Creating an informational book about anacondas Art/PE/Music, Language Arts individual At the beginning of the anaconda unit, decide if students will make either a paper book or an electronic collection of their work. The medium you choose will determine the kinds of activities you will assign and the format for products to be expected from students. Ask students to draw the cover of their anaconda book. The students can paint an anaconda on a sheet of paper or can draw it on a computer using a graphic application program, depending on the type of book you chose and their abilities. Collect all student artwork and place into individual paper folders if the book is to be compiled using paper or scan the paper products into individual electronic folders if the book is to be compiled electronically. All subsequent student work for the unit is to be collected and placed, either physically or electronically, in their ‘anaconda book folders’ as the unit unfolds. Comparing the yellow and green anacondas Math, Science small group Print out in color images of both types of anacondas, yellow and green anacondas. Make as many color copies as needed to give one image to each group of students. Assign students to groups of 3 or 4. Give each group an image of either the yellow anaconda or the green anaconda. Each group brainstorms the characteristics of the anaconda they received, either the yellow or the green anaconda. The students place the information they brainstorming into a chart that each child in the group copies. Next, you need to rearrange the groups. Students split and form new groups with students representing yellow and green anacondas groups (jigsaw): there cannot be 2 students from the same initial group in the new formed groups. In their new groups, students share and compare their findings are. Working collaboratively, students make up a chart of similarities and differences between the two anacondas. Each student copies the chart for his/her anaconda book. Collect charts and place in the students’ folders, either paper or electronic. Comparing/contrasting constrictors and vipers Language Arts, Science class, individual, small group The evening before the day of the activity, ask students to research constrictors and vipers using the library or the Internet. Students will search for the specific information on the worksheet you provide to them. The following day, check the worksheets for completeness and accuracy. Group students in groups of four. Give the students chart paper and color markers. Ask them to draw a Venn diagram and brainstorm similarities and differences between constrictors and vipers: they must be in agreement as to what goes on the Venn diagram. Post the Venn diagrams around the room, and ask students to visit other groups’ findings. If questions arise as to the pertinence of an item, these must be solved as a class. Students write down all found similarities and differences between constrictors and vipers to be included into their anaconda book. Toward the end of the anaconda unit, you may want to use some of the items or facts from this activity in a fly swatter game. Making the relationship between poisonous/non-poisonous snakes and their environment Language Arts, Science small group As a follow-up to the preceding activity, ask students to brainstorm the reasons for the presence or absence of poison in snakes. Help them relate this information to the snakes’ environments such as food availability, hiding conditions, habitat, etc., and their individual characteristics of snakes such as big, small, water loving, etc. In groups of 4, students brainstorm the characteristics of poisonous snakes, and list them on the left column of their worksheets. Even though the lists are made in groups, each student must fill out a worksheet. They the students brainstorm the characteristics of non-poisonous snakes, and list them on the right column of their worksheets. Assign a name to each group (anacondas, boas, pythons, etc.) Ask the groups to split and form new groups, according to a jigsaw pattern: there must be a representative of each named group in each newly formed group. Ask students in their new groups to discuss their lists and possibly modify/complete them according to the new information gained. Ask students to re-form their original named groups and go over the changes to their lists. Students must agree and come to a final list of characteristics for poisonous and non-poisonous snakes. Collect students’ worksheets and place into their anaconda book folder. Comparing/contrasting cold-blooded and warm-blooded animals Language Arts, Science class, individual Brainstorm with students what it means to be warm-blooded. Make a list on the board of animals that are warm-blooded. Brainstorm with students the characteristics of cold-blooded animals. Ask students to name some cold-blooded animals and make a list on the board. In class, ask students to write a compare-contrast short paper on warm- and cold-blooded animals. Collect, or ask students to finish the paper as a homework assignment. Place into the students’ anaconda book folders. Relating scale patterns to fingerprints Art/PE/Music, Science individual, pair Explain to students that the scale patterns found on the underside of the anaconda tail is unique to each anaconda and that it can be related to our fingerprints. Ask students to look at their fingertips and to compare them with their neighbors. Are they similar? Explain that fingerprints are unique to each individual, and no two people have the same fingerprints. Similarly, no two snakes have the same underside patterns. Pass around an inkpad or finger paints, and ask students to make fingerprints on a piece of paper. Ask them to compare their own fingerprints (left hand to right hand), then to compare their set of fingerprints to those of their classmates. Ask students to draw an anaconda on a sheet of paper, and to create patterns on its back with their fingerprints only, either with finger paints or the inkpad. Collect and place in the students' individual folder. Playing Hidden Words with anaconda-related Spanish vocabulary Language Arts individual Print out the