Arctic Animal Fun
A month-long unit of preschool ideas
for different Arctic animals
Welcome to the final week of my Arctic Animal Fun unit.
Each week there will be books I recommend to go with each topic, a craft or two, songs, motion rhymes/finger plays, and a fun game to play.
This is the tentative schedule:
Week 5: Narwhal, Orca, Beluga Whale
We continue to start each class with the song "Good Morning to You" plus the snowy songs/fingerplays I found in a book I reviewed last year called I'm a Little Teapot!: Presenting Preschool Storytime compiled by Jane Cobb.
We sang:
Snowflakes
(to the tune of Mary Had a
Little Lamb)
Snowflakes whirling all
around,
all around, all around
Snowflakes whirling all
around,
They are covering the ground.
(The original last line was, "Until they cover all the ground," but it didn't sound quite right to me, so I changed it. We fluttered our fingers all around through the song and spread our arms out for the last line.)
And of course our poem/finger play:
The Snow Fell Softly
The snow fell softly all the
night
flutter fingers downward
It made a blanket soft and
white
spread arms out
It covered houses, flowers and
ground,
make pointed house, finger
flowers, flat hands
But never made a single sound
get quieter and put finger
in front of mouth
The children are doing a great job memorizing this poem.
Then we got into the actual lesson.
Then we got into the actual lesson.
Snowy Owl Lesson
As we did the last four weeks, we started out by skimming through the book, What Lives in the Arctic?. The children enjoyed being reminded of the animals we have already learned about, and guessing which one we would do next.
This book gives some brief information for a handful of arctic animals with lovely photographs of each animal. There was a page for the beluga whale, so we learned about that whale first.
This book gives some brief information for a handful of arctic animals with lovely photographs of each animal. There was a page for the beluga whale, so we learned about that whale first.
Our main books for the class were:
I didn't read all these books to the children, but used some of them to get information on the different whales. After reading What Lives in the Arctic, I read In Arctic Waters, which introduces several arctic animals that live or go into the water. They are playing around the ice and a man comes. I also read Hello, Baby Beluga (which had the baby beluga giving facts about baby belugas) and Wendell the Narwhal (which was completely fictional and is about a whale who thinks it is too loud under the sea and is upset that he can't play "music" like the other animals. He ends up becoming the conductor with, using his tusk to "tap, tap, tap" while the other animals make their sounds. We ran out of time to read Whales Passing, though we looked through Orcas for information.
Craft
We then made our Paper Plate Arctic Whale Wheel that I shared about in last week's Littles Learning Link Up.
Math Lesson
We used a ruler to measure how big the beluga would be.
We realized we had to use the longer wall and beyond (almost to the door) to see how big a orca would be.
Songs
We sang our "Did You Ever See a Polar Bear?" song which we have sung every week, but this week I also added a verse for the whales. I think their favorite part is the verse for the arctic fox. They LOVE creeping this way and that way. There are many giggles while we do this.
Did You Ever See a Polar Bear?
(To the Tune of Did you Ever See a Lassie?)
by Karen Waide
(To the Tune of Did you Ever See a Lassie?)
by Karen Waide
Did you ever see a polar bear
a polar bear, a polar bear
Did you ever see a polar bear
Sliding on the ice?
Sliding this way and that way
Sliding this way and that way
Did you ever see a polar bear
sliding on the ice?
Motions to go with first verse.
Shrug shoulders with hands raised as in questioning for the first three lines.
Then step and slide left and right a few times.
Go back to shrugging for the last line and step to the side one last time.
Did you ever see an arctic fox
an arctic fox, an arctic fox
Did you ever see an arctic fox
following a bear?
Creeping this way and that way
Creeping this way and that way
Did you ever see an arctic fox
following a bear?
Motions to go with second verse.
Shrug shoulders with hands raised as in questioning for the first three lines.
Then put your hands in front of you and pretend to creep.
Then creep quickly left and quickly right on tiptoes.
Then creep quickly left and quickly right on tiptoes.
Go back to shrugging for the last line and finish off by pretending to creep forward.
Did you ever see a walrus
a walrus, a walrus
Did you ever see a walrus
climb on the ice?
Pulling up with their tusks here
Pulling up with their tusks there
Pulling up with their tusks there
Did you ever see a walrus
climb on the ice?
Motions to go with third verse.
Shrug shoulders with hands raised as in questioning for the first three lines.
Then put your hands in front of your face with the index fingers pointing down and pretend to pull up
Then do the same to the left and then to the right
Then do the same to the left and then to the right
Go back to shrugging for the last line and finish off by pretending to pull up with tusks again
Motions to go with fourth verse.
Did you ever see a snowy owl
a snowy owl, a snowy owl
Did you ever see a snowy ow
l
flying up so high?
Flying this way and that way
Flying this way and that way
Did you ever see a snowy owl
flying up so high?
Motions to go with fourth verse.
Shrug shoulders with hands raised as in questioning for the first three lines.
Then put your arms out to the side and pretend to fly. Fly to the left and right while singing "this way and that way."
Go back to shrugging for the last line and finish off by pretending to fly.
Did you ever see beluga
or narwhal or orca
Did you ever see the three
whales
Flipping their tails
flipping this way and that way
Flipping this way and that way
Did you ever see the three
whales
flipping their tails
Motions to go with fifth verse.
Shrug shoulders with hands raised as in questioning for the first three lines.
Then hold up 3 fingers on one hand to show the three whales. Then use one hand to flip back and forth like a tail. Flip to the left and the right, then the left and the right again. Shrug shoulders, then flip hand a couple more times.
Then we really got moving with another song I came up with. We used whale stick puppets I made by printing out pictures of belugas, narwhals, and one orca, attaching them to blue construction paper, and attaching a craft stick to them. Each child had one whale, and they gathered in their groups.
As we sang the verse about their whales, those children swam past me. Then they all swim away from the orca (running all the way around the room). We sang this one many times so everyone who wanted to could have a chance being the orca.
Then we really got moving with another song I came up with. We used whale stick puppets I made by printing out pictures of belugas, narwhals, and one orca, attaching them to blue construction paper, and attaching a craft stick to them. Each child had one whale, and they gathered in their groups.
As we sang the verse about their whales, those children swam past me. Then they all swim away from the orca (running all the way around the room). We sang this one many times so everyone who wanted to could have a chance being the orca.
The
Whales Are in the Sea
(to the tune of The Farmer in
the Dell)
by Karen Waide
The
whales are in the sea
the
whales are in the sea
hi
ho the derry-o
They’re
in the Arctic Sea
Beluga’s
swimming by
Beluga’s
swimming by
hi
ho the derry-o
He’s
in the Arctic Sea
Narwal
joins him there
Narwal
joins him there
hi
ho the derry-o
They’re
in the Arctic Sea
Orca
swims along
Orca
swims along
hi
ho the derry-o.
There’s
danger in the sea
Turn
and swim away
Turn
and swim away
hi
ho the derry-o
Swimming
in the sea
Then we played Musical Icebergs just like we played Musical Pawprints during our polar bear lesson. I just placed pieces of computer paper on the floor, one per child. As the song "Baby Beluga" by Raffi played, they swam around, making sure not to step on the icebergs. I removed one iceberg each time. The child who didn't get on an iceberg had to go and sit at the table.
And that was the conclusion of our Arctic Animals unit.
Stop by next week as we start a short lesson on hibernating animals.
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