Lesson Plan: ¡Castores constructores!

A guide for using our resources

Children will study how beavers build a lodge.

Vocabulary: madriguera, trabajo en equipo, vegetación

Science Focus: animal builders

Simple, spectacular ideas to boost your lessons.

• Brooklyn is trying to help his brother build a dam. But the cartwheel that used to be full of materials is now empty. Will Brooklyn find the lost materials?

• At the top of a sheet of chart paper, write the following sentence stem: Si fuera un castor, yo... 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: Si fuera un castor, yo cortaría madera con mis dientes; Si fuerta un castor, yo tendría pelo marrón; and so on.

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

1. Encuentra la foto del castor que nada con un palo. Márcala con un ✓.

2. Encuentra el titular. Subráyalo.

3. En el cuadro anaranjado, encuentra la palabra que signifi ca "plantas". Rodéala.

4. Mira el cuadro amarillo. ¿Qué carga el castor? Escribe lo que es.

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.