Hidden Words sheets and hand them out to students. Go over the list of words to be found, checking student comprehension by asking them to act the words out, paraphrase them in Spanish or to draw them out. Instruct students to find all the Spanish anaconda-related words on the sheets. Once all the words are found, students will have to place the remaining letters in the right order to answer the anaconda-related clue in Spanish. Writing creatively about a day in the life of an anaconda Language Arts, Science individual Ask students to write a fictional story about an anaconda’s adventures. The story is to be written in the first person, and express the snake’s “feelings and impressions” as it goes through the events of a typical day, which will probably happen mostly at night. Students are to use the information they have learned about the anaconda to guide them in their writing. The paper is to be no less than two pages long and no longer than 5 pages. Writing a suspense story about an anaconda Language Arts individual Give students the following prompt: “Last summer, Julia and I went down to the river to skip stones. We had almost reached the river bank when….” Complete the story. The paper is to be between three and four pages long. The paper must have a plot and a resolution. The information contained in the story must be consistent with the information students have learned about anacondas since the beginning of the unit. Writing a argumentative paper about an anaconda Language Arts individual Give students the following prompt: “I would love to be an anaconda…” Complete the story. The paper is to be between one and two pages long. The arguments used must be organized and lead into one another. Each argument must have supporting details. The information contained in the story must make use of the information students have learned since the beginning of the unit about anacondas. Researching and writing about anaconda as pets Language Arts individual In class, ask student whether any of them has a snake as a pet or if they know of anyone who does. Brainstorm with students why one might wish to have a snake as a pet, then assign them to write about having an anaconda as a pet. What would they have to do, and why? The paper is to be between one and three pages long. The arguments used must be organized and lead into one another. Each argument must have supporting details. The information contained in the story must make use of the information students have learned since the beginning of the unit about anacondas. Making a small scale paper maché anaconda Art/PE/Music individual Provide students with two feet of thick wire, or any other appropriate material, to make the paper maché’s armature. Have students bend the wire to imitate a snake’s curvy body. Provide students with newspaper and wallpaper paste (or any other appropriate glue) and help them build their snake’s head and body. Show students how to cut 1/2 inch-snake scales out of construction paper or any other paper (colored or painted) and to glue them onto their snake’s body. The anaconda patterning can be recreated through the gluing of colored scales; it can also be recreated through the sponging of paint (if you choose this option, it might be preferable then to have students paint their anaconda body one uniform color before making sponge patterns are added); a third way can be to create pre-cut patterns and stamp them onto the glued scales. Making a life-size, informative paper maché anaconda Art/PE/Music, Science class This is a class project where each student will participate in the making of the snake’s body and will create a unique and informative decoration. Have students collaborate to create the head and body of the anaconda in paper maché with the traditional wire as starter (the snake can also be made out of rounded pieces of Styrofoam glued together or from several stockings filled with newspapers and linked together) to reach 25 feet in length and about 3 feet in girth around the middle of the snake’s body. After you have applied the paper maché, have students paint the snake green and let dry. Scales can be drawn on the dry paint with a thin black marker. Recreate the anaconda’s markings. The head and tail sections of the anaconda measuring approximately 1 foot each, divide the remaining 23 feet into the number of students in the class. Each student will be responsible for the decoration and information contained on his/her section of the snake. Brainstorm with students the important information they have learned about the anaconda. Assign or let student choose one or more pieces of information. Let the creativity of each child express itself in the conceptualization of their piece of information. Criteria: Each piece of information must fit in one standard oval pattern. If designs are three-dimensional, they cannot be more than 2 inches high. Students may use any art or craft technique to illustrate their piece of information. Not all oval patterns need to contain information: it will look better if some oval patterns are left black. Glue all creative and black patterns onto the paper maché snake. Have volunteer students decorate the head and tail of the snake; these can be realistic or can represent the class (names, year, etc.). Showcase the anaconda, and take pictures to place into the students’ folders and the class website. Measuring a 25-foot anaconda Math class On butcher paper draw the whole length of an anaconda (12 or 25 feet) in a straight line. Have students estimate first, then act out the measurement: How many laying children does it take to make the length of the snake? (students will lie on the floor or on the butcher paper, head to toe until they make the length). How many children’s hands or feet does it take to make the length of the snake? (students will place their hands, fingers extended, next to each other, their pinkies touching the next children’s pinkies). How many standard measures does it take to make the length of the snake? (having cut a standard measurement out of paper, have students add a piece of paper one at a time to make the whole length). Estimating the number of gummy snakes