Winter is hard for animals: the days are short, it is cold and food is hard to find. Some sleep through it, some fly or walk somewhere warmer, and some stay and keep busy, with thick coats and fluffed-up feathers. Children love the surprises: a frog that freezes and a butterfly that flies thousands of miles.
Six pages. Page 1 introduces the three ways animals get through the winter. Page 2 is about animals that hibernate (bats, bears and the wood frog), page 3 about animals that migrate (Canada geese and monarch butterflies) and page 4 about animals that stay active (the snowshoe hare, the arctic fox and cardinals). Each text has questions to circle and one to answer in writing. Page 5 matches six words to their meanings, and page 6 sorts eight animals by how they get through the winter, then asks children which way they would choose.
Read page 1 together, then let groups take pages 2 to 4 and teach the class what they learned. Make a three-column chart, hibernate, migrate and stay active, and add animals to it all winter. Page 6 makes a quick check of the whole set.
Read a page together and look for the animals outside or in a library book. Which animals near your home do you still see in winter?
Short texts about how animals get through the winter: some hibernate, some migrate and some stay active. Students answer questions, match words to their meanings and sort animals by what they do in winter.
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