animal research project lesson plan

• Skip to global NPS navigation
• Skip to the main content
• Skip to the footer section

Exiting nps.gov

Rate the lesson plan, lesson plan, animal research.

Glacier National Park

Essential Question

How do scientist study animals?

Students will be able to: • Discuss difference between cultures with relation to animals. • Use guiding questions to conduct effective research about animal species living in Glacier National Park. • Illustrate their animal research. • Communicate the results of their research with others.

This lesson is one part of Work House: A Glacier National Park Science and Indian Education Program. It can be completed as a stand alone lesson or as part of the greater Work House course.  The full  Work House Program  is available on Glacier National Park's website.  Background information as well as the full lesson plan can be found as a  PDF here . Assign student reading. Get books for student research. Mark specific reference pages in suggested books. Arrange internet access and download the “ Animal Field Guide, Flathead Reservation Riparian Species ” App if applicable. Review the websites referenced in the introduction for this unit. You may want to compile a list for students to use in their research or make it into more of a “webquest” with the websites provided. Have questions for research ready to handout/display and a completed example (or grading rubric if applicable) to show students of the expected report results from their research.

Preparation

• Prepare for two 50 minute class periods - one for reading/discussion, choosing animal and starting research. One to finish research and write report with animal illustration. More time needed for extension activities.
• Theme and art paper
• Pencils, colored pencils
• Internet access, encyclopedias, wildlife books, and particularly books about the animals of Glacier National Park, as well as People Before the Park by Sally Thompson, Kootenai Culture Committee & Pikunni Traditional Association
• Students should do the Student Reading for Unit 5 , pages 34-40, before starting this lesson. Use the “Checking for Understanding” questions to focus on the lesson objectives of exploring how people relate to animals, especially wild animals and the idea of sharing the Earth with other creatures. Included in the objectives is for students to realize that different people and cultures all relate differently to animals. In doing their animal research, they should be thinking of their relationship or beliefs/feelings toward wild animals and why they feel that way. How do the different ways people feel about animals influence national parks?
• Let students know that they are going to learn more about the wild animals in Glacier National Park by creating research reports of a favorite animal that they are certain lives in Glacier National Park (and if going on a field trip, one that they would like to see on their visit). Be sure that they have a second choice so that there are not duplicates. The instructor may wish to specify animals that would frequent beaver habitat, or that would live in a burned forest, or that appear in a traditional Blackfeet, Kootenai, Salish or Pend d’Oreille story (or that conform to some other precondition). There are numerous references to uses and importance of specific animals found in Glacier National Park by the Kootenai and Blackfeet in the book, People Before the Park. There are also a variety of books in the Blackfeet Reading Series and from the Salish and Kootenai Culture Committees of animal stories. The Fire on the Land Project from CSKT has a section on wildlife, and  Bull Trout’s Gift and Explore the River from CSKT has information on animals. If students have access to Apps, the CSKT Riparian Animals Field Guide is a result of CSKT putting all their animal research together in one place for people to use- could your students make an App for Glacier?
• Go over the “Questions for Animal Research” to make sure students understand what they should be trying to find out about their animal. (Perhaps having a sample to show or one from a previous year’s student will help). Show the students how to find resources in the library, and walk through the Montana Field Guide on-line to help them begin their research.
• Ask students to illustrate their writing on a separate piece of art paper. Some students may find research more to their liking if they are allowed to draw the picture first. (There are animal coloring book pages on the park website.)
• For advanced students, have them make a movie documentary of their animal research. Here is an example the park received from a student who did research on wolverines .

Questions for Animal Research

• Give the common name and scientific name of the animal you have chosen to research (and if you wish, the Blackfeet, Kootenai, Salish-Pend d’Oreille name). Give a physical description of the animal.
• How does this animal reproduce? Are the young born alive? Are they hatched from eggs?
• How does this animal care for its young? Do parents supply food directly? Do they nurse them? Are the young taught to find food or are they left on their own?
• What does this animal eat? Does it eat plants and animals (omnivorous)? Does it eat only plants (herbivorous)? Does it eat only animals (carnivorous)? The Glacier National Park Teacher’s guide has a chart of “Who eats Whom” other activities to learn about Glacier’s wildlife.
• How does this animal move about? Does it fly, walk, crawl, etc.?
• In what kind of environment does this animal live? Does it live on the ground, in the air, in water, or in a combination environment? Does this animal prefer special terrain such as alpine tundra, marsh, open meadow, forest, stream, etc. ?
• What other interesting observations can you make about this animal?
• Draw the animal in an appropriate environment on a separate sheet of art paper.

Writing Extension

When writings have been edited and drawings are completed, have the students present their reports and pictures to each other in order to share knowledge of all the animals. Choose a title and help students assemble their reports and art in a book - maybe even a field guide for a trip to Glacier!

