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Alphabet > Letter R > R is for Raccoon or Vowel team sound (oo) Animals > Mammals > Forest > Raccoon Books > Raccoon theme picture books Character
Education > Rusty
the Respectful Raccoon
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Age group: Older toddlers to early elementary The raccoon is a mischievous nocturnal mammal. It is intelligent, a great swimmer, and can be an urban pest too! Let's learn some more. Young children will have fun making an easy and fun craft of a raccoon and during the process many skills and educational themes can be addressed. Other printable support materials and links to related activities are provided. Let's get started. Activity: Science & Social Studies > Raccoon Science objective: * Define and understand the terms: - mammal: a class of warm-blooded animals that have, in the female, milk-secreting organs for feeding the young. The class includes human beings, apes, many four-legged animals, whales, dolphins, and bats. - raccoon (can also be spelled racoon): a small mammal native to the forests of North and Central America that has grayish black fur, black patches around the eyes that looks like a mask, and a long bushy ringed tail. More information and images to visit below. Social Studies objectives: * Understand that people need to respect animals and plant life, natural resources and their habitats. * Identify ways people help protect these living things so that they are not endangered or become extinct. Review the external resources and suggested children's picture books below to prepare and expand on the objectives: Where to start? Ask children what they know about the raccoon, or if they have seen pictures or read stories that have a raccoon character. Ask children if they know other animals that live in the forest or their local park and backyard. Keep notes of their responses. Common raccoon basic facts: * Raccoons are mammals. * Where does it live? Lives in woodland forests or urban areas. * What does it eat? The raccoon is not a picky eater. It can eat just about everything. It has very agile hands to pick up food and are super climbers. It eats berries, acorns, honey, eggs, worms, grasshoppers, and other bigger animals like chicken. In towns and cities they eat garbage. * The raccoon is generally nocturnal - active at night * Raccoons can spread diseases, such as rabies - be careful and never touch a raccoon. * A young raccoon is called a kit. Kits are born in tree holes way up high where they can be safe and dry. External educational resources for additional information, fun facts, and wonderful images of the raccoon at * BBC Science & Nature - Wild Facts * Hinterland who's who * Wikipedia.org Activity: Printable Raccoon Crafts Select a printable raccoon craft that is age appropriate. All you need is a printer, paper or construction paper, glue stick, scissors and something to color with. Before craft assembly conduct some of the learning activities suggested for the craft which may include: 1. Math: Identifying shapes, colors, counting, sorting and sizing the craft templates. Skills developed during craft assembly: Scissor cutting and coloring (precursors to handwriting), problem solving, fine motor skills. Before or after completing the craft conduct your choice of suggested learning activities: Activity: Language Arts: Alphabet Letter R or Vowel team sound (oo) Activity: Children's picture books - raccoon theme This is just a sampling of beautifully illustrated books that can help you present the raccoon and other topics -- your librarian can help you select many more! Activity: Character Education > Respect Read the online story Rusty the Respectful Raccoon, and visit the parent and teacher resources. |
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To view updates to these activities visit: http://www.first-school.ws/activities/animals/wild/raccoon.htm |
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