Our+Classroom+Pet+Unit

=Title of Unit: Our Classroom Pet=



Author: Jeannie Lei Credit should be given to 2nd grade teacher Mrs. Cassady's Webquest at: [|Webquest] Miss Cassady's idea inspired this unit of study

Primary Subject: Elementary

Grade Level: 1st or 2nd

Scope and Sequence

This is a link to the Tumblr Project Page: [|Research Project] Students will use this link to find links to pages about their animals. However this is just a starting point and they will be encouraged to get information from other websites they find on their own as well.

Introduction To Classroom Pet
The purpose of this assignment is to 1) expand student's knowledge of pet ownership and responsibility 2) learn about animal habitats, 3) animal behavior, 4) the costs involved in choosing and keeping an animal.

Unit Objectives:

1) Students will understand how to research a topic with computers and how to find helpful books on their animals. 2) Identify fiction from nonfiction 3) Apply thinking skills into their reading, speaking, listening, viewing and writing 4) Compare and contrast different animals and their habitats. Identify their basic needs. 5) Collect, record and interpret data and communicate reasoning.

Time required: approximately 45 minutes a week for 3-4 weeks

Lesson 1

Title of the Lesson: Introduction of to our Classroom Pet

Have you every thought about owning a pet? What kinds of pets do you like? Pets are a huge responsibility but lots of fun. Pets can help you learn a lot about responsibility, habitats in the world and even math! Maybe you have pet at home already. Pets need a home, food, water and many other things to keep them well. Can you think of anything else? Let’s find out together and everyone gets to help!



Description of Lesson 1:

This lesson will be used to introduce and give and overview of the entire unit to students. The pets included in the choices can be decided through class discussion or the teacher can choose 4 different animals, she feels would be manageable in the classroom. The four choices of animals for this unit will be, fish, hamster, tortise, or hermit crab.

Assignment:

Then students will be asked to 'brainstorm" what they find are the most important issues in owning a pet. The teacher will record all the students responses on a chalkboard or dry-erase board. The teacher will then break down the responses into 4 major catogories. These 4 catagories will be:

1) Interesting facts about the animal, what it looks like, how it may interact with the class. 2) What kind of home will the animal need and what does it eat? 3) How much will the animal cost? How much will it's home cost? 4) What kind of care each day and week does the animal need?

Hopefully these will translate into 4 different roles for a team of students to research:

1) Animal expert: Research interesting facts about your animal. 2) Habitat keeper: Research the best type of home for your animal and all the details of it's home 3) Budget keeper: Research the cost of buying the animal and the home 4) Pet care giver : Research the daily care your animal will need

Note: if there are more than 4 students to a group roles can be shared to research information.

After small groups are created, possibly by interest in an animal, either the teacher or the students can assign the roles of the experts to individual students. Each animal group will be presenting their information to the class to persuade their fellow students to go with their group's animal.

Lesson 2 - Research the Pet

Approximately 45 minutes of research during computer or library time looking for books about each group's animal

Group Roles and your Questions

Animal Expert 1) What does the animal look like? You may draw a color picture for this. 2) How is this animal different from the other choices? 3) What could your classmates learn from this animal? 4) What would be the most fun about having this animal?

Record all your findings on this paper:

Habitat Helper 1) What kind of home does this animal need? You may draw a picture and attach it here. 2) How big or small should it's home be? 3) What kinds of things should go inside the animal's home? (water, a bed, wood chips, gravel?) 4) What kind of home did you think was the most interesting?

This link may help you to get started: [|Pet Warehouse] Record all your findings on this paper:

Budget Keeper 1) How much does it cost for each animal? 2) How much will it cost for the animal's home. Use your Habitat Helper to find out what kind of home the animal needs. 3) How much is the animal's food? 4) Add all these number together neatly on a chart to show the class.

As budget keeper you may need some of these additional websites not on the Research Project Link: Do you think we could adopt the pet? What's the difference? [|Denver Dumb Friends League] [|PetSmart] [|PetCo] Record your findings on this paper:

Pet Caregiver 1) How often should we feed this animal? 2) How often do we need to give the animal fresh water? 3) How often do we need to clean the animal's home and how do we do it? 4) Are there any other needs? (temperature, sunlight, exercise?)

Record all your findings here on this paper:

After each individual records all his or her findings the groups will meet together to present information to each other about their animal.

Lesson 3 After each group meets each person will present the findings about the animal in class. The order will go as follows:

1) Animal expert 2) Habitat keeper 3) Budget keeper 4) Pet care giver Each group will also decide on a concluding statement which should consist of at least two sentences about why we should pick their pet for our classroom.

The groups will be evaluated with the below rubric: [|Classroom Pet rubric.docx]

Conclusion: The group that has the most convincing presentation will be decided upon by the class with the teacher given veto rights if he or she feels that overwhelming information regarding an certain animal would not make it a good choice for the classroom.

Note: I think this would a fun unit that hopefully all the students could enjoy. I wanted also to use this topic as a platform for writing prompts and poems for the children to write about. Write a non-fiction story about what we learned about the pet we got. Write a fictional fable about our classroom pet. Write an acrostic or descriptive poem about our classroom pet. We could also refer to this unit later in math when making up story problems as well as when we study temperatures in different climates where our pet choices feel most comfortable in.