Animals move!

This plan introduces students to the different ways animals move.

A lesson plan for grade K Mathematics

By Michelle Tesiero

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Related topics

• Learn more about biology and life science and science.

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Learning outcomes

Students will:

• discuss the ways that animals move
• accurately represent animal movement
• create a graph of animal movements
• sort the animals by the given trait (type of movement)

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

3 hours

Materials/resources

• chart paper
• markers
• movement cards
• animal picture cards
• floor graph or large pocket graph

Activities

1. Discussion: “Let’s see all the different ways we can move.” Allow a few minutes for free movement. “Now pretend you are an animal and move as that animal would.” Choose a student to model a movement. Have the other students copy the movement.
2. Brainstorm and list all the different ways they know animals move. Introduce new terms at this time. Examples: walk, crawl, slither, gallop, jump, swim, leap and fly. Act out each animal movement listed.
3. “Zip around the Circle”: Make cards with the movement words from step 2 written on them. Ask students to sit in a circle. Give each student one movement card. As students show their cards, the teacher reads the movement and the student will act out the movement and name an animal that moves in such a way.
4. Discussion: How many different ways can a _______ move? Examples: duck, bird, bear, etc. In what ways can animals move that people cannot?
5. Sorting: Have a bag filled with animal pictures and allow each student to select a picture from the bag. Without students knowing the categories, begin grouping them according to how their animal moves (fast or slow). Let the students observe the groupings, and discover the similarities and differences in each group. Discuss which group has more/less.
6. Graphing: Using a floor graph, choose five ways that animals move and label the graph. Using the pictures from step 5, have students place their animal into the proper row that shows how their animal moves. Discuss which row has more, less, or the same. Which is longer, shorter, the same or equal? Which movement is common to more animals? Are there any animals which could go in more than one row?

Assessment

• Observe students choosing proper placement of their animal cards in step 6. Can they put their animal in the correct classification?
• Do students demonstrate the correct movement when given the animal?
• Do they demonstrate the movement according to the directions during step 3?
• Can they read the graph to obtain information?
• Can students create a graph using the information collected in step 4 and 5?
• Can students identify the group of animals that has more, less or the same after sorting them out?
• Can students identify the characteristic by which the animals are sorted?
• Can they sort the animals by the given trait (type of movement)?

Supplemental information

• Videos—Monkey Moves and How the Animals Move
• Book—Pretend You’re a Cat by Jean Marzollo and Jerry Pinkney