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Overview:
In this lesson, students will learn about many different animals that live in deserts. They will learn what the animals look like and about characteristics that enable them to live in the harsh environment of desert habitats.
Connections to the Curriculum:
Geography, science, language, art
Connections to the National Geography Standards:
Standard 3: "How to analyze the spatial organization of people, places, and environments on Earth's surface"
Standard 4: "The physical and human characteristics of places"
Standard 8: "The characteristics and spatial distribution of ecosystems on Earth's surface"
Time:
Two to three hours
Materials Required:
- Computer with Internet access
- Writing and drawing materials
Objectives:
Students will
- identify desert animals and the characteristics that enable them to adapt to the harsh environment;
- draw and/or color pictures of desert animals in their habitats; and
- create riddles from information about their animals.
Geographic Skills:
Asking Geographic Questions
Acquiring Geographic Information
Answering Geographic Questions
S u g g e s t e d P r o c e d u r e
Opening:
Tell students that you will be talking about animals that live in a very harsh environment called a desert. Ask students what they already know about deserts and make a list of their answers. Write down any questions they have about deserts.
Development:
Ask students what they think we need to live every day. They should mention food, water, and shelter. Explain that animals that live in the desert sometimes have a hard time finding these things. List the characteristics of desert habitats that make them difficult places to live.
Have students look at the desert animals at the following Web sites:
National Geographic: Creature Feature—Coyotes
Desert Animals and Wildlife
Enchanted Learning: Desert Animal Printouts
eNature.com (type "desert" in the search box)
Missouri Botanical Gardens: Desert Animals
Read aloud some of the descriptions of the animals you see, paraphrasing the advanced language, as necessary.
Discuss with the class the different ways these animals get food, water, and shelter in the desert habitat.
Have each student choose one of the animals and draw its picture; younger students can color a printout. The animal should be shown in its desert surroundings, including the types of things it eats and drinks, and where it finds shelter.
Closing:
Remind the students about the list of questions they had at the beginning of the lesson, before they learned about the desert habitat and the animals that live there. Have all their questions been answered? Add the new facts that students have learned to the list of known facts made at the beginning of the lesson.
Suggested Student Assessment:
Have the students create riddles from descriptive words on the pictures of the animal they chose. Older students can write out their riddles, while younger ones may use their drawings to help them ask their riddles out loud. For example:
I am an animal that lives in the desert.
- I have a bulky body.
- I have short brown, black, and gray bristly fur.
- I have small ears.
- I have small eyes.
- I have a flat snout.
- I have long canine teeth.
- I have hoofed feet.
- I have short legs.
Who am I?
Display all the animal pictures the students have colored. Have each student read his/her riddle and allow other students to guess which animal the riddle matches.
Extending the Lesson:
- Have students create vocabulary lists from their own and other students' riddles.
- Create a desert animal book from all the pictures by making a cover and laminating the printouts. Put it in the classroom library.
- Have students write stories about their animals.
- Use a world map to discuss the different locations of deserts throughout the world
Cathy Kiffe of Lafayette Parish School Board in Lafayette, LA, contributed classroom ideas for Standard 8.
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