Students go wild filling Beasty Books and their brains with fun facts and figures about their favorite creatures.

• 1.

  Which animal makes you curious? Look up facts about your animal. Where does it live? What does it eat? How big do these animals grow? Find a picture of your animal.

• 2.

  Use Crayola® Construction Paper Crayons to draw the animal on construction paper. This is your Beasty Book cover. Cut out your cover with Crayola Scissors.

• 3.

  Trace the cover several times. These pages will make the inside of your book and the back cover. Cut out all the animal-shaped pages.

• 4.

  Decorate your Beasty Book's front cover with crayon drawings. Give your book a title and include the author's name (that's you).

• 5.

  Organize and write your information on the animal-shaped pages. Illustrate the facts whenever possible.

• 6.

  Staple all the pages together to create your Beasty Book.

Standards

• LA: Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.
• LA: Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.
• LA: Write information/explanatory texts in which they introduce a topic, using facts and definitions to develop points.
• LA: Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade level topics and texts with peers and adults in small and large groups.
• SCI: Ask questions about the natural an human-built worlds.
• SCI: Construct explanations of phenomena using knowledge of accepted scientific theory and linking it to models and evidence.
• VA: Use art materials and tools in a safe and responsible manner.
• VA: Use different media, techniques, and processes to communicate ideas, experiences, and stories.
• VA: Select and use subject matter, symbols, and ideas to communicate meaning.

Adaptations

• Students may choose to create dioramas for their animal, including appropriate scenery from habitats studied.
• Students investigate specific animals using Internet sites, as well as library books. With assistance from adults, students organize their research into sentences for presentation to classmates.
• Two to three students combine their efforts to write an original story about their animals. Encourage students to be true to their research and reading in constructing this original story. Encourage the group to illustrate significant scenes in their writing using Crayola Crayons or Crayola Colored Pencils. Have the group present their original story to classmates.