We're Going to the Zoo!

This week and next week, the 4K frogs are going to the zoo!

I started with reading a letter.

They are always a brief introduction or overview 

of the upcoming unit.

In the zoo letters set, the first day intros different kinds of animals

they might see on the trip through the zoo.

Day 2: I read a letter for a specific animal.  That day we read books about the specific animal and do a directed drawing of that animal.

Those directed drawings get put in our art center.

There are over 20 letters in the set, so you can pick and choose

exactly which animals you wish to teach your children about.

I try to pick letters that I can find directed drawings 

to go with them.

I found these directed drawings at From the Pond

At the end of the packet, I give some ideas as well about what 

we do with our zoo animals. 

Here is more about the letters: part 1 and part 2.

Here are some more zoo ideas that I have done in the past.

Here are the books I started with:

I begin with "I Went to the Zoo" 

followed by the student reader, if needed.  

The students get to color the story.

Finally I end the unit with the book

"We Went to the Zoo"

this one is the best of all, because 

the kids star in the book!

I will get these uploaded ASAP.

Read more about our classbooks here

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Class Books

I love love love using class books in my room.  When I taught in first grade, we made a book a week.  Being in 4K is no different.  I do more of the work, but they do the reading!!!

When I intro each unit I read a letter (more on those here)

Later I share the class books. Here are some I've made.  Each child gets their own page.  Even if I have to use the pages twice, they get their own page. I laminate my page and the cover page. These are usually the first and last pages.
We did these two for our insect unit:

Catching bugs found here.

This is a firefly book. We use name recognition and color words. 

The read aloud can be found here.

At the beginning of the year, we did a leaf book.

I just wrote with a marker on the line provided.

They are printed on cardstock.  

If the pages get ripped, I use packing tape along the "spine."

I also use a generic book as well.  Sometimes, I read that book first.  Sometimes, I read the class book first.

For example the "In the tree" classbook, we will also read a book that just covers the leaf colors. For more advanced students, we might make a mini-book that they get to color and add things to.  In this book, they trace the color word and color the leaf that color.

Kids love to star in the books and they are super popular during reading/library time.


At the end of the year, I break down the books, and each child gets their own page from each book we make.  I know that some teachers send home a different class book with each child too :)

Here are some other classbooks in my store.