in a jar Math class Fill a jar with gummy snake candy. Review the numbers in Spanish. Ask students to estimate in Spanish the number of gummy snakes in the jar. Ask students to write down the number they estimated. Ask two volunteer students to help you count the gummy snakes in Spanish. The students whose estimation fell within ±5 of the real number of gummy snakes get to share the candy. Graphing gummy snakes’ colors Math small group Fill four jars with gummy snake candies, and group students around these jars. Ask students at each station to individually estimate in Spanish how many snakes there will be in each color. Have the students write down the color and the number of snakes they estimate of each color. For example: “rojo = seis, amarillo = tres, verde = diez”. Ask one volunteer student at each table to remove the gummy snakes from the jar one at a time and to announce its color in Spanish. Every other student at each table is to create a bar graph with color post-its on a sheet of paper as the snakes are being removed from the jar and their color announced. The students whose estimations fell within ±5 of the real number of gummy snakes per color get to share the candy. Fractioning gummy snakes Math class Give out a worksheet, a plastic knife and 10 gummy snakes to each student. Ask students to cut their snakes according to the directions on the worksheet (1/2, 1/3, 1/4, etc.) and to place them next to the fraction on their worksheet. When all students have successfully cut their gummy snakes and placed them next to the appropriate fraction, ask students to measure the different lengths in the second part of the worksheet with different fractions of the gummy snakes. When students have successfully completed the worksheet, they can eat their gummy snake. Measuring the periphery of a room with anacondas Math class Draw a 25-feet, straight outline of an anaconda on butcher paper. Cut it out. Ask students to estimate how many anacondas (using the 25-feet anaconda you drew) it will take to make the periphery of the classroom. Select two student volunteers to measure out the room’s periphery with the anaconda outline, and compare with estimates. Weighing an anaconda with sand Math small group Select several containers to use as standard measures (bucket, pail, jar, plastic cup, etc). Ask students to form small groups and assign a group of students to each standard measure. With the students, place the standard measure on a scale (preferably electronic, but any will do) and make a note of each standard measure’s weight. Ask students to fill up the different standard measures with play sand, and then to weigh their standard measure a second time. Knowing that a green anaconda can weigh over 500 lbs., ask students to brainstorm how they can figure out how many of their standard measure they need in sand to equal the anaconda’s weight. Remind students that they need to take the standard measure’s weight into consideration to obtain accurate result. Have groups of students write down their math reasoning and their results. Share math reasoning and results for each standard measure as a class. Calculating circumference and radius with anacondas Math individual Give each student one 3-inch plastic toy snake, one gummy snake, and a tack. You can replace the toy snakes and gummy snakes with lengths of string or yarn. Ask students to tack one end of their toy snake to the middle of a sheet of paper, to place a pencil next to the other end of their snake and, keeping the snake taut, to trace a circle. Do the same (very carefully so as to avoid to tear the candy) with the gummy snake. Ask students to calculate the circumference of the two circles they made as well as their radius. 10 minutes in the life of an anaconda Language Arts class, individual An anaconda can stay underwater for 10 minutes. Ask students to write down all the things that take 10 minutes (taking a bath, eating lunch, riding a bicycle, play an inning in baseball, etc.) Share orally with the class. Give out the worksheet. Students circle what takes 10 minutes to do. Making an anaconda word chain Art/PE/Music, Language Arts class, individual Ask students to silently brainstorm 5 to 10 adjectives that describe an anaconda for them. You may want to add some criteria to this brainstorming to stimulate children’s reflection: for example, at least one adjective must have more than 8 letters, at the most three adjectives contain less than 5 letters, two must finish in –ing, etc. When most students have written down at least 5 adjectives, ask students to share one word at a time with the class. No word can be repeated. Write these words on the board or on a transparency. Go around the classroom until all adjectives have been written down. Then explain that the students will make a snake out of these words. Each student is responsible to write a chosen word from the list onto a standards sheet of construction paper, cut out the adjectives and decorate them. Make sure that students write their words with some waviness to them, so as to imitate a snake’s undulating body. The letters ANACONDA will form the head of the snake. These might be decorated by a student or by the teacher. Creativity is key! String together the decorated adjectives with scotch tape and attach them to the head letters, so as to form a giant snake. Tack the ‘snake’ to the classroom or hallway wall for all to admire. Writing an anaconda recipe Language Arts, Science class, individual Go over the recipe of a snake dish with students. Go over the way a recipe is written, deconstructing the different elements contained in a recipe and the writing style associated with the genre. Using the knowledge acquired both about anacondas and about the writing of a recipe, ask students to write a recipe about anacondas. The ingredients are all that an anaconda needs to live (habitat, food, etc) The goal of the recipe is to mix all these ingredients to represent the ideal life of an anaconda. Finding snake recipes Language Arts, Social Studies individual Assign one Latin American country per student. Send students to the library and ask them to perform an Internet search for recipes