This is a guest blog post by Cindy Price, a first-grade teacher from Delaware. If you like what you read here, take a look at her blog at Mrs. Price's Kindergators, and be sure to check back here for more of her guest blog posts!
What do all kids love? Animals, especially ocean animals!
In first grade, we are focusing a lot on nonfiction readers. Sometimes, it is hard to find a nonfiction reader that is right for all of your students. The nonfiction readers in the Ocean Animals Set of Zoozoo Animal World, however, are great for all of your learners. Below, I’ll walk you through the lesson that I teach to my class using the Sea Turtle book.
To begin the lesson, we always start with our Wonder Wall. For those of you who have never heard of a Wonder Wall, it is a place in the classroom where the kids can post their wonders and refer to them throughout the lesson. On a sticky note, students write one thing they wonder about or want to know about sea turtles.
After the Wonder Wall, I show them the cover of the book. The kids look at the cover and then turn and talk with a partner to see what they know or think they know about sea turtles.
After discussing the cover, we begin to read the book. I love the pages of this book because the pictures are bright and colorful, and the text is easy enough for all learners to be successful. With a clean page layout, the reader can focus on what the text is saying.
As I read the text to them, I stop and ask them questions. I also allow them to ask questions and to talk with a partner throughout the book.
After we discussed the books, we completed some activity sheets. You can download my activity sheets for FREE at the bottom of this blog post! I created an activity sheet for each book: Sea Turtle, Octopus, Dolphin, Shark, Seahorse, and Killer Whale.
I love these books! I used Sea Turtle as an example in my post, but the Ocean Animals Set also includes Octopus, Dolphin, Shark, and Seahorse. We also read Killer Whale from the Arctic Habitat Set!
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Click on the left image below to download Cindy Price's FREE 15-page activity sheet about Ocean Life Animals! Click on the right image below to learn more about the ZooZoo Animal World Series that is featured in this post.
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