The Zoo Literature Focus Unit

Suzanne Reed

Literature Selections Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears: A

West African Tale by Verna Aardema

Fly, Eagle, Fly: An African Tale by

Christopher Gregorowski

Anansi the Spider: A Tale from the

Ashanti by Gerald McDermott

African Savanna (One Small Square) by

Donald M. Silver

Too Much Talk: A West African Folktale by

Angela Shelf Medearis

Jambo Means Hello: Swahili Alphabet

Book by Muriel L. Feelings

Honey... Honey... Lion! by Jan Brett

Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters: An African Tale

(Picture Puffin) by John Steptoe

Lions at Lunchtime (Magic Tree House, No.

11) by Mary Pope Osborne

Bill and Pete Go Down the Nile

(Paperstar) by Tomie dePaola

Along the Luangwa: A Story of an African

Floodplain (Nature Conservancy Habitat) by

Schuyler Bull

Pilot Series- Natures Deadliest

The African Elephant

The African Lion

The Cape Buffalo

The Hippopotamus

We All Went on Safari: A Counting Journey

through Tanzania by Laurie Krebs

Swahili Phrase Book by Lonely Planet

Lions Share - The Story of a Serengeti Pride

by Jeanette Handby

African Animal Alphabet

by Beverly Joubert, Dereck Joubert

Face to Face with Lions

by Beverly Joubert, Dereck Joubert

Tall blondes : a book about giraffes Lynn

Sherr.

Giraffes Emilie U. Lepthien.

Africa Is Not A Country by Anne Sibley

O'Brien

We All Went on Safari (Travel the World) by

Laurie Krebs

Galimoto (Reading Rainbow Book) by Karen

Lynn Williams

The Perfect Orange: A Tale from Ethiopia

(Toucan Tales Series ; Vol. 2) by Frank P.

Araujo

Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain (Reading

Rainbow Books) by Verna Aardema

Anansi and the Talking Melon by Eric A.

Kimmel

Anansi and the Moss-covered Rock by Eric

A. Kimmel

In the Small, Small Night by Jane Kurtz

Pulling the Lion's Tail by Jane Kurtz

Why The Sky Is Far Away: A Nigerian

Folktale by Mary-Joan Gerson

A South African Night by Rachel Isadora

Pretty Salma: A Little Red Riding Hood Story

from Africa by Niki Daly

Once Upon a Time by Niki Daly

Bintou's Braids by Sylviane A. Diouf

Double Delight: Opposites Mary Novick

Class Two at the Zoo Julia Jarman

Brown at the Zoo Christiann C. Jones

Baby Beebee Bird Diane Redfield Massie

The Happy Lion Louise Fatio

Dear/Deer Gene Barretta

That’s Good! That’s Bad! Margery Cuyler

Welcome to the Zoo! Alison Jay

Peek-a-Zoo! Marie Cimarusti

Pssst! Adam Rex

Mr. Peek and the Misunderstanding at the

Zoo Kevin Waldron

You and Me: We’re Opposites Harriet Ziefeit

Always Lots of Heinis at the zoo Ayun

Halliday

The Passover Zoo Seder Daniel Guttman

Who’s New at the Zoo Susan Knoph

Birthday Zoo Deborah Lee Rose

Zoo Suzy Lee

When Lulu went to the Zoo Andy Ellis

Zoo Band Jill Donahue

Madagascar Series Erica David

Zoo dos and Don’ts Todd Parr

Who’s In the Zoo? Susan Chandler

My trip to the Zoo Mercer Mayer

My School’s a Zoo Stu Smith

Zoo Picnic Matt Mitter

Christmas at the Zoo Up with Paper

The Great Escape for the City Zoo Riddle

Zoo Let Out Night Edith Downs Saur

64 ZooLane Series An Vrombaut (6 books)

The Secret Zoo #2 secrets & Shodows Bryan

Chick

And Tando makes Three Justin Richardson

My heart is Like a Zoo Michael Hall

A Thief at National Zoo #9 Ron Roy

Valentine Zoo Roger Priddy

Animal Strike at the Zoo: It’s True! Karma

Wilson

Stop Snoring Bernard Zachariah O’Hora

Let’s Go to the Zoo Readers Digest-Little

People

Swing Like a Monkey Simms Taback

A Day at the Zoo Sarah Harrison

The Math Zoo Patrica Whitehouse

Adding it Up at the Zoo Judy Nayer

My Visit to the Zoo J.M. Parramn

Africa-The Serengeti George Casey

Who Scoops Elephant poo at the Zoo?