Field Trip Extension 

• Play traditional American Indian games. Contact the International Traditional Games Society to obtain lesson plans and game kits. How did these games help children learn the skills needed to improve their observation skills of animals? 
• Family Forestry Expo  and  River Honoring  - organized annually, target specific grades and include information about wildlife.
• Invite someone from the local community or tribal government to discuss wildlife management in your area. Compare local management objectives with the National Park Service objectives.
• Invite an elder to your class to talk about wildlife experiences he/she may have had in the past.
• Contact the wildlife division for one of the Reservations and ask it it’s possible to arrange a speaker or a field trip.
• Ranger-Led Field Trips  and  Service Learning Projects  in Glacier National Park. The park’s native plant restoration program has service learning field trips for middle and high school students; the  Forest Processes  and  Fire Ecology  field trips can be modified for 3rd - 8th grade.
• Self-Guided Field Trips  as well as Guided Tours - various concession operated - in Glacier National Park.
• Glacier Institute  - geology and other education programs.
• Guided Tours in Glacier National Park - various concession operated.
• Flathead Community of Resource Educators (CORE) -  outdoor education guide for field trips  in the Flathead Region.

Carnivorous, environment, herbivorous, omnivorous, reproduction.

Assessment Materials

Play the Animal Story Guessing Game. After students have presented their stories, have them take turns telling animal stories that give vital information, except name and physical description, about some animal that lives in the park. The other students ask for clues and guess which animal is being described. Play an animal pantomime game. Have students take turns doing a silent imitation of animal behavior until the other students successfully guess which animal they are imitating. Both of these activities are fun for students and provide a good review.

Additional Resources

• Research the ten thousand acre Grizzly Bear Conservation Area in the Mission Mountains Tribal Wilderness by contacting CSKT’s Division of Fish, Wildlife, Recreation, & Conservation.
• Fire on the Land DVD - contains information about wildlife and fire.
• Glacier Education Trunks available to borrow that have wildlife connections: Songbird Trunk, Fire Works Trunk, Mammals Kit, Bear Trunk, Wolf Trunk.
• Glacier NP Student Resource Guide - has copyright free images of Glacier wildlife, fact sheets about the plants and animals, podcasts about bear research and Citizen Science, resource bulletins about various animals, coloring books, alphabet books, and much more.
• Browning Public Schools has a Blackfeet English Language Animal Coloring Book.
• Look at a copy of Glacier National Park’s Bear Management Plan and Bear Management Guidelines and discuss them.
• Montana State Park’s Indian Education for All Lesson plans associated with state parks in Montana.
• Flathead Community of Resource Educators (CORE) - list of education trunks available from various organizations across the state. Also links to various education resource providers in the Flathead Region.

Contact Information

Email us about this lesson plan

Lesson Plans

Last updated: September 15, 2023

Writing Unit of Study: Animal Research Project

This free animal research project will provide you with a writing unit of study that will help you build excitement about writing informational text in your classroom.

You can download this free animal research project to help your writers develop their research and writing skills.

This project will be a great fit for your first, second or third grade writing workshop.

This is another free resource for teachers and homeschool families from The Curriculum Corner.

Why should I introduce my students to research through animal study?

Animal research can be a great topic for writing informational text because students tend to be curious about animals.

Nothing seems to spark interest in most kids like learning about animals in our world. Turn their enthusiasm into an engaging animal research writing project.

They can take the time to learn about different habitats and diets.

You can also encourage students to expand their vocabulary by having them create a glossary to accompany their writing.

About this animal research project

Within this post you will find over 30 pages of anchor charts, mini-lesson ideas, writing planners and graphic organizers.

The unit will help guide your students through the complete process. In the end, you will be helping to teach your students how to write their own pieces of informational text.

The intended end product for students is an animal booklet that they can staple together to share with others.

Students who are ready for more advanced work, can create a larger project with less direction.

A description of the mini-lessons

Lesson 1: introduction.

• Begin the unit by having the students brainstorm a list of animals that they might see everyday.
• Then, have them brainstorm a list of animals they see when they visit the zoo or walk in the forest. You can do this on the blank anchor chart provided or on cart paper.
• Another option is to place students in groups. They could work to create a list together.  
• You might assign each group a continent and have them find animals that live there.
• Pull the class together and have each group share what animals they found that live on their continent.

Lesson 2: Noticings

• Next you might want to get your students familiar with common characteristics about informational texts that teach about animals.
• Have them work in pairs or small groups to go through some books and record their “noticings” about the writing.
• Then come together in a community circle to discuss those noticings and create a class anchor chart.

Lesson 3: Opinion vs. Facts

• Before getting truly into this unit, you might need to conduct a lesson on opinions vs. facts.
• After a brief discussion you can use the giraffe paragraph provided in our resources to give your students some practice differentiating between the two. This paragraph contains both opinions and facts.
• With your class read through the paragraph and record facts and opinions on the T-chart.
• Discuss both sides and how they are different from each other.
• A black & white copy of this giraffe paragraph has also been provided.  You can have them work in pairs or groups to distinguish between the facts and opinions.
• If you need more resources for your students surrounding fact & opinion check out our   Fact & Opinion Sort .

Lesson 4: Choosing a Topic for the Animal Research Project

• We want to help students to narrow their topic choices by giving them some guidance.
• Gather students and begin a discussion about choosing an animal research topic.
• For this lesson we have provided two pages where students can individually brainstorm the animals they are interested in.
• You might have students work in groups or independently to make their choice. Conference with students as needed to help.
• Don’t shy away from letting more than one student research about the same animal.  This can be a great way to promote group work. It might also help out with some of your literacy center choices throughout this unit.

