Nov/Dec 2021

Look, Little Fox!

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Academic Standards

Reading Objective:

Children will identify ways that foxes use their senses to explore the world, and in doing so, they will understand their own five senses.

Next Generation Science Standards:

K-LS1 Animals’ Survival Need
1-LS1 How Animals Use External Parts to Survive

Vocabulary:

senses, scent, whiskers

Use these questions to check students’ understanding and stimulate discussion:

 

1. What part of its body does a fox use to taste berries?
(its mouth)

2. What can a fox sometimes smell when it sniffs a tree?
(another fox that peed on the tree)

3. Can foxes see well?
(Foxes see very well. They can see things far away.)

4. Which senses might tell a fox that a mouse was near?
(hearing, smell, sight, touch)

 Go online to print or project the Reading Checkpoint.

  • Foxes dig dens underground. Their kits live there until they are ready to go out on their own.
  • Foxes are smelly! They rub their bodies against trees to leave their scent. They pee there too.
  • A grown-up male fox is called a dog fox. A female is called a vixen.

Materials: clipboards, pencils, copies of the skill sheet

Overview: Children will explore the sense of sound by taking a listening walk.

Directions:

  1. Before you leave the classroom, remind students that foxes use their senses to explore their world. We do too! Name the five senses. Ask children to point to their nose when you say smell, etc. Ask them how they would they know a song was playing. They would use their ears to listen!
  2. Tell students they will go on a listening walk.  What will they hear? They can pretend they are foxes listening quietly in a forest.
  3. Give each student a clipboard, a pencil, and a copy of the skill sheet. Go through the items on the sheet, so kids know what they’re listening for. Head outside.
  4. Once outside, pause. Ask kids to close their eyes and just listen. What do they hear?
  5. Walk and listen, letting kids record what they hear on the skill sheet.