Habitats are for living!!!!
Oh, how I love my home! It's my place to calm and center myself after a fun-filled super crazy day of creating in the art room! My home is definitely my habitat! Why wouldn't a mouse want something as chill??
In 1st grade, we talked about habitats. We talked about how a habitat is a place where a plant or an animal lives and grows. We also talked about all of the things that could be included in a habitat- such as food and shelter. Then we brainstormed the different habitats that mice could live in.
Mice, you may ask? Well, yes! Mice! Previous to this lesson, we explored primary colors, Mondrian and a little book that I LOVE called "Mouse Paint" by Ellen Stoll Walsh. It's a story about three kinda adventurous mice that discover paint in the primary colors. There's a cat involved as well... and some fun paint mixing. If you haven't read it yet, I totally recommend it!!
After exploring primary colors and Mice Paint, we decided to create some air dry mice and paint them in the secondary colors. As those cute little mice sat on my shelf, I got to thinking about how they really needed a home to go to. Enter our habitats!
To see our discussion about habitats and how to make a 3D room, please click over to the Media page :) (Hopefully Wix lets me embed sometime in the future... but sorry about the link. Please check it out, though!)
We talked about what a habitat was (it was more than just a home- it was a place that our mice would live, eat and be protected!) We began by looking at habitats that we knew mice lived in. Many of them involved boroughs or holes in trees or the ground... which led to the discussion about what the students might imagine it looked like in those little mice houses. One student rose her hand and said she would imagine that there would be a bed... and maybe a couch? What about an Xbox? Or some books? I love their creativity!
The students first created a triangular display out of heavy paper. They then set to creating their own habitat for these mice. I encouraged them to either represent a traditional habitat (such as our own Sonoran desert) or to create a new habitat (notice the Moon, or the awesomely detailed rendering of a bedroom!)
Now on to our little mice's habitats!!