Lesson 5: Good Places to Find Information about an Animal

• At this age we want students to begin to understand that all they read online about animals isn’t always true. Sometimes writing might sound true without being filled with facts.
• Show students two possible places to find information online about their animal. One should be a trusted site with reliable and accurate information. Another should be a site that perhaps a child has created.  (There are many that you can find if you search.)
• Pose these questions: Is everything on the internet true? Why?  How can you tell? Why is it important for your research writing to contain accurate information?

Lesson 6: Taking Notes

• Sometimes giving students resources and a blank sheet of notebook paper can be too overwhelming for them. Some students will copy word for word. Others might feel overwhelmed.  We need to guide them to read and pull out facts & relevant information to use later in their writing.
• For this lesson we have provided four templates for note-taking that you might choose to use for your students.
• You might need to provide different organizers to students depending on their needs.
• You will want to model the organizers your students are use. Show them how to take notes as they read.
• After initial teaching, you may find that you need to pull small groups for extra practice. Others might benefit from a conference as you take a look at the notes they are taking.

Lesson 7: Word Choice in Research Writing

• To help students think about making their writing more interesting, have them brainstorm words about their animal.
• Together brainstorm words that would be appropriate for animals. They might add words about what they look like, their movement, their habitats, their life cycles, their diets, etc. You can create a class anchor chart on the page provided.  You might even think about using the real life picture of the wolf in the download. This can get the students to begin thinking of more interesting words for animals (fierce, mighty, strong, etc).
• Then, pass out the individual brainstorm pages. Students can use the anchor chart as a guide to begin their own word choice pages about their animal. This might be a good partner activity as well.

Lesson 8: Writing Sketch for the Animal Research Project

• Next, you can model the writing sketch planner for your class.
• One idea to help your students narrow down all of the information they have learned about their animals is to give them a specific number of animals facts that they can focus on.
• Each of these facts can serve as the actual text that they will put on each page of their animal research book. Or the facts could serve as a focus for each paragraph in their writing.
• You might find that this would be a good mini-lesson to do with smaller groups of children.

Lesson 9: Creating a Table of Contents

• Another idea that can be a writing planner AND a page in their animal research book is the table of contents. Pull out one of the Table of Contents pages from the resources provided and model how to fill in the blanks on each page.
• This page will then serve as their Table of Contents (with a focus discussion on what that is and the purpose it serves) and also their writing planner so they know what they will put in the pages of their booklet.

Lesson 10: Creating a Glossary

• There are two pages provided in the resources that might help your students to learn to pull out topic specific words to put into a glossary for the end of their animal research book.
• Be sure to model how you would like for your students to use these organizers (keeping in mind that you may need to copy more than one page if there are more words than the page provides for).
• If your students need a refresher on ABC order check out these links for some added practice/review: ABC Order Task Cards & Fry Word ABC Order Task Cards

Lesson 11: Writing Your Animal Research

• You will decide on the best method for your students to showcase their published animal research.
• You may want your students to use their own creativity in the texts that they write and share. If you’d like a first experience to provide a bit more guidance, we have provided two different sets of pages for booklets.
• One is more guided and the other has less structure and smaller lines for more writing.  15 pages are provided so that you or students can pick what fits their needs.
• This “lesson” may actually become a series of lessons if you choose to model how each page can be used.  (We have also included a page with simple writing lines in case students need less guidance than the booklet pages provided.)

Lesson 12: Labeling Pictures

• One final lesson idea that pairs well with writing informational text is to teach your students how to label pictures.
• Since most nonfiction writing has real photographs, students can find some pictures online to print out and label for their booklet.  Hand-drawn pictures are also great if you would rather encourage some or all of your students in that direction.
• Whatever you choose, show your class how to effectively label a picture so that it teaches the reader more.  You can use the picture of the polar bear provided to model how to add words or even short facts as labels.  (For example if the simple label “fur” wouldn’t add additional information to the book, you might teach them to label it with a short fact such as “dense fur protects the animal’s skin from the weather”.
• To make this idea more user friendly, you might want them to use the page of blank white boxes provided to write their labels for their pictures.  Then all they need to do is cut them out and glue them to a printed picture.

Investigating Animals: Using Nonfiction for Inquiry-based Research

• Resources & Preparation
• Instructional Plan
• Related Resources

Young children are fascinated with the world around them, showing intense interest and curiosity about animals and their lives. Through the use of nonfiction, students can be encouraged and challenged to learn more about favorite animals and to document their findings with graphic organizers. Students begin their inquiry by comparing fiction and nonfiction books about animals, using a Venn diagram. They list things they want to know about animals on a chart. As a class, students vote on an animal to research. They revise their question list, and then research the animal using prompts from an online graphic organizer. After several sessions of research, students revisit their original questions and evaluate the information they have gathered. Finally, students revise and edit their work and prepare to present their findings to an authentic audience.

Featured Resources

Animal Inquiry Interactive: Students can use this online to tool to help them focus and organize their research about animals.

