADDRESSED THROUGH THIS LESSON

NCSS Standards III People, Places, And Environments  Social Studies Programs should include experience that provides for the study of people places and environments. (source: http://www.ncss.org/standards/2.3.html)

LEARNING EXPECTATIONS/OBJECTIVES  Students will use eLibrary Elementary to find the continent where a particular animal originates.  Students will use maps and learn to name and locate the continents.

MATERIALS  Computer with access to eLibrary Elementary and a printer  Printer paper  Pencils or colored pencils or markers  Overhead projector  Scissors

ACTIVITY PROCESS: DIRECTIONS TO THE TEACHER

Description of Activity Students will find a mammal, reptile, fish, insect or bird on eLibrary Elementary and use the information to find where that animal originates. They will find a map of that continent or continents in eLibrary Elementary. The students will then use their map(s) to make a large map of the world. Alternately, the teacher can get the world map from eLibrary Elementary and enlarge it so students can map their animals in the various continents.

Background Information/Scenario The study of animals and their place of origin connects students to places beyond their own. Finding the continents on the map will support them in gaining geographic perspective. Young learners always express interest in things far way and unfamiliar to them

Geography is a springboard for many different learning experiences. Children will naturally self- initiate areas of study – who lives in these continents? What do the people look like? What do they eat? How do they play? They will begin to ask many questions and this is the foundation to learning. This simple activity has enormous possibilities for additional teaching and learning about other cultures.

© 2003 ProQuest Information and Learning Company. Permission is granted to duplicate for classroom use only. ** This lesson can be a continuation of the eLibrary Elementary Language Arts activity, “Making Stories,” or it can be done independently. If the teacher has done “Making Stories,” they will use the same animals that each child chose to make their stories. They can proceed to the procedures for DAY TWO. Otherwise follow the procedures below to find an animal starting on DAY ONE.

Outline of Procedures – Day One 1. Students will gather pictures of animals by doing a search on eLibrary Elementary. Have a different animal for each child. To search in eLibrary Elementary:  Go to eLibrary Elementary.  You will start at the main search screen; if you are not on the main search screen, click Search at the top of the page.  Type the name of the animal into the search box and press Start.  Click the picture icon at the top where the source types are indicated.  Pictures will be sorted first in the list of documents.  Click on picture document link to view picture or click the picture icon to the left of each document title.

2. Children will view pictures and decide which animal they want to choose. Children will print out their animal and write their names on the back of the pictures.

Outline of Procedures – Day Two 3. Students will go to the URLs of their animal when logged into eLibrary Elementary and find information about where the animal originates. Use the URL links above in DAY ONE.

4. Students will then find a map of their animals’ continents of origin on eLibrary Elementary. To find maps:  Go to eLibrary Elementary.  Click topics at the top of your screen.  Under Explore the Topic Trees, click Social Studies.  Under the red Geography, click map collections.  Then click the map or maps you would like to see.

6. Teacher and students will either use a large world map that teacher enlarged or put their maps together to make one large map. To secure an outline map that can be enlarged, once you are in the Map Collections section, click on Atlases, then Outline Maps.

Conclusion/Finished Work 7. As a whole group, label the continents with magic marker.

8. Students will cut out their animals and place them on the large map.

ASSESSMENT Students will be evaluated based on these criteria:  Did the student use eLibrary Elementary to collect the picture and find what continent the animal originates from?  Did the student use eLibrary Elementary to collect a map of a continent? (Disregard this assessment if teacher printed world map.)  In what ways was the student involved with the activity?  For older children, did they learn where the continents are located on the map?

1. After the lesson, teachers need to collect books about the various continents and have them accessible to the children. These books can be factual or photographic accounts of the continents or they can be stories, fables and fairytales that come from the continents.

2. Teachers can give blank continent maps to the students for them to fill in the continent names. This can also be a good assessment of their understanding.

3. Teachers and students can go on a “trip” to one of the continents. Teachers can log onto eLibrary Elementary and gather pictures and information for students about various continents. As a group, they can start a trip scrap book.

4. Art teachers can do projects with students that coincide with particular continents. For example, for Asia, they could do origami paper-folding that comes from Japan or mosaic work that comes from South/Central America.

5. Music teachers can incorporate children songs from various continents. Many music programs have all sorts of instruments that come from around the world as well.

6. Gym teachers can also play games with children that come from various continents. There are many books in libraries that outline these kinds of games.