Animals, Animals, Animals

At one of my schools, they are getting ready to do a big animal unit study and asked for some resources. I thought I would share some of my favorite ones here in the blog.

National Geographic is a really good web site.  On the right hand side of the web page you see animals and they are in alphabetical order. You can also search for an animal in the search box. When you click on an animal (I clicked on the Bengal Tiger), there is a picture of the animal, information about that animal, you can hear how the animal sounds, there is a map of their range, and quick facts on the animal. Very useful for a students to learn about the different animals.

I like National Geographic for Kids for younger kids. It seems more kid-friendly. You can view videos or pictures of animals. I clicked on Mammals in the left hand side of the screen, and then clicked on Gray Wolves. Here you can read about the wolves, view pictures and hear them howling. There is also a map that shows where they live.

While I was searching for animal web sites, I came across one that I had never seen before. It has become one of my favorites. This site is called ARKive. They have information on endangered species, you can search animals, plants, etc. If you click on Explore ARKive, a drop down menu appears and you can click on any of the Species Groups, Eco-Regions, etc. There are some great videos of the animals that you can show to students. Check out one of these videos about Giant Pandas. If you are studying marine animals, I encourage you to click on Google Earth (in the drop down menu) to view endangered marine species and where they live.

Please make sure to view the terms of use to see if students/teachers can print anything from these sites.

Image: 'Eyes of the tiger' http://www.flickr.com/photos/25182307@N00/1380828408

Image: 'The Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center' http://www.flickr.com/photos/36244273@N00/221043235