Page 2 - Kind News, Jr. Teacher Guide, September/October 2023

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

Kindergarten: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.K.1: Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse
partners about kindergarten topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.
CASEL Core Competency: Social Awareness
To go with “Happy Dog?”: After reading the article in small groups or out loud, talk to students about how to tell if a
dog is happy or scared. What is body language? How do people use body language, such as facial expressions or
gestures? How do they think it would feel to communicate mainly with their bodies and without words? Then, ask a
student volunteer to model role play with you: they pretend to be a happy or scared dog, while you model how to
react safely. Then, divide students up in pairs and ask them to practice these scenarios. If possible, give them
enough time to play each of the four roles:
• A happy dog and a person interacting appropriately with the dog
• A scared dog and a person interacting appropriately with the dog

Afterwards, discuss how it felt to “be” the dog. How did they feel when using their bodies to express how they felt?
Was it easy? Hard? Why?

First grade: NGSS Disciplinary Core Idea LS1.A: Structure and Function—all organisms have external
parts. Different animals use their body parts in different ways to see, hear, grasp objects, protect
themselves, move from place to place, and seek, find, and take in food, water and air. (1-LS1-1)
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.1.1: Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about
grade 1 topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups. CASEL Core Compentency:
Responsible Decision-Making

To go with Pet Corner, “Why Do Dogs Chew?”: After reading the article, ask students if they have dogs that
chew, or if they have seen dogs chew. Did they know that chewing helps puppies explore their world?
Ancestors of pet dogs had to use their teeth to catch prey, so their teeth played a major role in their survival.
If possible, contact your local shelter to see if they have a need for DIY dog chew toys. If so, allow your class to
make a DIY dog chew toys to donate! Here are a few more ideas:
• Wrap a piece of thick rope into a knot around itself. • Get two old T-shirts or other fabric. Cut them into three
Search “monkey’s fist knot” for an ideal knot. Treats large strips. Braid them together with a knot at each
can be slipped inside the knot for dogs to chew on! end. This can double as a chewing and tugging toy!

To extend the activity, ask students if they know of other pets that chew, such as guinea pigs, hamsters, or
mice. Ask if anyone has these pets. Explain that some animals like those have to chew to wear down their
teeth, because they are always growing! Discuss what to provide small pets, such as wooden chew toys, apple
chews, walnuts or chestnuts for hamsters, or grass hay or wooden chew toys for guinea pigs or bunnies.

Second grade: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.2.2: Recount or describe key ideas or details from a text read
aloud or information presented orally or through other media. CASEL Core Compentencies: Social
Awareness, Self-Awareness
To go with “Quiz: Which Animal Are You?” and “To the Rescue: ‘Meet Barbosa and Morgan’”: Ask students to take the
quiz and read the description of the animal they got. (If possible, allow them to visit KindNews.org/archives and find
the article about their animal as directed at the end of the quiz). Then ask them to go back through the paragraph and
circle or highlight words or phrases that describe traits or show action, such as “shy,” “listens to others,” “friendly,” or
“loving.” Pair up students who got different animals, and ask them to tell each other what descriptive words or actions
were part of their paragraphs. Then ask them to read the “To the Rescue” article and highlight words and phrases that
describe the chickens. Afterwards, discuss: were they surprised by which animal they were most like? Why or why not? OPPOSITE PAGE: NATALIAVO/BIGSTOCKPHOTO.COM.
Did they think of animals as having personalities and has their opinion changed? Why or why not?
To extend the activity, students could draw themselves and the animal they got side by side, showing each doing an
activity that exhibits the same personality trait. For fun, have other students guess what traits they are showing in
their drawings.
For more on animal personalities, check out our Sept/Oct 2020 issue at KindNews.org/sept20.