involving snakes. The search will have to be made using Spanish keywords. Receta (recipe), serpiente (snake), and the country’s name. When each child has been able to find a recipe, compile them into a snake cookbook, duplicate and place into the students’ folders. Researching the anaconda’s habitat Science individual You may assign this activity as a project, or schedule some class time for students to research it. Distribute the worksheet to the students. They need to use it as a guide for their research and the write up of their findings (living conditions habitat/food, weather, impact of environment on snake survival, natural predators and human predation, anaconda’s place in the chain of life, leaves and brushes, water, etc.). Place the students' work in their anaconda book folders. Making an anaconda terrarium Art/PE/Music, Science individual This activity is a home project. Students are to research the natural habitat of either the yellow or the green anaconda. They are then to recreate this habitat on a small scale, using a standard size aquarium or shoebox, leaves/bushes, water, sand/soil, etc. Any art/craft techniques can be used to create this terrarium; however, a combination of one- and three-dimensional artwork is recommended. Knitting anacondas Art/PE/Music individual Ask volunteer students to knit a yellow (12 feet) or a green (25 feet) anaconda. The first student in each category (yellow or green) to finish his/her anaconda wins a jar of gummy snakes. Drawing the food chain of an anaconda Science individual Brainstorm with students what they know about snakes, and what they usually eat. Brainstorm with them what or who usually eats snakes (their predators). Ask students what they think an anaconda eats, given where the anaconda lives and how it kills its prey. Ask them what or who may eat them. Send students to the library (or assign as a homework/project) and ask them to research the different animals anaconda eat, as well as what or who the predators to the anaconda are. The research must be done individually. Ask students to work in collaboration with one or two other students, to compare their notes and draw the anaconda’s food chain. Ask students to illustrate and decorate their food chain. Each student makes one. Hang the work in the classroom and go over students’ findings with them. Evaluate students’ work and file in their folders. Drawing the life cycle of an anaconda Art/PE/Music, Science individual In class, go over the life cycle of an anaconda (on the board or poster board). You may want to compare it with the life cycle of other cold-blooded animals, or contrast it with other snakes’ life cycles. In class or as a home assignment, ask students to draw the anaconda’s life cycle, and decorate it. You might also want to ask students to make a 3-dimensional life cycle: students may use gummy snakes, candy eggs or any other crafts techniques to realize their project (self-hardening foam and paints, for example). Mapping the anaconda’s habitat range Social Studies individual Give students encyclopedias and/or access to the Internet, and ask them to research the anaconda’s habitat range. Each time a student encounters a mention of a geographical area where anacondas can be found, students are to take a color tack or the outline of a yellow or green snake and tack it onto a mural, detailed map of Latin America. Give out the student worksheet. Ask students to identify each country and to individually map the anaconda’s habitat range. They may refer to the mural, labeled map to complete their assignment. Place students’ worksheets into their individual folders. Making anaconda bookmarks for the anaconda preservation fun Art/PE/Music pair Explain to the students that the artwork they will create will serve as a fundraiser for conservation groups. Give students the pattern for bookmarks. Students can make as many as they want. Ask them to decorate their bookmarks. Provide art supplies and let children’s imagination be their inspiration. Collect all artwork, let dry if necessary and laminate. Redistribute to students (divide bookmarks by the number of students) and ask them to sell them to their families, churches, etc for 25c each. Children must keep a record of what they sell, and how many. All unsold bookmarks must be returned to you, and possibly redistributed to other children. When all the money is collected, go online to the anaconda preservation website, and model how to pledge money online. Assign two students per computer (or rotate students if few computers are available). Let each pair of students pledge some of the money collected. Congratulate students for their environmental concern, and post their accomplishments on the class (or teacher) website. Making anaconda cards for the World Wildlife Fund Art/PE/Music individual, pair Explain to the students that the artwork they will create will serve as a fundraiser for an animal protection charitable group. Give students the pattern for cards. Students can make as many as they want Ask them to decorate their cards. Provide art supplies and let children’s imagination be their inspiration. Collect all artwork, let dry if necessary and laminate. Bundle into packets of 10. Redistribute to students (divide packets by the number of students) and ask them to sell them to their families, churches, local businesses, etc for $1 each. Children must keep a record of what they sell, and how many. All unsold cards must be returned to you, and possibly redistributed to other children for reselling. When all the money is collected, go online to the World Wildlife Fund website, and model how to pledge money online. Assign two students per computer (or rotate students if few computers are available). Let each pair of students pledge some of the money collected. Congratulate students for their animal protection concern, and post their accomplishments on the class (or teacher) website. Making a snake poem Language Arts individual Ask each student to silently brainstorm 5 to 10 adjectives, verbs and adverbs, respectively, that represent a snake for them. Ask them to create a quatrain. Collect, evaluate and place in each student’s folder.