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K - Act. 27: Animal Track Mural

Summary

Students will create an "Who Am I?" mural.


Materials

  • animal tracks stamps
  • stamp pad
  • 8x14" white paper (previously prepared by teacher--see background information)
  • crayons
  • picture books
Additional Resources

In the Snow: Who’s Been Here? by Lindsay Barrett George
Around the Pond: Who’s Been Here? by Lindsay Barrett George
In the Woods: Who’s Been Here? by Lindsay Barrett George
Big Tracks, Little Tracks: Following Animal Prints by Millicent E. Selsam
Footprints in the Snow by Cynthia Benjamin
Footprints in the Sand by Cynthia Benjamin


Background for Teachers

Attachments

The teacher will become familiar with local animals and locate these animals in picture books and nonfiction books to share with students. Animals leave indications of their presence behind when they move from location to location. Some animals leave footprints while others leave feathers, droppings, scratches on trees, nuts, shells, etc. We can track the movement of the animal by looking at the evidence left and create a scenario of the situation by careful observation.

Be prepared to show the students several books listed in the additional resources section to introduce students to the concept that animals leave behind evidence of their presence in their environment. Notice in books, photos, and your own environment animal tracks and other traces left by animals.

The teacher will prepare for each student an 8x14” white paper folded over three inches from the long end.

Prior to the lesson the teacher will need to select which animal prints (stamps) will be used in order to focus the student discussion and to inform students of the choices available to them.


Intended Learning Outcomes

Intended Learning Outcomes
1. Demonstrate a positive learning attitude.
5. Understand and use basic concepts and skills.

Process Skills
Symbolization, observation, description, investigation


Instructional Procedures

Invitation to Learn
Read the book Animal Tracks by Arthur Dorros and show the students how they can be a “nature detective” by looking at animal tracks and other evidences left by animals. Share the picture books and photos you have collected demonstrating pieces of evidence that animals have left. Let them know they are going to be creating a personal mural in which they will be able to leave clues for others to figure out their chosen animal.

Instructional Procedures

  1. Have students choose an animal from the list provided by the teacher.
  2. On the outside of the flap, have the students write the words “Who Am I?” Students may also create a pattern border around the flap. This may be a simple color pattern or related in some way to their animal.
  3. On the rest of the paper, have students illustrate the habitat appropriate for their chosen animal. The habitat should include “clues” (source of water, food eaten by the animal, type of environment, etc.) for the observer to use to identify the hidden animal. For example, a student illustrating a bear would include mountains, bushes with berries, a pond with fish, a beehive in a tree, and trees.
  4. The student will draw the chosen animal underneath the flap that says, “Who am I?” so that the animal is hidden from view when the flap is closed. The student may want to illustrate the animal in its “home” such as a bear in its den or a bird in its nest.
  5. Under the animal, have the student write the animal’s name.
  6. Help students use a track stamp, starting at the opposite side of the page from where the animal is located, and proceed to stamp the footprint of the animal across the page until reaching the animal.


Extensions

Attachments

Family Connections
Students may look around their home and neighborhood for evidence of animals. Students may record tracks they find, as well as other items left behind by animals, through illustrations and labels or photographs. Students may complete and return the attached family connection paper and share their findings with the class.


Assessment Plan

After the students have completed their murals, allow each to share it with the class. Observe the student as he/she presents the mural. Check to make sure the mural includes a proper environment, as well as food and water sources for their animal. As classmates identify the student’s hidden animal, ask them what clues they used to figure out what the hidden animal was. Students should be looking at the type of footprint as well as the environmental clues in the illustration.


Created: 08/07/2003
Updated: 10/31/2022
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