What makes a dog a dog

This lesson can be used as a culminating activity to review what students have learned about the parts of a dog (easily adapted to most anything-- plant, fish, sentence, etc.) or as an insight instrument to students' prior knowledge of a subject.

A lesson plan for grade 1 Mathematics

By Teresa Chichester

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Related topics

• Learn more about language arts, mathematics, read-alouds, and sorting.

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Learning outcomes

Students will:

• learn to recall and list verbally the parts of a dog (or chosen subject) based on observations using the senses.
• learn to discriminate between living and non-living subjects.
• learn to create an artistic representation of the parts of a dog.

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

45 minutes

Materials/resources

• chart paper
• markers for the teacher
• markers and/or crayons for the students
• scissors for each student
• glue
• construction paper for each student
• Faux-fur (optional)
• plastic jiggly eyes

Technology resources

At least one Internet capable computer and an Internet server for looking up dogs as a post lesson activity.

Pre-activities

• If this lesson is used as a culminating activity, then the students should have had at least a week of stories with dogs as the main characters or one book that has a dog as an integral part of the plot studied for a week (Language Arts selection No Puppies Today or The Brave Dog).
• Prior lessons on living vs. non-living subjects, such as nature walks when half of the time is spent identifying living subjects and half identifying non-living subjects.

Activities

1. The teacher reviews with the students the story or stories the class has been studying being sure to emphasize the roll of the dog(s) in the plot.
2. The teacher demonstrates closing his/her eyes to “see” with his/her mind’s eye a character from the story other than the dog.
3. The teacher verbalizes each part of the character that can be seen and touched (2 large bony feet,10 funny looking toes, 2 long skinny legs, red, white, and blue swimming trunks, a flat torso, 2 broad shoulders, 2 strong and tanned arms, 2 big hands, 10 long fingers, muscular neck, tanned face, soft, curly blonde hair, 2 blue eyes, etc.) Be sure to demonstrate close examination of the subject.
4. Recalling the attributes named, the teacher will draw on chart paper a picture of the character described.
5. The teacher instructs the students to close their eyes and “see” with their mind’s eye the dog from the story or their favorite dog from one of the stories.
6. The teacher tells the children that just as he/she just described a character from a story, they are now going to describe the dog they “see” in their mind’s eye.
7. As the students, with eyes still shut, raise their hands to be acknowledged by the teacher, they are instructed to begin naming parts at the tip of the dog’s nose working their way to the end of the dog’s tail.
8. The teacher records the students’ responses on the chart paper, giving encouraging remarks to each student’s offering. Record the responses in simple form, including any numbers the students used and the students’ names by their responses to indicate participation.
9. When everyone has given information about the dog, or the dog is complete, tell the students to open their eyes.
10. Review the list of “What Makes a Dog a Dog” with the students.
11. Instruct the students that now they will create a dog with art materials using the list of attributes they gave. No extras! Only the attributes given and recorded on the chart will be used.
12. Pass out prepared art boxes to each table containing all the supplies each student will need to complete his/her own dog.
13. Tell the students they have 25 minutes to plan, arrange, and complete their dogs.
14. Let the students’ work dry overnight.
15. The next day take volunteers that would like to show their work and describe their artistic representation of “What Makes a Dog a Dog.” Students reluctant to speak in front of their peers should be allowed to relate this information one on one to the teacher.
16. Each student will relate to the teacher one on one quietly at the teacher’s desk so others cannot hear if a dog is a living or non-living subject and give an example of the opposite. (Ex. Yes, a dog is a living thing. A rock is a non-living thing.)
17. Display the “What Makes a Dog a Dog” chart with all of the dogs in a well traveled area of your school. Your students will be proud of their work. Other students will enjoy seeing the artwork.

Assessment

• Having listed the students’ names by their responses will indicate participation in that phase of the lesson.
• The artwork the students create will be an instrument of assessment indicating if they followed directions. (Remember, only the attributes listed.)
• The students showing their work will indicate if they can name the parts of the dog.
• The one-on-one session will indicate if the students can discriminate between living and non-living subjects.

Supplemental information

Comments

This is a fun lesson, and as I have indicated it is easily adaptable to other subject areas as well as higher grade levels. When the students become familiar with the “What Makes a ______ a ______” format, the lessons start to move quickly, and the students enjoy the activity a great deal. I use it for review with great success. Enjoy!