From Theory to Practice

This lesson focuses on teaching primary students doing research with nonfiction, informational material how to document their discoveries. In her Planning for Inquiry: It's Not an Oxymoron! , Diane Parker poses a series of questions that make inquiry-based learning seem essential for elementary grade students: "Do we want them simply to memorize facts and procedures in order to pass a test? Or do we want them to want to know, to seek to know, and ultimately, to understand themselves and their world more deeply as a result of their knowing?" (5). Certainly our youngest students deserve the kinds of richly engaging learning experiences that well-designed inquiry instruction can bring them. Further Reading

Common Core Standards

This resource has been aligned to the Common Core State Standards for states in which they have been adopted. If a state does not appear in the drop-down, CCSS alignments are forthcoming.

State Standards

This lesson has been aligned to standards in the following states. If a state does not appear in the drop-down, standard alignments are not currently available for that state.

NCTE/IRA National Standards for the English Language Arts

• 1. Students read a wide range of print and nonprint texts to build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world; to acquire new information; to respond to the needs and demands of society and the workplace; and for personal fulfillment. Among these texts are fiction and nonfiction, classic and contemporary works.
• 3. Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics).
• 4. Students adjust their use of spoken, written, and visual language (e.g., conventions, style, vocabulary) to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different purposes.
• 7. Students conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and questions, and by posing problems. They gather, evaluate, and synthesize data from a variety of sources (e.g., print and nonprint texts, artifacts, people) to communicate their discoveries in ways that suit their purpose and audience.
• 12. Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., for learning, enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange of information).

Materials and Technology

• Access to the Internet
• LCD Projector for full-class use of online Interactives
• Quality nonfiction, informational picture books and videos
• Chart tablets, journals, markers, and other writing materials

Preparation

• Bookmark the Websites about animals from the Resources section as well as any other sites of your choosing.
• Assemble supplies listed above. Ask your school librarian for help gathering books and videos. The Nature Series videos such as “A First Look” distributed by Diamond Entertainment Corporation and the National Geographic Kids videos series are good options.
• Prepare a chart with the heading: “What We Wonder about Animals.” Students will later add headings and supporting questions to define the scope of their research.
• Choose an audience so that the students have a clear idea of exactly who they will be sharing their findings with. Examples might include visitors to a science fair, family members at an open house, and another class of grade-level students. Good writing comes when children research and write on a topic they care about for an authentic and interested audience with whom they want to share their findings.
• Arrange for adult volunteers to serve as scribes or keyboardists as needed.
• Because the Animal Inquiry student interactive will not allow students to save work, for the research phase of the project, print out blank forms from the interactive. Click the Print tab on the opening page and choose the pages you want to print. You can also record these headings and supporting questions on your “What We Wonder about Animals” chart. This will be the basis for the graphic organizers students will create using the interactive to document the findings of their research.
• For a few days before beginning the inquiry lesson, give students an opportunity to experience a variety of informational texts through a genre study of nonfiction by exploring nonfiction, informational texts about animals during read alouds, shared reading, guided reading, and independent reading during reading workshop.
• Test the Animal Inquiry student interactive on your computers to familiarize yourself with the tool and ensure that you have the Flash plug-in installed. You can download the plug-in from the technical support page.

Student Objectives

Students will

• identify the characteristics of nonfiction texts.
• pose questions.
• participate in research.
• document and record discoveries.
• share their findings.

Session 1: Introducing the Genre and Beginnings of Inquiry

• Share a fiction book about animals, such as The Three Bears or The Three Little Pigs , with the class .
• Ask students to compare and contrast this type of fictional book about animals with the nonfiction books from recent reading workshop sessions. Have some nonfiction books on hand for prompting or verifying student responses with concrete examples.
• True versus make-believe
• Facts versus fiction (stories)
• Photographs and sketches versus drawings, collage, and paintings
• Working as a whole group, decide on the questions students want to explore to learn more about real animals. At this point, the questions need to be general, not specific to any one animal.
• Record students’ questions on the chart, under the “What We Wonder about Animals” heading. Usually questions will include questions about what an animal looks like, how it moves and acts, what it eats, where it lives, what its babies are like, etc.

Session 2: Defining the Scope of the Investigation

• Workings as a whole-class, choose an animal to study. Encourage the students to think of animals that they would really like to know more about and have them discuss various animals they might choose.
• Record the list as students brainstorm animals which they have a sincere interest in investigating.
• Give students small pieces of paper and have them sketch or write about the animal they would choose to investigate.
• Make a graph of the votes, and select the animal with the most votes as that which the class will investigate together.
• Review the “What We Wonder about Animals” questions generated during the previous session.
• Ask students if there are any questions they want to add now that they have selected a specific animal, or any questions that they want to eliminate or change. Revise the list according to their responses.
• On an Internet-connected computer with an LCD projector, lead students through a demonstration of the Animal Inquiry student interactive .
• Use the prompts built into the interactive to organize and refine the questions from the “What We Wonder about Animals” chart.
• Be sure students understand how the interactive works since they will be using it during a future session.

