Habitat happenings

During this lesson students will demonstrate their understanding of what a habitat is through a creative writing assignment. The students will choose an animal to be and will describe themselves and their living environment.

A lesson plan for grade 1 English Language Arts

By Kelly Stewart

Learn more

• Lesson plan: Habitat — what's that? This lesson helps students define the word habitat and understand the basic elements that make up an animal's habitat.
• Lesson plan: Whose habitat is that? This lesson is designed to help students explore the surroundings animals find in a variety of habitats. This plan is written for the desert habitat but the same plan should be used for the exploration of a variety of habitat settings.
• Thinking Maps Information and links to help students with pre-writing strategies.

Related pages

• The bear who wouldn't sleep: Intermediate-level ESL students will apply facts from a content-based reading passage to create a short story about a bear who doesn't hibernate with his family.
• Animal adjectives: Students will describe animals as they review nouns and verbs associated with these animals. They will learn to use adjectives as they describe the animals. They will use this knowledge to write their stories about animals.
• Make that chocolate sundae!: The student will write detailed directions for making and eating a chocolate sundae. S/he will then create and eat a sundae.

Related topics

• Learn more about animals, habitats, language arts, pre-writing, stories, writing, and writing process.

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Learning outcomes

Students will write, edit, and illustrate a three-to-four-sentence story about the animal of their choice. The story will include details about the animal’s habitat.

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

30 minutes

Materials/resources

• lined writing paper with picture space at the top
• pencils with erasers (for editing)
• chart paper
• markers

Technology resources

• internet access
• word processing software
• class webpage (optional; for posting students’ assignments)

Pre-activities

Students need to know what a habitat is and what things are in a habitat. They should have a working knowledge of the variety of habitats, such as the desert and the grasslands, and be able to name animals and plants that are located in each habitat.

Activities

1. Gather the students in a group on the rug. Explain to the students that they are going to be pretending they are animals in order to complete a writing assignment.
2. Ask one student volunteer to choose an animal for your sample story. Have the students brainstorm things about the animal and where it lives. Write these ideas on a chart or the board for later use when writing the story.
3. Begin to compose a sample story on chart paper using the students’ ideas. The story should only be about three to four sentences long and the students should choose a different animal for their story. As you write, model the editing process for the students allowing them to point out any mistakes that need to be corrected.
4. After completing the sample, send the students to their seats with paper to begin their stories. Have each student pick an animal and use the back of his or her paper to brainstorm about the animal. Have the students use this brainstorm to help them write three to four sentences about the animal and its habitat.
5. As the students write, circulate through the class and encourage students to use pre-writing strategies such as brainstorming.
6. After they have written their sentences, have the students check their writing for mistakes. Meet with each student to approve his or her story, and then have the student type the story. (This could be done immediately following the writing or at a later date.)
7. You may choose to post the story on a class web site for the public to view.

Assessment

Examine student writing to see if the student followed directions and created a factual story about the animal he or she selected. The student should have sentences that describe the environment where the animal lives.

Modifications

With younger students you could create a class story with an animal from each habitat rather than having each student write their own. Advanced writers could elaborate and add more sentences to their writing.