Animals

Focus on a certain type of animal such as water animals, farm, zoo, wild, pets, birds. This way, you can go more in depth and make the unit more meaningful.
Video tape short sections of the PBS show, "Nature," or other similar shows. When you are studying a particular animal, you can show the children some real footage of that animal.
Check out some animal craft ideas from About.com.
Use the Internet to find photos of animals that you are studying. Here are some starting places:

Here are links to hundreds of animal pictures.
See the HIAT webpage list of Resources and Links for more graphics resources online.

Farm

Use this Intellipics for Windows game to teach your kids the rhyme, To Market, To Market--by Lisa Carns
Although not completely farm animals, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? has many of the basics.
Make butter.
Play To Market, To Market, an Intellipics for Windows game by Lisa Carns. Intellipics or Intellipics Player needed to run this file
Check out
Kiddyhouse.com has clipart, songs, sounds, and information for kids about various farm animals.

Adapted books by Alicia Burnham - all of these books are in Boardmaker for Windows format. You must have Boardmaker to use them.

Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell - download zoo.zip

Goodnight Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann - download GoodnightGorilla.zip

What Happened to my Dog? about a child who loses his dog at the zoo - download dogzoo.zip

Take a field trip to the National Zoo.
Download a matching worksheet based on Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? by Bill Martin, Jr.
Use music to teach animal concepts. "Try Animal Action II" and "Kangaroo Hop" from Kids in Motion.
Try a song from Piggy Back Songs that goes to the tune of She'll Be Coming Round the Mountain.
Learn about camels with this song.
Monkey snack.
Use the song "One Elephant Went Out to Play" Great social interaction. We count every time we add more elephants. They use their arm like a trunk, and we follow each other. Each time singing the song and adding two more elephants. (We have a small group of ten (ECSE kids) so going by twos cuts down on too much wait time, but doesn't lose sight of the concept(s). --submitted by Sara Davis
Use the "Listen and Move Song" from Music and Movement in the Classroom. There is different kinds of music for different kinds of movement, so I just adapted the movements to the way different zoo animals move for example,

Walk like an elephant
Gallop like a zebra
Waddle like a penguin
Run like a cheetah
Slither like a snake
Jump like a kangaroo

(Sara Davis)

"Shoo Fly" song from Music and Movement in the Classroom. (a great animal movement/direction following activity, not all zoo animals, but it is fun!). (Sara Davis)
Check out

See Core Knowledge's page of Ocean Ideas
Sea World has teaching guides and classroom activities for teachers.
Adapted Book: What Happened to the Frog? is an adapted activity book based on the story Jump Frog Jump - download jumpfrog.zip--submitted by Alicia Burnham. You must have Boardmakerfor Windows to use this file.

Adapted song: Download bingo.zip - a Boardmaker for Windows version of the Bingo song. Thezip file contains two Boardmaker files. One is a four page version of the song and the other is a communication board that fits the Voice in a Box (preschool).

A good bird story is Are You My Mother? You can also combine this with a discussion about Mother's Day.

Here are a communication board and a matching worksheet for bugs. Click here to download them in Boardmaker for Windows format. You must have Boardmaker to use them. --Submitted by Jennifer Beck.

Bug crafts from About.com.
Butterfly snack.
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Check out
This site from University of Kentucky has a bug bingo game with bug line drawings you can print

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