Grade 1 - Animals and Habitats

Animals and Habitats: Supplemental Guide 3A | Animals of the Sonoran Desert Habitat 53

Note: Introducing the Read-Aloud may have activity options that

exceed the time allocated for this part of the lesson. To remain

within the time periods allocated for this portion of the lesson,

you will need to make conscious choices about which activities to

include based on the needs of your students.

Introducing the Read-Aloud 10 minutes

What Have We Already Learned? 5 minutes

Ask students to defi ne the word habitat. Students should explain

that a habitat is a place that has food, water, and shelter for the

animals and plants that live there. Ask students to characterize the

weather and temperature of the Arctic tundra and Arctic Ocean.

(very cold in the winter; colder than most other places on Earth even

during summer; and often windy so that it feels even colder) Ask

students to defi ne the word adapt. Remind students that many of

the adaptations made by the animals living in both the Arctic tundra

and the Arctic Ocean are changes that have come about to help the

animals stay warm when it gets very cold. (thick fur, blubber, etc.)

Making Predictions About the Read-Aloud 5 minutes

Now remind students that at the end of the last read-aloud,

Rattenborough mentioned that he would be taking them to a warmer

place. Explain to students that today they will be learning about a

habitat called the desert and about some of the animals that live in

that habitat. Tell students that there are deserts all over the world.

 Show image 3A-1: The desert

Tell students that this is a picture of a desert. Ask them to describe

what they see in the illustration and how it looks different from the

pictures they have seen of the Arctic. Explain that the temperature

found in a desert is almost exactly opposite of that found in the

Arctic: the Arctic is very cold, whereas deserts are usually very hot;

AAnimals of the Sonoran nimals of the Sonoran

DDesert Habitatesert Habitat^3 A