Zoo-Goers Ready to Greet Baby Panda
Subjects
Grades
Grades 2-up
News Content
A baby panda makes his debut at the National Zoo in D.C.
Anticipation Guide
Before reading, ask students to agree or disagree with each of the statements below.
News Words
Introduce the words in the News Word Box before students read the article. Ask students to define the words and put them in alphabetical order. (bamboo, China, endangered, habitat, panda)
Read the News
Click for a printable version of this week's news story Zoo-Goers Ready to Greet Baby Panda.
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More Facts to Share
You might share these additional facts with students after they have read this week's news story.
Comprehension Check
Revisit the Anticipation Guide at the top of this lesson; ask students to respond again to the statements in it.
You might follow-up that activity with some of these questions:
Recalling Detail
Think About the News
Discuss the Think About the News questions that appear on the students' news page.
Follow-Up Activities
Geography. Display a map of China. Ask students to identify whether each of the following countries is a neighbor of China (borders China) or not. If you teach young students, point to each country on the map as you name it: Afghanistan (no); Bhutan (yes); Burma (yes); India (yes); Iran (no); Japan (no); Kazakhstan (yes); Laos (yes); Mongolia (yes); Nepal (yes); North Korea (yes); Pakistan (yes); South Korea (no); Thailand (no).
Literature. Do you know the story of how the panda got his spots? According to a Chinese folktale, there was once a species of white bear that inhabited the mountains of China. A young girl befriended a white bear cub. One day the girl saw a leopard attack her friend. She threw a stone at the leopard, so the leopard turned on the girl and killed her. The bears grieved her death; in their grief, they tore up the earth around them and then wiped their weeping eyes with their earth-covered paws. From that day on, the white bears had black circles around their eyes. Read aloud a beautiful retelling of that folktale, The Legend of the Panda by Linda Granfield. Use the accompanying lesson plan with the book.
Art. Young children might make a panda mask or wall hanging from a paper plate or a panda puppet from a paper bag.
Just for fun. Challenge students to complete the online panda puzzle or learn what it's like to be a panda keeper at the National Zoo. Both of those resources are found on the Animal Planet Web site.
Assessment
Use the Comprehension Check (above) as an assessment. Or have students work on their own (in their journals) or in their small groups to respond to the Think About the News questions on the news story page or in the Comprehension Check section.
Lesson Plan Source
Education WorldNational Standards
SCIENCE
GRADES K - 4
NS.K-4.3 Life Science
NS.K-4.4 Earth and Space Science
GRADES 5 - 8
NS.5-8.3 Life Science
NS.5-8.4 Earth and Space Science
GRADES 9 - 12
NS.9-12.3 Life Science
NS.9-12.4 Earth and Space Science
SOCIAL SCIENCES: Geography
GRADES K - 12
NSS-G.K-12.1 The World in Spatial Terms
NSS-G.K-12.5 Environment and Society
See recent news stories in Education World's News Story of the Week Archive.
Article by Gary Hopkins
Education World®
Copyright © 2005 Education World
11/16/2005