Basic Knowledge of Big Cats

 

Overview:
The students will brainstorm what they already know about big cats and what they want to find out about big cats.  This information will be used to make a K-L-W (what I know, what I want to learn, what I learned) chart for the classroom.  Books and magazines on the students’ grade level should be checked out from the school’s librarian and placed in the classroom reading center.  CD-ROMs and other interactive programs should be loaded in the classroom computer center.

Materials required:
Non fiction library books on “Big Cats”, desktop publishing software, classroom computers, CD-ROMs focusing on zoo and African animals, overhead projector.

                                                             

Vocabulary:

a. carnivore          b. tiger       c. leopard      d. lion      e. jaguar     f. panther

 

Procedures:

This lesson is structured in the style of Bloom's Taxonomy.  It is meant to integrate higher level thinking skills into this unit.  The activities listed below are set up to be completed within a week.

 

Activities:
 

Knowledge- Learn the meaning of "carnivore". Make a poster to share this information with the class. Teacher can use the paint/draw application of any desktop publishing program.	Comprehension- Make overhead transparencies about two of the big cats. Give a short presentation about these two cats. Teacher can also create a multimedia presentation comparing/contrasting two of the big cats; older students can create their own.
Application- Make a drawing showing how the eyes of the lion, tiger, jaguar, and the leopard are different from all other cats. Students can use the paint/draw application of any desktop publishing program.	Analysis- Orally compare and contrast the behavior of lions with that of other big cats.
Synthesis- Create a puppet show to share information about big cats. Write it from the cats' point of view. Students can use any desktop publishing program to write, edit, and publish text of puppet show. Teachers can book mark this great site to show students how to make different kinds of puppets: Puppet Resources.	Technology Connection-  Macmillan Dictionary for Children Interactive CD-ROM   Visit the San Diego Zoo Online - this is a rich site where students can learn about the different animals living there and their habitats. There is also a Botanical Garden they can visit.   Puppet Resources - a great site to learn all about puppet making

 

Extension:
Take the students on a field trip to the local zoo.  Allow the children to observe big cats in a “natural” habitat. Teacher and/or students can take digital pictures, digital movies or videos of the big cats and use them in multimedia presentations. The teacher can also book mark Shape Books and get a free membership; students can click on Printables, then Covers and Coloring Pages to print out shape pictures of the big cats. These can be used as covers and pages for a zoo book about their field trip.

Home Learning:

The students will make a diorama about a big cat that they have seen while on the zoo field trip.

Evaluation:

The students will type, edit and publish a mini report (three telling sentences) about a big cat of their choice  with clip art or a computer-generated drawing to illustrate it. Teacher can create a report rubric at Rubric Builder.

Book List:

 

Big Cats                                                              Big Cats! (Our Wild World)

Zoo Books by John Bonnett Wexo                        by Patricia Corrigan

Published by Creative Education, Inc. 1987            Northward Press, 2002

Let’s Look at Big Cats                                       Big Cats (All Aboard Reading, Level 2)

By Rhoda Nottridge                                              Grade 1-3 by Joyce Milton

The Book Wright Press, New York, 1990              Price Stern Sloan Publishing Company 1994

 

Big Cats                                                              How Big? How Fast? How Hungry?

By Simon Seymour,                                              A Book About Cats

Harper Trophy, 1994                                             By Barney Waverly, 1995

 

 

 

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