How Can I Take Care of Living Things Through the Year?

• In this module, students will learn about weather patterns, different seasons, and what certain animals do to survive as seasons change.
• Students will add to a journal every day and practice their reading, writing, and problem solving skills.
  

Positives

• This multi-day lesson ends with a project where students are given a choice board with projects appropriate for different types of learners.
• The use of music, poems, and humor in this module make it very enjoyable for young learners!

Additional Prerequisites

• The first video on Day 1 does not play and the link for "Think About: The Squirrel's Busy Year" goes to a blank screen.
• When watching the "Family Fun Connections: Animal Homes and Nests" video, students may need the text read to them. This is a very text-heavy video.
• The video on slide 20 is for students to familiarize themselves with the tune of "This Old Man" to sing the weather song to that tune.
• The video link on slide 14 and 33 for the read-aloud, "A Moose This Year" does not work.
  
• The video on slide 25 does not play but students can complete the "Problem and Solution" game if you explain the terms first.
  
• Students should know what a bar graph is and how to read one.

Differentiation

• For the KWL chart, students may need prompting to form relevant questions for the wonder portion and can look back at their journal pages when it is time to remember what they learned.
• It may be beneficial to have a mercury thermometer or a picture of one to help students understand how to read them after watching the "Be a Weather Watcher" video.
  
• After reading "Red Robin," students can draw pictures of the birds in each stage discussed in the book, from hatching to migration.
• For the missing words in the song activity on slide 20, some students may need to tell a teacher or other adult the missing words verbally, rather than writing them in the blanks.
• When talking about habitats, students can discuss how actions of people affect animal habitats, such as cutting down trees, overfishing, etc. Students can discuss what they can do to protect animal habitats.
• After making the weather graph, students can answer questions to practice reading a bar graph. For example, which type of weather happened the most?
• When keeping track of the weather, students can also check the temperature at the same time every day or they can check a weather website to see the highest or lowest temperature for the day and track that. Then, with some assistance, students can make a line graph to demonstrate the temperature pattern throughout the week.