Thematic Unit- Pets

Pets

This is the thematic unit on “Pets” that I've done with my K1 class

(aged 3~4)

1.Manners/ knowledge/ safety: I was very excited because it was my first time getting a class pet. My Chinese teacher and I decided to get two pet turtles for this class. I've never had a turtle, so I had to learn how to take care of them too. We named them “Tutu” and “Toto” and the class was also super excited about them! We put up a chart on the wall and keep track of who's turn it is to feed the turtles. Unfortunately, due to lack of experience and the cold weather in the winter, our “Toto” died after 1 week. Nevertheless, we got a new and active one and learned that the turtles need a lot of sunlight and they don't cope well in the cold, so we put some warm water in their home. My Chinese teacher thought of a great idea to let each child take home the turtles on the weekend and take care of them. (with the permission of their parents)This is a great experience for the class and they really learned how to take care of pets.
 






2.P.E/ Motor skills: We introduced how each pet moves/ hops/ jumps. So we had a frog relay with the children. It was really tiring and I was really tired from demonstrating it too. :) It was a good workout for kids though. XD


3.Arts and Crafts: We made a mouse craft with the class using different shapes and colors and the children used crayons to draw on arms, legs and the tail. It was very simple and fun!
 



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4.Language Arts: We introduced different pets we can have in the house and the sound each animal makes.
 
5.Arts and Crafts: Since we're learning about pets this month. I thought it would be a good idea to make a craft of a character everyone knows. We made “Angry bird” and the children were excited because they're all familiar with this character!
 
 

 


 

 

6. Arts and Crafts: After getting our new class pet “Tutu” and

“Toto”, I thought it would be a great idea to make a turtle craft.
We used paper bowls and I asked the children to glue on the
green tissue paper for the shell. Then I cut out head, legs and
tail for them. They needed to glue on the body parts by 
themselves. They had a lot of fun and some told me that they
made “Tutu” and some made “Toto”^^
                            

7.  Arts and Crafts/ Language arts:  Since we're learning about pets and one of our vocabulary word is frog, I thought it would be a good idea to introduce the Life Cycle of a frog to this class. They all learned quickly after I introduced the different stages. Then we made a paper plate frog craft as a follow-up activity. We put them up on the wall along with the Life Cycle of a Frog pictures.  They turned out really cute!


 

 

 

 

8.  Arts and Crafts/ Language Arts:  One of our vocabulary word for this unit is silkworm, so we learned about the life cycle of a moth.  I showed them a short clip on youtube to see the different stages that they go through.  Then we made a silk worm craft with tissue and markers. I asked the kids to roll the tissue with a marker, then squeeze them together and then take the marker out.  The last step is to add the eyes and mouth for the silkworms.  This is a good activity for building their fine motor skills. Although some kids needed a little help, but they had fun making the craft! :)

      
                                  This was a sample that I made.

                          

                                       This is how they turned out

 

 

                         Some of the silkworms looked a little bit like ghosts :P

                            

9.  Arts and Crafts: We're learning about exotic pets this week and "snake" is one of the vocabulary words. We made an easy and cute snake craft. I cut out circles from white construction paper and the students could color and design the pattern of their snakes. Then I help them cut into a snake. The last step is for them to put on the googly eyes and a tongue! :)
                             

                              



10. Arts and Crafts:  We made a monkey mask using paper plates, popsicle sticks and construction paper. It's a simple craft to make and  the kids love to pretend to be different animals. I had the kids paint the paper plates brown and cut out the shape of the face and ears for the monkey. They children were asked to color them in and glue on the paper plate. Then I cut out the holes for the eyes and attached a popsicle stick to it. Voila! we have our fun and easy to make monkey mask!!!