Page 2 - Kind News, Jr. Teacher Guide Nov/Dec 2021

COMMON CORE, NEXT GENERATION SCIENCE STANDARDS (NGSS), AND CASEL-ALIGNED ACTIVITIES

Kindergarten: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.10 Actively engage in group reading activities with purpose
and understanding. CASEL Core Competency: Social Awareness.

To go with Pet Corner, “Let’s Play!”: After reading the article out loud or together, discuss
how you know dogs are ready to play. How about cats? How do you play with a dog?
How do you play with a cat? Discuss the idea of body language. How do humans also
use body language? Then pair students up and have them switch off acting out an
animal-human play scenario as the animal and the human. Students can choose to be
dogs or cats and have their partner act accordingly, or you can use picture cards to
indicate which animal to be. Discuss what they did when they could tell their partner
“animal” wanted to play. To extend the activity, students could act out animal body
language that warns against playing, such as a dog putting their ears back or a cat hissing.

First grade: NCCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.1.5 Add drawings or other visual displays to descriptions
when appropriate to clarify ideas, thoughts, and feelings.
To go with “Playing to Learn”: After reading the article, ask students to name one takeaway from it. Review the
“You Can Do It Too” section and ask them if they think some of the tips given for dog training could also help
people learn. Then ask them to think of something simple they do very well, such as drawing an animal or
memorizing a song, and think back to how they learned it. Did someone teach them, or did they teach
themselves? Did they have fun learning it? Why or why not? Then ask them to think of how they could teach that
skill to someone they know well, such as a friend or a younger sibling, and make it fun to learn. Ask them to draw
and describe — on paper or digitally — at least two steps they would take to teach the skill to someone else. To
extend the activity, students who are able can try out teaching the skill and report back on how it went.

Second grade: NGSS K-LS1-1. Use observations to describe patterns of what plants and animals (including humans)
need to survive.
To go with “Hungry Caterpillars” and “DIY: Planting Milkweed”: After reading the article, ask students what
monarch butterflies need to survive. Why do monarchs need help right now? Besides milkweed, what do they think
monarchs might need to survive well? Then ask them to think about what they (humans) need to survive. Compare
the butterflies’ and humans’ needs as a class using a physical or digital whiteboard. How are butterfly and human
needs similar and different? To extend the activity, students who are able can follow the steps in the DIY section to
plant milkweed at home, or help wildlife in a different way of their choice, such as making bird feeders or putting
out fresh water for animals to drink when water freezes in cold weather.

BOOK NOOK
Janey Monarch Seed

Written by Julie Dunlap; Illustrated by Dana Simson, Recommended for ages 5-7
Janey Monarch Seed is a tall tale of a girl determined to make a difference for imperiled monarch
butterflies, by planting seeds of milkweeds from Texas to Quebec. It’s a long, tough journey, but
one that’s filled with adventure and natural beauty, new friends and big dreams.

Told in simple verse, this a gentle but lively introduction to monarch biology and ecology, emphasizing habitat
needs and our role as active stewards in the natural world. Sidebars add further information and details to engage
and expand children’s fascination with butterflies and other pollinators. An Afterword completes the story with
additional explanation of environmental threats to monarch habitat and suggestions on how to learn more and
help them through wildlife-friendly gardening.

Copyright: Janey Monarch Seed. Text © 2021 by Julie Dunlap. Illustrations © 2021 by Dana Simson. Reproduced with permission of the publisher,
Green Writers Press, West Brattleboro, VT. Book summary courtesy of the publisher.