Sessions 3–5: Participating in Research

• With students, begin to sort through the books, Websites, and other materials you have collected, and choose those that contain information about your chosen animal.
• If desired, take a trip to the library to collect more information about the animal, introducing students to the process of collecting quality sources. Consult ReadWriteThink Lesson Research Building Blocks: Hints about Print for support in working with students on issues such as these.
• From the very beginning of the research process, emphasize the importance of audience so students have a clear picture of who their audience will be. If several classes are doing animal investigations, it is fun to share the results and be one another’s audiences.
• Help your students understand the needs and interests of their audience, thinking of ways they can choose to present their findings effectively. See ReadWriteThink lesson Teaching Audience Through Interactive Writing for support in teaching students about audience.
• Different groups of readers can explore various texts in guided reading or during paired or individual reading time.
• Help students record information that they find in the appropriate boxes on previously printed-out blank sheets from the Animal Inquiry student interactive. An adult volunteer can help with this process as well.
• As you share the nonfiction, informational texts you have collected, have students record their discoveries. Record from these readings and from students’ other research on their sheets.
• Explore appropriate videos and Websites and record this information as well.
• During the fourth session, have students look at what they have recorded and assess their progress so far.
• What information still needs to be collected?
• Are any boxes still empty?
• Is this information you want to keep hunting for or is this something you are no longer interested in or want to include on your chart?
• What information is interesting, but doesn’t really fit in any boxes?
• Did you find any information that contradicted information you had already recorded?
• How could you find out which is correct?
• The focus of an investigation can change during the course of research. You may find out things that you didn’t even know about and decide to add new questions that you want to explore.
• You can eliminate questions that aren’t interesting or challenging.
• Sometimes you can’t find the information you are looking for with the sources that you have. You might leave those questions for a later time or you might have to find other sources.
• Sources are not equally reliable. Some may give less than accurate information. You need to see what several good sources say and record details that most sources agree upon as the answer to a question.
• Using their observations to shape the direction of their research, have students decide what still needs to be done, and allow time and support to complete their interactives.
• Use adult volunteers to help students type in their findings using the Animal Inquiry student interactive.
• Encourage students to discuss their findings and report what they have learned through their research.

Session 6: Sharing the Findings

• Ask students how they want their information to look in its final form. Since students will be sharing what they learned with their chosen audience, they need to decide how to revise and edit so that the information can be shared effectively with their audience.
• Display large sheets of chart paper with labeled headings and captions reflecting the graphic organizers filled in with the results of the research. Individual students can use their smaller copies from the interactive for their personal journals and then can illustrate and write about a favorite fact that they learned about their animal. Other options might include art created by the students about the animal that would also be displayed. Adult volunteers can help students copy their writing to the larger charts.
• Have students divide up the information to present orally to their audience, present in small groups, or come up with other ways to share the results of their research.
• Once students have experienced a whole-group investigation of a favorite animal, match each student to a fourth or fifth grade buddy and let each pair research an animal of their choice using the same process. Ensure that the older buddies understand the process your class has used in the whole-group investigation. Provide each pair with the graphic organizers complete with headings and captions that your kindergarten students developed, so everyone understands what is to be researched and how the information will be recorded. Make sure that the pairs have a clear sense of the audience with whom they will be sharing their findings. Older students will be able to identify the steps of the writing process being used and may compare this with their own research writing. Book Buddy Biographies is a similar lesson, pairing students to investigate each other’s backgrounds.
• Three other examples of writing reports can be found in the ReadWriteThink lesson Writing Reports in Kindergarten? Yes!
• Older students can extend the animal study to mathematics with the ReadWriteThink lesson plan Bridging Literature and Mathematics by Visualizing Mathematical Concepts , which uses picture books to talk about size and ratio.

Student Assessment / Reflections

• Encourage students to assess their the processes and evaluate their work on an ongoing basis. Urge them to decide what is going well and what needs further attention.
• At the end of each day, encourage students to reflect on what they learned and accomplished, and to share those thoughts either orally or in their reflection journals.
• Use mini-conferences as you move around the room during independent reading to talk with individuals or pairs as they explore nonfiction texts. Encourage them to share what they found exciting or interesting.
• posing questions
• participating in research
• documenting and recording discoveries
• sharing their findings
• the animal inquiry graphic organizer
• the journals
• the writing
• identifying nonfiction by its characteristics
• using nonfiction to learn about a topic
• using graphic organizers to record and share their findings
• effectively sharing their findings with an audience

This reflection can easily be done as a celebration as students and teacher share what they noticed, felt, discovered, and learned during this lesson, reflecting on what they accomplished and shared. This is a time to CELEBRATE the learning!

• Calendar Activities
• Professional Library
• Student Interactives
• Lesson Plans
• Strategy Guides

This interactive tool allows students to create Venn diagrams that contain two or three overlapping circles, enabling them to organize their information logically.

Add new comment

• Print this resource

Explore Resources by Grade

• Kindergarten K

Please log in to save materials. Log in

• Resource Library
• Animal Characteristic
• English Language Arts
• Google Applications
• Google Classroom
• Presentation

Education Standards

Ohio standards for english language arts.

