A guide for using our resources

Children will study how beavers build a lodge.

Vocabulary: lodge, teamwork, vegetation

Science Focus: animal builders

Simple, spectacular ideas to boost your lessons.

• Beaver is lonely. When he hears the echo across the pond, he thinks he’s found a friend. But who will he meet on his journey to fi nd the echo?

• At the top of a sheet of chart paper, write the following sentence stem: If I were a beaver, I would . . . Then have children take turns completing the sentence as you record their responses.
• Children can mine the issue for information, using both text and photos. For instance: If I were a beaver, I would use my teeth to cut wood; If I were a beaver, I would have brown fur; and so on.

• Use pages 2-3 of the issue to do this scavenger hunt as a group.

1. Find the picture where the beaver is swimming with a stick. Put a ✓on it.

2. Find the heading. Underline it.

3. In the orange box, find the word that means "plants." Circle it.

4. Look at the yellow box. What is the beaver carrying? Label it.

Skill: engineering design

Materials: found sticks and twigs, brown modeling clay

• Gather sticks and twigs from outdoors. Set them out along with pieces of brown modeling clay (for “mud”) and a photo of a beaver lodge.
• Put children in small groups and challenge them to build a lodge, using scrap cardboard or a small tray as a base. How can they use the clay to keep the sticks in place? Circulate as children work, providing guidance as needed.
• When groups are finished, let kids tour each other’s lodges. Encourage children to explain the building techniques they used.