Margie Markariah

Zoo in the Sky: A Book of Animal

Constellations

Curious George Visits the Zoo

123 to the Zoo

If Anything Ever Goes Wrong at the Zoo Mary

Hendrick

I want to be a Zookeeper Dan Liebman

Zoo Gail Gibbons

Rumble in the Jungle Giles Andreae

Dear Zoo Rod Campel

Going to the Zoo Tom Paxton

Zoo Animals Brian Wildsmith

Never, Ever Shout in a Zoo Karma Wilson

Good Night, Gorilla Peggy Rathmann

Life Size Zoo Kristin Earhart T’was the Day Before Zoo Day Cathrine

Ipcizade

If I Ran the Zoo Dr. Seuss

Color Zoo Lois Ehlert

Eric Carle’s Opposites

Zoo Looking Men Fox

From Head to Toe Big Book Eric Carle

A Sick Day For Amos McGee Philip Stead

The Secret Zoo: Riddles and Dangers Bryan

Chick

The Zoo Crew #14 Nancy Drew’s Clue Crew

Zoozical Judy Sierra

Weekly Readers Early Learner Series

National Geographic Society for Young

Explorers Series

Theme Study

• Students will take part in a thematic unit on Zoos and Zoo Animals. This unit will integrate reading, writing, social studies, science, mathematics, art, music and physical education.

• Students will develop an understanding of how Zoos operate, what types of animals live there and the natural habitats of zoo animals. They will also study various countries and people groups.

Language Ar ts: Reading Activities

• Students will read various fiction and nonfiction books. There will many different

genres available for them to read. The students will read books in various formats

such as read to self, read with a par tner, read aloud, guided reading, and readers

theatre.

• Students will read stories that they have written about animals and the day they

went to the Zoo. They will also share other pieces of writing that they complete

• Students will share their animal biography with the class.

• Teacher will read aloud “Lions at Lunchtime” Magic Tree House #11 Mary Osborne

Language Arts: Writing Activities

• Students will keep a writers notebook and write about an animal or country that they would like to know more about.

• Students will write a folktale about an animal and how it contributed to nature. We will read “Anansi the Spider” first to show them what I expect of them

• The students will write a letter to the Dakota Zoo asking them if they can come help the workers for an afternoon so they can see what it is like to be a Zookeeper.

• The students will write a brief description about an animal that they are interested in and then we will share them with the class

• Students will write various types of poems

• Students will research a Zoo in any state of their choice and write a persuasive letter to the Principal why we should go visit that Zoo

• The class will pick a stuffed animal to take home for the week and keep a writers log on what they did during the week and what kind of mischief their animal got into and so on.

• Students will add words to the word wall that either relate to zoos, animals, or the different countries that we are exploring

Language Arts: Speaking activities

• Students will play Simon Says using animal sounds • Students will participate in a readers theatre • Students will discuss why they like a particular animal or why they do not

like it • Students will pretend that they are in Africa on a Safari • Students will participate in author chair and share various pieces of

writing • Students will pick a book that is about our topic of study and read aloud

to the class • Students will participate in group discussions as they help each other with

their various writing activities • Students will be required to share one interesting fact. On the topic we are

discussing that day.

LANGUAGE ARTS: VIEWING

ACTIVITIES

• Students will view photos taken from Safaris

• Students will view zoo and African videos

• Students will view animal art projects

• Students will view other students Zoo Maps

• Students will take a trip to the Dakota Zoo and observe the

different kinds of animals that live there

• Students will view the Reader’s Theatre performance

• Students will view the Puppet show

• Students will view the Zoo word wall

• Students will view websites and videos from the internet

Language Arts: Listening Activities

• Students will listen to audio versions of books from the book list • Students will find books to listen to on Tumble Books • Students will listen to various music, from different countries

that the animals come from and animal rock CDs • Students will listen respectfully to their peers as they share

their stories and I wonder statements • Students will listen to the teacher talk about the various animals

at the zoo and what country those animals come from. • They will listen to other special guests when they come to the

classroom and talk about the Zoo and zoo animals • Students will listen to their peers and be respectful of who ever