Learning Domain: Speaking and Listening

Standard: Speak audibly and express thoughts, feelings, and ideas clearly.

Learning Domain: Writing

Standard: Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose informative/explanatory texts that name what is being written about and supply some information about the topic.

Standard: With guidance and support from adults, explore a variety of digital tools to produce and publish writing, including in collaboration with peers.

Standard: Participate in shared research and writing projects (e.g., explore a number of books by a favorite author and express opinions about them).

Ohio Standards for Science

Learning Domain: Life Science

Standard: Living things grow and reproduce. Living things are found worldwide.

Standard: Living things are made up of a variety of structures. Some traits can be observable structures. Some of these structures and behaviors influence their survival.

Animal Anchor Chart

Animal research project google slide, animal research project teacher lesson plan, google kids, kid info-bits, national geographic kids, speaking rubric, lions and tigers and bears oh-my animal research project and google slide presentation for primary students.

Lions and Tigers and Bears OH-my! Help young students practice their research and presentation skills with this fun, hands-on animal research and presentation project. 

Choose Animal

1) Prior to starting this project, you may want partner with your school librarian and/or STEAM teacher. Gather books and other resources to help peak your students interest and help them with their animal research. 

1) Choose an animal that you would like to learn more about. To help you choose:

• Check out the books in our class library.

National Geographic Kids:  https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals/

• Kids Info-bits: https://infohio.org/document-library/item/kids-infobits?passthru=Y

Research Animal

** Before students begin researching it would be beneficial to make sure students have previous knowledge and practice with search techniques. For more information on how to teach this check out INFOhio's research module for teachers:  https://success.infohio.org/module/search-effectively/get-ready

1) In a large group create an anchor chart for students to reference back to during their researching. You could create your own on chart paper or use this digital version: 

Animal Research Anchor Chart

2) Use the following links to research your animal:

Kids InfoBits  https://infohio.org/document-library/item/kids-infobits?passthru=Y

Google Kids https://www.safesearchkids.com/google-kids/#.XQ18qFNKhE5

3) Find the answers to the following questions:

• My animal's name is and an interesting fact.
• My animal lives?
• My animal can?
• My animal has?
• Why I chose this animal?

Create Animal Presentation

4) Complete the Google Slide presentation and make it your own.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Q1eT5C01MFq8EDgUb034cS79H-tRl_qhYVJEuM_MnzQ/edit?usp=sharing

• Change the title to represent your animal.
• Change the image.
• Add your name.
• Complete the sentence.
• Add a sentence or two of your own.
• Change the image. 
• Challenge yourself by adding additional slides that tell interesting facts about your animal.

Present Animal to Classmates

Help students practice speaking skills. You may find this free rubric TPT download made by Apples and Bananas Education helpful. 

5) Practice reading and presenting your presentation. Remember to look at presentation rubric to help you prepare. 

Extension Activity

1) To extend this lesson further partner with your schools Librarian, art teaher and/or STEAM teacher and have students create a model of their animal to use with their presentation. Provide a variety of materials for students to use. A quick google search will provide examples to help get your students creative juices flowing. 

1) Use resources provided to create a model of your animal.

Firstieland - First Grade Teacher Blog

Where learning feels like play.

Animal Habitats – A First Grade Research Project

Learning about animal habitats in first grade is always a fun and exciting activity.  Students love learning about different animals and this lesson makes it even more engaging when they get to build their own habitat!

Page Contents

What Is A Habitat?

To begin, we needed to understand the definition of a habitat and the animals that lived in the different habitats around the world. We watched a couple of short videos on Youtube to help us set the stage.

Choosing An Animal To Research

Pre-Writing Activities

Building Our Animal Habitats

Our Completed Animal Habitats

Writing Our Reports

This site contains affiliate links. This means that if you purchase something using this link we will receive a very small portion of the sale. The price of the item purchased remains the same whether you use an affiliate link or not. We will only recommend products and resources that we believe will be of value to our customers. By using our affiliate link you are helping to support this website and we genuinely appreciate your support!

Instagramland

Facebookland

Firstieland

Pinterestland

Privacy overview.

Enjoy this blog? Please spread the word :)

• Skip to main content
• Skip to primary sidebar
• Amazon Favorites
• Search this website

A Dab of Glue Will Do

Little Learners, Big Ideas

PS PK K 1 2

Animal Habitats

I'd love it if you shared!

• Pinterest 1.3K

Our students are fascinated by animals. They love exploring everything about them and get excited when they learn all about their differences and similarities.

As we explore animals around us, we also dive into the various animals around the world. We can’t help but want to learn more about these creatures that roam the earth with us.

We begin talking about animals as we learn our letters with these Animal Alphabet Letter Crafts . We learn a little more about animals with our Habitats Puzzles . And to make our field trip to the zoo an enjoyable learning experience, we turn it into a fun game with a Zoo Scavenger Hunt .

We get our creative juices flowing creating adorable animal art projects to decorate our room like this Penguin Puffy Paint Craft and Polar Bear Craft .

Studying and finding out interesting facts about animals gets students learning without even realizing they’re learning .

