LIONS

This unit is designed around Apologia Exploring Creation with Zoology 3 Land Animals of the 6th Day by Apologia Press and the 1939 Caldecott Honor book Andy and the Lion by James Daugherty.

The kids and I had so much fun with this mini unit on Lions! 


I wanted to share what we did and also link up the printables that I created so you could use them too!

To start off, we got out our handy dandy KWL chart and filled out what the kids already KNEW about lions and a few questions they WANTED answered about lions.  After reading the information in the Animal Fact Cards, our Apologia Zoo 3 book, and checking a few resources online, we were able to fill out what they LEARNED about lions too.

    (Click Here)                                                                       (Click Here)

Then we dove right into the Book Pack!  Lots and lots of fun activities, including: vocabulary, writing activities, drawing activities, cutting/pasting, counting, cooking, and lots more!

(Click here for the Andy and the Lion Book Pack)

(Click here to print the Andy and the Lion Extension Pack)

I made this Extension Pack for the older kids mostly (2nd-4th grades).  After reading the story, they did a basic narration (for handwriting, grammar, and composition), a vocabulary list from the book, and a drew a cartoon just for fun.

Draw Write Now

A really fun part that we are adding to all of our science units is Draw Write Now.  We LOVE this art/writing series!  It gives step by step directions for drawing the animals and then a space for working on penmanship too, with a short narration included.  We only have books 7 and 8 for now, but I plan on adding others asap!












This was a fun and easy unit to add extra activities to.  One afternoon the kids played, “Lion Says” just like Simon Says.  Another we did Lion Puzzles, and played Lion Share a fun card game.  At the end of the week, the kids put together their own Circus and performed for us.  They even made a booth to sell tickets for 10 cents a piece!







Here’s a list of the resources we used:

Safari toob
Eric Carl puzzle
Circus pack
The Lion King Game
Lion Share Card Game (Can't find link...sorry)
How to make a sock puppet




We also made Caramel Corn for our Circus (recipe in Book Pack).  We actually make this a lot.  It’s so inexpensive, and makes your house smell like a candy shop!  Yum!

We of course had to visit the library during this unit, but really, we are there at least once a week anyway.  The day we went this week, the library dog was there.  The kids get to take turns reading to the sweet dog.  We checked out tons of lion books, and these were our favorites, especially the Library Lion.  Its an awesome story about how to behave in a library.  Our copy of Andy and the Lion is so old and basically falling apart.  But it remains a family favorite and is read over and over again.  I highly recommend adding it to your personal home library!

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After printing, I run the re-usable pages through the Scotch laminator and then cut the pieces out.  That way all of the work and expense can be re-used with my other children.  My printable packs are usually only about 14 pages and most of them are re-usable.  This has made my planning and workload a lot easier for the younger kids.  Basically everything is done, I just have to print out the 2-4 worksheets that are not laminated for the next kid in line.

We store our packs in a hanging file folder.  They are pretty inexpensive and easy to store in our pendaflex file box.  Each file gets a label.  I store all of the little pieces in snack size baggies and attach them to the file with heavy duty Velcro pieces.  The odd shaped pieces get attached with clips or in a larger baggie.  Then all of the other pages get stored inside the folder. 




Check out all of my other Free Printables:






I pray that providing these free printables will enrich your homeschool experience and make your planning a little easier!  I would love to hear if you have used these printables.  Please link back directly to my blog, not the document link provided.  Thanks!