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Los Animales y sus Hábitats

Context for this Lesson

Topic: 

TOPIC: Science in Spanish – Los Animales y sus Hábitats

GRADE LEVEL: 2nd Grade

CREATED BY: Cassidy Nevilas-Rogala and Moriah Flagler

FOCUS QUESTION(S):

  • What do specific animals need to survive and what habitats do they live in? ¿Qué necesitan animales especificos para sobrevivir y en cuales hábitats viven?
  • How can we present information in an interesting way in Spanish?

EDUCATION STANDARDS:

TEKs: 

§112.13. Science, Grade 2

(a)  Introduction

  • (4)   (C)  Within the living environment, students explore patterns, systems, and cycles by investigating characteristics of organisms, life cycles, and interactions among all the components within their habitat. Students examine how living organisms depend on each other and on their environment.

§128.13. Spanish Language Arts and Reading, Grade 2

(b) Knowledge and skills

  •  (28)  (A)  listen attentively to speakers and ask relevant questions to clarify information; and
  • (B)  follow, restate, and give oral instructions that involve a short related sequence of actions.

§117.109. Music, Grade 2, Adopted 2013.

(b) Knowledge and skills

  • (4) (C)  explore new musical ideas in phrases using singing voice and classroom instruments.

§117.110. Theatre, Grade 2, Adopted 2013.

(b)  Knowledge and skills.

  • (2) (A)  demonstrate safe use of movement and voice;

MATERIALS NEEDED:

Students’ books they made previously about a specific animal and its habitat

Hook/Engage: 

1. ENGAGE ACTIVITY – Cover the Space – Embodying Animals

Vamos a caminar por el espacio y voy a decir unos animales que ya conocen.  Cuando diga un animal, su trabajo es: ser este animal con su cuerpo.  Pensamos en los niveles de los cuerpos – alto, bajo, medio…. Pensamos en como mueve el animal.  (We’re going to walk around the space and I’m going to say some animals that you already know.  When I say an aminal, your job is: be this animal with your body.  Let’s think about the levels of our bodies – high, low, medium… Let’s think about how this animal moves.)

Go through several animals that they have been studying and will use later in the lesson. 

Transition: Invite the students to sit together on the floor in a circle.

Explore: 

2. ACTIVITY 1 – This Setting Needs (Este Hábitat Necesita)

Vamos a crear un habitat de un animal.  Vamos a usar nuestros cuerpos para hacerlo.  Review what habitat is, if necessary.  Select a specific animal from their research and ask for volunteers to enter the setting to create the habitat of that specific animal.  Remind students that they can be anything in the environment – objects, wind, animals…

When students enter the setting they say: “Este hábitat necesita__________” and then they become that thing by entering the circle and freezing in a statue. 

Side-coach participants to think about where they could be in relation to what is already in the picture, levels, how they could show what they are with their bodies/faces… etc. 

A variation is to designate a student expert for each round that says “si” o “no” to decide if the suggestion actually belongs in that habitat.  The expert can be the student who made the book about that animal. 

Do a few rounds with different animals in varying habitats. 

Transition: Ya representamos los hábitats con nuestros cuerpos. Ahora, vamos a representarlos con sonidos. (We represented the habitats with our bodies.  Now, we’re going to represent them with sounds.)

3. ACTIVITY 2– Soundscape

Begin by doing a group brainstorm of the sounds that we might find in each habitat. Write these ideas on a poster or on the board for future reference. You might do this in Spanish (a great lesson on sounds in Spanish) or you might do it in English depending on your classes’ needs. 

  • Jungle (La Jungla)
  • Underwater (Debajo del Mar)
  • Desert (El Desierto)

Choose an environment and give students a moment to select a sound they want to make for that environment. 

The facilitator also models how they will conduct the volume of the groups’ sound, showing hand signals to crescendo (get louder), decrescendo (get softer) and cut off (stop) all sound. The facilitator demonstrates each of these hand signals before creating the first soundscape: in the jungle. After practicing with the example, another location is chosen.

Reflection:

  • What types of sounds did we use to establish an environment?
  • How were the sounds the same or different in each environment?

Transition: Ahora vamos a trabajar en grupos pequeños y vamos a usar todas esas técnicas para exponer sobre un animal y su hábitat.

4. ACTIVITY 3– Stage Pictures

Students get into their small animal groups and create a presentation where they share two facts about their animal in Spanish. They do this by creating a frozen stage picture of the animal in its habitat and talking about it.

Guidelines for presentation:

  • Say two facts about your animal in Spanish.
  • Use a frozen image to create the habitat.
  • You may add in sound.

Present for the class.

Reflection: 

5. REFLECTING ON THE LESSON –

Describe

  • ¿Qué hicimos? What did we do?

Analyze

  • ¿Cómo sintieron cuando presentaron enfrente del grupo? How did you feel while you were performing?

Relate

  • ¿Qué aprendieron sobre un animal? What is something you learned about an animal today?