Reading, Writing, and ANIMALS!
Bees dancing, ladybugs munching, worms pooping, butterflies pollinating–wow!
A meadow ecosystem is a dynamic place, as animals find food and water, shelter and safety.
Using the book If You Love Honey, spark your students’ creativity with the lesson “In My Meadow.”
Lesson Plan: In this activity, children write a story about one animal’s experience as it moves around in meadow.
Procedure
1. Read aloud If You Love Honey. Show children the meadow illustration under “Sweet Connections” on the “Explore
for Kids” page. Review the plants and animals mentioned in the story. Look at the other illustrations to
notice any additional animals.
2. Explain that animals move throughout their meadow ecosystem to find food, water, shelter, and safety.
For example, bees fly from flower to flower gathering nectar (food) and deliver it to the hive (shelter and safety). Monarch butter
fly caterpillars eat the leaves of a milkweed plant (food) and then roam around the meadow looking for a suitable place to make their chrysalis (shelter and safety).
3. Have children choose one of the meadow animals and ask them to write and illustrate a short story
about the places their animal visited in the meadow. What was it doing at each place? How was it moving? What body parts allow it to move this way? What was it eating?
4. Have children share their stories with the class or in small groups. How was their animal’s experience of
the meadow the same or different from other animals’ experiences?
Common Core Standards (ELA K-3)
Reading: Literature
- Key Ideas and Details K.1, 1.1, 2.1
- Craft and Structure K.7, 1.7, 2.7
Writing
- Text Types and Purposes K.3, 1.3, 2.3, 3.3
Next Generation Science Standards (DCI K-3)
Life Science
- LS1 From Molecules to Organisms: Structure and Function
- LS2 Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics
- LS4 Biological Evolution: Unity and Diversity
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