Zoo Lesson Plans

Fifth graders scientific knowledge of animals and animal kingdoms are reinforced and enhanced. They gain more experience navigating the World Wide Web. Students go on a Zoo Scavenger Hunt.

Students read and discuss the zoo prior to a visit. In this zoo trip video lesson, students make a video of their zoo trip. Students create a voice over with facts of their trip. Students are grouped to study one animal. Students complete poetry about their animal.

Before a trip to the zoo, you can have your students complete these motivating activities. Learners listen to the book Do Pigs Have Stripes by Melanie Walsh, and classify a group of animals based on attributes. Then students draw a picture of animals they could see at the zoo, and use a Venn diagram to compare animals, such as giraffes, elephants, zebras, etc. Finally, students head to the computer lab to write a sentence about a zoo animal.  

Learners come up with a list of all the animals that might be found in a zoo. They think of all the things that a zoo needs to do and provide for each animal. They discuss what the role of any zoo should be. They design a healthy zoo environment.

Students conduct research on animals by visiting the website for the Madrid Zoo. They locate various animals on the website and answer questions about animals and their habitats in Spanish, then create a poster, advertisement, or a press release.

Students observe butterflies at the zoo. In this life science activity, students take a field trip to the zoo to count and observe the butterflies. Students log on to a school discussion board to share their findings.

Students determine the names of animal babies, then read a news article about zoo's experiencing animal births. In this current events instructional activity, the teacher introduces the article with vocabulary activities, then students read the news report and participate in a class discussion. Lesson includes interdisciplinary follow-up activities.

Students explore the North Carolina Zoological Park. In this cross-curriculum instructional activity, students use information from the zoo to create scaled maps, use compasses, and research animals found at the zoo. Students take a field trip to the zoo and write a compare and contrast essay about habitat at the zoo and the animal's actual habitat.

Students explore different zoo animals by researching and viewing pictures of types of animals found at zoos, and discussing how and why animals are selected for zoos. Students classify animals in families, examine various animal environments, complete report template on specific animal, and give simple oral presentation to classmates.

Students design a zoo habitat for an animals. In this zoo habitat lesson, students develop an idea for a zoo habitat that would meet the needs of a specific animal. They solve problems that might be encountered by using their knowledge of animal adaptations. They visit a zoo.