LEARN NC

K–12 teaching and learning · from the UNC School of Education

Elephant seals on the beach

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/lessons/09/gk2/
migrationseals.html

A lesson plan for Grades K–2 English Language Arts, Visual Arts Education, and Social Studies

Provider: National Geographic

About this resource

Appropriate grades
K–2
Provider
National Geographic

Legal

Creative Commons License

This catalog record is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License. This license applies to the content of this page only and does not apply to the referenced website.

In this Xpeditions lesson, students will consider the fact that northern elephant seals, like many animals, select very different locations for different activities. Adult seals spend most of their time swimming around the northeastern Pacific and feeding in deep waters, but they come to shore twice a year to breed, give birth, and molt. Since it's much easier to observe and record elephant seals on the beach than in the ocean, students will concentrate on some of these beach activities by viewing photographs and videos of elephant seals. They will draw pictures pretending they have visited one of the rookery beaches.

North Carolina Curriculum Alignment

Visual Arts Education (2001)

Grade 1

  • Goal 4: The learner will choose and evaluate a range of subject matter and ideas to communicate intended meaning in artworks.
    • Objective 4.02: Create, discuss and/or write simple stories about one's own artwork.

Grade 2

  • Goal 1: The learner will develop critical and creative thinking skills and perceptual awareness necessary for understanding and producing art.
    • Objective 1.08: Recognize that images from reality and from fantasy may be used to create original art.

Kindergarten

  • Goal 4: The learner will choose and evaluate a range of subject matter and ideas to communicate intended meaning in artworks.
    • Objective 4.03: Invent original and personal imagery from observation and imagination to convey meaning and not rely on copying or tracing another's work.

Social Studies (2003)

Grade 1

  • Goal 5: The learner will express geographic concepts in real life situations.
    • Objective 5.02: Investigate key features of maps.
    • Objective 5.03: Use geographic terminology and tools to create representations of the earth's physical and human features through simple maps, models, and pictures.

Grade 2

  • Goal 5: The learner will understand the relationship between people and geography in various communities.
    • Objective 5.01: Define geography and use geographic terms to describe landforms, bodies of water, weather, and climate.
    • Objective 5.05: Interpret maps, charts, and pictures of locations.

Kindergarten

  • Goal 5: The learner will express basic geographic concepts in real life situations.
    • Objective 5.02: Create and interpret simple maps, models, and drawings of the home, school, and other environments.

English Language Arts (2004)

Grade 1

  • Goal 4: The learner will apply strategies and skills to create oral, written, and visual texts.
    • Objective 4.03: Use specific words to name and tell action in oral and written language (e.g., using words such as frog and toad when discussing an expository text).
    • Objective 4.06: Compose a variety of products (e.g., stories, journal entries, letters, response logs, simple poems, oral retellings).

Grade 2

  • Goal 4: The learner will apply strategies and skills to create oral, written, and visual texts.
    • Objective 4.06: Plan and make judgments about what to include in written products (e.g., narratives of personal experiences, creative stories, skits based on familiar stories and/or experiences).
    • Objective 4.07: Compose first drafts using an appropriate writing process:
      • planning and drafting.
      • rereading for meaning.
      • revising to clarify and refine writing with guided discussion.
    • Objective 4.08: Write structured, informative presentations and narratives when given help with organization.

Kindergarten

  • Goal 4: The learner will apply strategies and skills to create oral, written, and visual texts.
    • Objective 4.02: Use words that name and words that tell action in a variety of simple texts (e.g., oral retelling, written stories, lists, journal entries of personal experiences).
    • Objective 4.03: Use words that describe color, size, and location in a variety of texts: e.g., oral retelling, written stories, lists, journal entries of personal experiences.