Animal Diaries

Students personify an animal and create a diary that showcases its unique physical characteristics, behaviors, and adaptations.

Engage

Have students choose an animal they want to learn more about. As students begin their research, guide their work with questions like:

• What does this animal look like?(physical characteristics/adaptations)
• What does this animal eat? (diet)
• What eats this animal? (predator)
• Where does this animal live? (habitat)
• When is this animal active? (behavior)

Assign a cluster organizer for them to collect facts they learn.

Cluster Organizer

Then, have students complete an empathy organizer to begin thinking about the facts from a first-person perspective.

Create

Share examples of diary entries like those found in Doreen Cronin's bug diary books or the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series by Jeff Kinney.

Assign the Animal Diary template and ask students to begin crafting their diary entries.

Animal Diary Template

Be sure students use the first-person perspective in their diary entries. Encourage them to use descriptive language to make the feelings and events of their chosen animal come alive for the reader.

Share

Have students share their animal diaries with the rest of the class.

Place printed diaries in your classroom library or create a collection for your school's library or media center. If students have created digital diaries, embed them in your classroom web site and have students present them to their peers.