is sharing at that time

Language Arts: Visually Representing Activities

• Students will draw pictures or take digital photos of the animals

at the zoo

• Students will make zoo animals in Art

• Students will display some of their writing pieces in an artistic

presentation

• Students will create the Zoo Word Wall

• Students will make a collage of animal picture from magazines

and pictures from the internet

• Students will retrieve pictures from the internet to help

present their animal of choice and country

Science Activities

• Students will investigate the climate of each country that we are studying

• Student will research the habitats of their animal of choice • Students will create suitable habitat for their animal based on

the research • The students will graph the climate changes for their animals

particular home • Students will pick a zoo and adopt an animal that they will keep

track of throughout the course and log important events

Mathematic Activities

• Students will compare 3 zoos and then graph the

types and quantity of animals the zoos have

• Students will graph the climate change in the class

country

• Students will measure various animals

Social Studies Activities

• Students will complete a KWL chart about zoos and • Students will identify areas in the world that animals

from the zoos came from on a world map. • Students will create a Venn diagram comparing different

zoos and animals • Students will learn about different countries and their

people groups • Students will learn about folktales and cultural beliefs of

other people groups • Students will learn how to read a map and study the

geography of other countries

Music & Art Activities

• Students will make an animal collage using various art materials

• Students will take pictures of animals at the zoo and title and mount them

• Students will make the classroom look like a jungle • Students will draw an animal of their choice and the

country that it lives in • Student will create an artistic background to mount their

poems on • Students will listen to music without words and decide

which animal it sounds like • Students will listen to other cultural music

Physical Education Activities

• Students will act like animals

• Students will have an animal relay

• Students will play animal 4 corners

• Students will play animal tag

www.kidsites.com www.earthrangers.com/wildwire

kids.nationalgeographic.com/ www.goodsitesforkids.org/Animals.htm

www.kidsknowit.com/ www.kidsbiology.com/animals-for-children.php

www.kidsplanet.org www.factsaboutanimals.net/animal-facts-for-kids.htm

www.aquariumofpacific.org www.sciencekids.co.nz/sciencefacts/animals.html

You Tube clips www.officialusa.com/stateguides/zoos

Language Arts Strategies

Activating background knowledge: students will think what they already know about zoos and animals Brainstorming: students will think of many ideas related to zoos, animals and different countries through writing activities Connecting: students will relate topics to the world around them by journaling and creating weather logs, animal events at various zoos and going on safaris to other countries Predicting & Monitoring: students will predict the daily weather & keep track of weather patterns in a weather log. Also tracking special events of their adopted animal at a particular zoo Playing with language: students will use language creatively through stories, poems, and journals Revising: Students will make changes to written activities Visualizing: Students will draw pictures in their minds

What do I know about Zoos….

What activities can we do to learn about animals…

Print: Students will recognize words on the Zoo &

Animal Word Wall, apply spelling rules

Comprehension: Students will recognize literary

genres of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. Students

will compare & contrast different animals from the

United States and other countries.

Language: Students will apply various skills in their

writing activities: stories, poems, song lyrics, and

letters

References: Students will make Venn diagrams,

graphs, and do research

Study: students will take notes in social studies and

science

Grouping Patterns Large Group: grand conversations, field trips, safari

days, nature walks, outdoor animal activities, building a jungle, building a zoo, singing songs, word wall, reader’s theatre, Venn diagram, country studies, zoo keeper visit, temperatures and adopted animal updates

Small group: peer conferencing, small group discussions, creation of habitats, creating song lyrics, comparing different animals, zoos and countries. Mounting and titling of photographs, math graphs, read with a partner

Individual: writing stories, poems, letters, journal entries, making animal biographies, decorations for jungle, ideas for final zoo mock up, read to self, zoo related math games, research

Assessments o Journal entries & KWL chart: rubric o Participation in grand conversations o Analytical Writing Traits rubrics & peer

conferences for letters, stories and poems

o Informal observation of author’s chair, reader’s theatre, small group science experiments

o Math graphs, Venn diagrams, & Social Studies maps: checklist

o Spelling test with words from the Zoo & Animal Word Wall

o Active participation in physical education & music performances

o Portfolio of art work: pictures of animals, poetry presentations, jungle decorations, mock up of zoo, country study, art work