Arctic Animal Fun
A month-long unit of preschool ideas
for different Arctic animals
Welcome to week four 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 4: Snowy Owl
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 three weeks, we started out by skimming through the book, What Lives in the Arctic?. This book gives some brief information for a handful of arctic animals with lovely photographs of each animal. This week I only focused on the details for the snowy owl.
Our main books for the class were:
A Snowy Owl Story by Melissa Kim is a story of a snowy owl who lives in the Arctic tundra. We see how she is looking for food to eat, but there isn't enough so she flies south. She ends up in a city where she finally finds a building she is comfortable in. The people see her and are worried, so they catch her and take her to a snowy field where she spends the winter. Then she returns home in the spring.
I used the other two books to share facts about the snowy owl. They both had wonderful photographs on one page of a double page spread, and information given in simple sentences, in large font, on the opposite page.
The first Snowy Owls book is from a series titled: Animals That Live in the Tundra. The author is Roman Patrick. The second, also titled Snowy Owls is by Melissa Hill.
Craft
We then made our Toilet Paper Roll Snowy Owls that I shared about in last week's Littles Learning Link Up.
Math Lesson
We learned how big a snowy owl was by measuring paper and attaching it to the wall. Did you know a snowy owl can get up to 28 inches tall, and it has a wingspan of five feet?!?
We also compared the children's heights to that of the snowy owl. I think the children were amazed that the snowy owl is almost as tall as they are.
A big hug from the paper snowy owl.
Science Lesson/Activity
We talked about the wonderful sight and hearing of the snowy owl. We learned that a snowy owl can even find prey under the snow. We discussed the fact that the snowy owl's favorite prey are the lemming and the meadow vole. Then they used a magnifying glass to hunt for them among other artic animals on a sheet I created.
I found pictures of arctic animals online and put copied them into my word processing program. Then I shrunk them down to various sizes and spread them across the page.
They were to circle the lemmings and the voles.
Then we used our sense of sight again to match arctic animals to their shadows to make an "Arctic Animal Shadow Match" booklet.
I just used the pictures I found and printed them out on one side of a paper, then I cut one paper out to use as a template and cut those shapes out of black paper.
As you may notice, I only used the animals we have learned about so far.
Some chose to mirror the animal, others did as I did and had them face the same direction.
Songs
We sang our "Did You Ever See a Polar Bear?" song which we sang the first two weeks, but this week I also added a verse for the walrus.
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.
And I came up with something that was more of a chant than a song. We had motions to go with this one too.
Snowy Owl
by Karen Waide
by Karen Waide
Snowy owl, snowy owl
Flap arms like wings
Way up in the air.
Point up in the air.
Snowy owl, snowy owl
Flap arms like wings
What do you see up there?
Shade eyes and look up
Snowy owl, snowy owl
Flap arms like wings
Did you find some lunch?
Shrug shoulder with arms up, questioning
Snowy owl, snowy owl
Flap arms like wings
There’s a lemming to munch.
Put hand to mouth and pretend to chew
We again ended our class time with the following finger play, also from the book I'm a Little Teapot!: Presenting Preschool Storytime compiled by Jane Cobb.
Dressing for Winter Weather
Let’s put on our mittens
put on mittens
And button up our coat
button coat
Wrap a scarf snugly
throw scarf around neck
Around our throat.
Tug one end down
Pull on our boots now
pull on boots with both
hands
Fasten the straps
fasten with fingers
And tie on tightly
Our warm winter caps
pull on cap and tie
Then open the door
turn doorknob and pull
And out we go
step through pretend door
Into the soft and feathery
snow
look up and pretend to
catch snow
Stop by next week for the lesson on whales.
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