Objectives  Identify similarities; animal habitats, traits, and behavior; rhyming words;

Teaching Guide
use picture and context clues
Curl Up
Materials  pictures of animals and their habitats; chalk or dry-erase markers; tape,
index cards, pencils, paper

30 minutes, Days 1–3

Build Background
Activate Prior Knowledge  Tell children: Today, we are going to learn about animals
and where they live. Show separate pictures of animals and their dwellings, such as:
bird/nest, bear/cave, dog/doghouse, etc. Tape the animal pictures on the left side
of the board and the habitat pictures on the right. Guide volunteers to draw a line
from the animal picture to its corresponding habitat. Encourage children to tell
you about other animals they know and where they live.

Introduce the Focus Skill: Nouns/Pronouns  Explain to the class that

pronouns take the place of nouns in sentences. Write the pronouns on the board:
I, you, he, she, we, they, it. Say: Mary goes to the store. She goes to the store. The pronoun “she”
replaces the noun “Mary.” Provide other examples for the remaining pronouns. Open
the book to p. 4. Point to the noun puppies. Ask children to look for the pronoun in
the second sentence that refers to puppies. (They) If children have difficulty finding
the pronoun, read the second sentence aloud, replacing they with puppies: Puppies
sleep together, curled up in a ball. “They” took the place of “puppies.” “They” is the pronoun.
Continue with the next page. Point to the noun in the first sentence and the  
pronoun in the second sentence. Have children say them aloud.

Acquire New Vocabulary  Introduce the vocabulary words to the class: fawn, degu, goslings, doze, peacefully,
patiently. Write them on the board and review definitions. Then, split up the words into parts and write the parts on separate index
cards. Ex: Card 1: faw, Card 2: n, Card 3: de, Card 4: gu, etc. Distribute index cards to the class. Tell children that they are going to
piece together a puzzle. Ask them to put the cards together to form the vocabulary words: Add the first part of the word to the second part of
the word to make the whole word. If children have difficulty, write an example on the board (peace+fully = peacefully). Then guide children to
define each word using picture and context clues. Turn to p. 13 and have the class read the text along with you. After reading, say: Look
at the picture. What do you think a gosling is? (A baby goose.)

Read and Respond  Display the book. Read the title and author name aloud as you track the print. Tell children: Poems are like
music. They follow a certain beat. We need to stay on beat for it to sound right. Read p. 4 aloud to model correct pronunciation and rhythm. Tap
your desk lightly as you read so children can hear the beat. Point out the nouns and pronouns as you read. Then assign subsequent
pages to each member of the class. Have each child read his/her page aloud. Correct pronunciation and rhythm where necessary.

60 minutes, Days 4–5

@ Curricular Enrichment: Language Arts  Explain to children that they will write their own two-line poems.
LANGUAGE
ARTS
Ask them to pick an animal from the book or a pet from home. First, have them write a few notes about the animal’s physical
characteristics (long hair, furry skin, big ears, etc.). Walk around the class and review the notes. Ask each child what animal he/she
is writing about. Suggest rhyming words, such as: ears/hears, hair/bear, skin/chin, etc. Then tell the class to follow the book model
for their poems by including a noun in the first line and a pronoun in the second line (Ex: Bibi loves to sing. She has yellow
wings). When children have finished writing their poems, ask them to memorize and recite them to the class.

Home Connection  (Teacher, you may want to photocopy NATIONAL STANDARDS

this activity for children to complete with a family member.)
Talk with your child about what he/she learned this week.   Language Arts: K-12.1, K-12.3, K-12.4, K-12.5, K-12.6, K-12.7, K-12.8, K-12.11, K-12.12
Mathematics: Numbers PK-2.1; Algebra PK-2.1, PK-2.4; Geometry PK-2.1, PK-2.4;
Ask your child to recite the two-line poem that he/she wrote Connections PK-12.3
about an animal. Then ask him/her to describe the animal   Science: K-4.1, K-4.2, K-4.3, K-4.4
Social Studies/Geography: K-12.1, K-12.2, K-12.3
and where it lives. Encourage your child to use pronouns   Music: K-4.8
when giving you the description.

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