So that we can learn more about all the amazing animals in the world and the way they live, I’ve created this Animal Habitats Science Unit . Our students can learn and research about 7 different animal habitats in a hands-on way.

Be sure to take a look at our Animal Studies Holiday Bundle to bring the holidays, animals, and science together.

Your class will be engaged as we dig into learning all about 7 animal habitats: Arctic, Freshwater, Rainforest, Desert, Forest, Ocean, and Grasslands habitats.

This Animal Habitats Science Unit is perfect for science in Preschool, Kindergarten, First Grade, and Second Grade classrooms and packed full of intriguing science activities.

This habitats study is great for your unit studies, kids craft activities, and homeschoolers!

Inside You Will Find:

– Science Lesson Plans for one to three weeks – Habitat Vocabulary Posters – 15 pages – Habitat Introduction PowerPoint – 17 pages – Habitat Introduction Posters (exact same as PowerPoint above) – 17 pages – Interactive Habitat Book – 14 pages – Book of Habitats – 8 pages – Book of Habitats (2 versions and 2 per page) – 16 pages – Habitat Research Project – 3 pages – Animal Research Project – 2 pages – Large Picture Animal Habitat Sort (with real pictures) – 21 pages Each habitat has the following: – PowerPoint – 15 pages – Posters (exact same as PowerPoint above) – 15 pages -Triorama – 1 page – Habitat Vocabulary Posters – 6 pages – In the _____ I See Emergent Reader – 7 pages – Describe the Animal Bubble Map – 7 pages – Animal Sort Worksheet – 1 page

Getting the Animal Habitats Science Unit Ready 

• paper  or cardstock
• laminating pouches
• double-sided tape ,  adhesive magnetic strips , or stapler
• vis-a-vie markers

After you purchase this activity and download it , I recommend that you print these out on cardstock and laminate them so it can be used year after year.

This science resource is full of an assortment of activities and centers. Therefore, preparation will vary. Below is a brief rundown of each component in the Animal Habitats Science Unit .

Science Lesson Plans for the Week

Throughout the one to three weeks, students will complete different science activities about 7 animal habitats.

Students will learn about animal habitats: Arctic, Freshwater, Rainforest, Desert, Forest, Ocean, and Grasslands habitats.

Students will  compare and contrast the differences and similarities in the 7 different habitats and the animals that live in these habitats.

When students are done with this science unit, they are able to show what they know by writing expository text in their interactive Habitats Book, Habitat Research Project, and Animal Research Project.

Habitat PowerPoint and Posters

There is a seventeen page PowerPoint that introduces students to animal habitats using scientific photographs.

Vocabulary Posters

There are fifteen different words with definitions on posters to help students better understand key vocabulary words about habitats.

Interactive Habitat book

This unit also includes a fourteen-page interactive book to help students learn different facts about each of the habitats. They are able to put this book together themselves along with coloring and drawing on the pages to make it their very own.

Book of Animal Habitats 

Students will put together a book about animal habitats. In this book, they will complete 4 different sentences for each habitat to describe their characteristics. There is a smaller half-page version of the book if you’d like to make it smaller or save your ink. You can print the large size for a completed display for your students and give them each the smaller version to create their own.

Large picture Animal Sort

Your little scientists will be given a large picture with each habitat and colorful pictures of the different animals. They will place each animal on the picture of the habitat they belong to.

This twenty-one-page sort is a fun way for students to show their mastery of animal habitats .

Each animal habitat comes with a template so kids can make a triorama of the habitat you are working on. This craftivity is the perfect visual for students to learn more about these habitats with manipulatives.

I See Emergent Reader 

Each habitat has an “In the _____ I See” Emergent Reader for your little learners to put together. The book has 7 pages total with 6 pages of real pictures of different animals belonging to each habitat.

Describe the Animal Bubble Map 

Inside you’ll find 7 animal bubble maps for each habitat. There are 6 different animals and one blank one for students to draw their own animal matching each particular animal habitat.

Animal Sort Worksheets

Students will be able to color, cut, and glue animals onto each of the corresponding habitats. This is an enjoyable way for your class to show what they know while working on fine motor skills .

Animal Research Project 

This research project is perfect for studying about an animal your students found interesting or an animal that fits in with different units you may be studying.

Students will research the animal chosen’s appearance, habitat, behaviors, diet, predators, and adaptations. There is also a source page so students can gain the experience of citing where they found their information.

Habitat Research Project 

At the end of your Animal Habitat Science Unit, your students will be ready for the challenge of completing an Animal Habitat  research project and do some simple expository writing .

This book will allow students to apply all they have learned during the week as their culminating project .

Students will research a habitat’s location, weather, plants, animals, adaptations, and some WOW facts. Like the animal research project, there is also a source page so students can gain even more experience citing where their information was found.

Download this Animal Habitats Science Unit

Are you ready to implement this into your classroom or home?

Get it in Our A Dab of Glue Will Do Store

Get it in Our Teachers Pay Teachers Store

Your kids can learn about animals all year long with our Animal Studies Endless Growing Bundle.  It has 15+ complete animal studies, and it’s still growing! Plus, when you purchase them together, you’ll save yourself some money!

