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As we focus on zoo animal science lessons for kindergarten, our objective includes to learn about the characteristics of living things. Living things grow and change, respond to stimuli, and have special characteristics for survival. Here you'll find a living things anchor chart, zoo books for kindergarten, zoo math activities, zoo crafts and even a classroom transformation!  ZOO ANCHOR CHART and Writing Activities FOR KINDERGARTENThis living things anchor chart serves as a model throughout our entire zoo unit.  Each day, we explore a new animal to write about together.  These packs are perfect for zoo animal research! With 29 animals included, students have a variety to choose from for their individualized projects. Use the coloring pages to serve as animal writing prompts. The NO prep crafts are perfect for students to use their research to create animal habitats; it is also fun to create a class mural with the animals! I stuffed brown paper bags with a sheet of paper and stapled them closed; kids glues their crafts to the bags to create their own animals for our adventures!  Zoo Crafts and Writing Prompts for Science and LIteracy CentersThroughout zoo week, it's fun to pop puppets into our centers. Students research animals with provided easy reader zoo books, and they write about animals of their choice! Their writing pieces fit on the backs of puppets! Zoo Books for KindeRGARTENOf course, zoo week means lots of zoo books! Our favorite zoo titles include Koala Lou and The Koala Who Could for comparing during reading comprehension lessons. Giraffes Can't Dance is a perfect zoo book for teaching about trying new things and never giving up. The Gingerbread Loose in the Zoo is fun for identifying a variety of zoo animals What Do They Do With All That Poo? is a completely entertaining book to get the kids engaged about the job of a zoo keeper. Good Night, Gorilla and Pouch! are just plain fun to read!  Jungle Song for KindergartenThe kids loved when we played "Walking In the Jungle" as we paraded around the room together!  Koala Study for KindergartenAfter we compare The Koala Who Could and Koala Lou during our kindergarten literacy lesson, then we create koala puppets during science centers. During a science lesson, we learn facts about koalas. Students write about their koala research on a lined sheet that fits on the back of the puppets. Once they finish, they use their koala puppets to read their facts to peers! They LOVE this activity, and I love all of the learning that's tied in with it!  Below is the koala puppet, along with more puppet friends for zoo fun! A book companion craft for The Koala Who Could is listed as well, along with additional book companions for character education lessons. Panda Craft and Writing Activity for ScienceDuring our Arctic unit, we explore polar bears; during our hibernation unit, we study brown bears. Our zoo unit means tying in one more bear, the panda! After we research pandas with some youtube links by searching "Panda facts for kindergarten", we write facts. The writing sheets get stapled behind the grass the panda is sitting on in the craft below. For this project, I demonstrate the gluing process step-by-step. This project is available in our Teachers Pay Teachers store.  Zoo CrAFT FOR KINDERGARTENI love reading The Gingerbread Man Loose in the Zoo to explore a variety of zoo creatures. Since we read The Gingerbread Man series throughout the year, this is a great connection book for our zoo theme! After we read it, students create this simple activity where they draw creatures they'd like to keep in their zoos!  Zoo Shape Activity for Kindergarten MathDuring math, students practice shapes as they create zoo cages on Geoboards with rubber bands. I love to challenge myself to connect themes to our standards of the week across the curriculum, and this one is so simple and so engaging! I just cut some elephants and rhinos using the Ellison die-cut machine, and the kids were thrilled to make cages for the animals. The students were given a list of shapes to create. I drew the shapes on the board, and as the kids created, they raised their hands for me to check their work before they moved on to the next shape. It was fun to see the variations in their ideas!  Zoo Activities for Kindergarten MathDollar Tree has some of the best trinkets for classroom learning materials! I picked up these zoo eggs at Easter time, knowing I'd be able to come up with something during our zoo theme! Here are a few activity ideas that include magnetic numbers (although the numbers do not need to be magnetic, the size of them just happens to be perfect). I love when I can use the same materials to do a few different math games for the week. It saves so much prep time if I only have to get one set of materials ready for multiple games. Number Memory: Practice number identification by having students play Memory. Counting and Graphing: As students open eggs, they use their mini erasers to count and stack them above the numbers. These mini erasers are from Five Below, although I also collect them from Target and Oriental Trading. Build Numbers: Students open eggs and then use mini erasers to form numbers.  These little pop it bracelets are perfect for kindergarten math! As I read counting books, we get the bracelets out to count and pop along the way! It's another level of engagement the kiddos really enjoy! 
 Invite your Local Zoo to your school!We took a safari ride to the jungle in our jeeps, so the kids were excited to craft jeeps for math class, too! We used nonstandard units of measurement and practiced writing numbers. Then we added the jeeps to our savannah!  We were thrilled to have our local zoo stop by our school. They brought biofacts for the kids to explore. Students checked off categories, such as hard and soft, smooth and scaly, striped and spotted. They loved it!  Safari Classroom TranformationOur school completed a Jungle Rock Your School Day, so here are some views from around the school! Here's the entrance to the elementary wing!    Here's the entrance to our classroom!   The kids absolutely loved their safari huts. They chose their special hut to work in throughout the day!   The office entryway was decorated for our big day, too!  Check out the entrance to the cafeteria!  Office staff surprised us with a mud bath! The chocolate was the extra fuel we all needed for our special day!   Looking for More?We have more ideas for adding MAGIC to your classroom! Shop NowOR head straight to our SHOP to grab resources!
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