You and your students will become enthralled with this in-depth science unit study of Animal Habitats.

Want More Science Ideas? 

If you are looking for more science ideas, activities, and printables be sure to check out our Endless Science Mega Bundle .

If you can’t find a resource that you would LOVE to have for your classroom,  Contact me  and I would be happy to make it for you.

You May Also Enjoy These Posts

Reader Interactions

April 19, 2022 at 4:56 am

Best view i have ever seen !

[…] explore where and how they live and the similarities and differences in their habitats. And we bring animals and literacy together with our Animal Alphabet Letter Crafts. This is a […]

[…] are amazed by the vast differences in animal habitats. As we dive into our habitats science unit we talk about food […]

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed .

Animal Research in First Grade Is Perfect for Spring Lesson Plans

by Creation Castle | Science , Reading , Seasonal , Writing

Easter is a time when many people think about rabbits, and it’s a great opportunity to teach young children about these fascinating creatures. But instead of just focusing on the Easter bunny, why not take the opportunity to delve deeper into the world of rabbits and learn about their unique characteristics and behavior through animal research?

Rabbits are often thought of as cute and cuddly pets, but they are actually complex and intelligent animals. For example, did you know that they are known to be fast learners and can be trained to do tricks and even use the bathroom in a designated area? My family had a pet rabbit growing up – in fact, she started out as a pet for my mom’s classroom! She was super sweet and loved to interact with us.

Quick Links

Learning about rabbits through simple research.

Teaching first graders how to conduct simple research about rabbits can be a fun and educational activity. Research skills are important for children to learn at an early age, as they will be expected to do research projects throughout their academic careers. Here are some steps you can follow to teach your first graders how to conduct some simple research about rabbits

Introduce the Concept and Choose Research Topics

Explain to your students that research is when we learn about a topic by looking for information from different sources.

Choose a topic for your students to research, such as rabbits. Start by asking your students what they already know about rabbits. You can guide the discussion and provide some background information on rabbits, such as their habitat, diet, and physical characteristics. Consider creating a KWL chart or schema chart together.

Gather Animal Research Questions to Answer

Encourage your students to think of questions they have about rabbits. Write these questions down on your KWL chart or board for all students to see. Some examples might include: “What do rabbits eat?”, “Where do rabbits live?”, and “What do rabbits look like?”

Find Sources and Conduct Animal Research

Discuss with your students the different types of sources they can use to find answers to their questions. These might include books, websites, videos, or people who know about the topic (such as a local veterinarian). Check with your librarian to see if your school subscribes to sources like Britannica Kids or NatGeo Kids. You can also direct your students to use safe search engines to conduct their research .

Have your students work in pairs or small groups to find answers to their questions. Encourage them to use different sources and compare the information they find to make sure it is accurate and reliable.

Present Animal Research to Class

Have students share their findings with the class. You could have them present their research in a variety of ways, such as through a poster, a PowerPoint presentation, or a short oral report. To add a little creativity to their research students could create an art project such as a painting or play dough

Encourage students to use what they have learned to create a final product, such as a book about rabbits or a puppet show. This will give them a chance to use their creativity and apply what they have learned.

Teaching first graders to research animals is a great way to help them develop important research and critical thinking skills while learning about different animal species. By following these steps, you can help your students become proficient researchers and develop a deeper understanding of the world around them.

Creation Castle

Heather is the author of Creation Castle. She has experience with general education, special education, and ESL students in kindergarten through fifth grade. She specializes in early elementary math and literacy, as well as organization.

• Creation Castle #molongui-disabled-link Why Reading Logs are Actually Perfect for Goal-Oriented Students
• Creation Castle #molongui-disabled-link Why Student Memory Books are the Best Way to End the School Year
• Creation Castle #molongui-disabled-link 10 Essential Pages for the Best End Of Year Memory Books
• Creation Castle #molongui-disabled-link A Useful Guide To Kindergarten Assessments With A New Freebie

Recent Posts

• Share on Facebook
• Tweet This Resource
• Pin This Resource

Animal Research Project

First graders are introduced to the topic of researching by the librarian. Using a worksheet, they use various sources in the library to choose one animal from various groups. They complete a fact sheet on each animal and report their findings to the class.

Start Your Free Trial

Save time and discover engaging curriculum for your classroom. Reviewed and rated by trusted, credentialed teachers.

• Collection Types
• Activities & Projects
• Assessments
• Graphics & Images
• Handouts & References
• Interactives
• Lab Resources
• Learning Games
• Lesson Plans
• Presentations
• Primary Sources
• Printables & Templates
• Professional Documents
• Study Guides
• Instructional Videos
• Performance Tasks
• Graphic Organizers
• Writing Prompts
• Constructed Response Items
• AP Test Preps
• Lesson Planet Articles
• Online Courses
• Interactive Whiteboards
• Home Letters
• Unknown Types
• Stock Footages
• All Resource Types

See similar resources:

Animal migrations, fact vs. opinion, animal husbandry, animal adventures: challenge activities (theme 6), what do i want to research, animal adults and babies, ocean animals - a kindergarten research project, animal adventurers - animal research reports, animal matchmakers, animal bingo.