Hibernation Hotel

Students learn details about a specific animal’s hibernation and design a hotel room with everything the animal needs for a successful hibernation.

Engage

Read a story like Hibernation Station by Michelle Meadows or A Bed for Bear by Clive McFarland to engage students in the concept of hibernation and other ways animals adapt as the seasons change.

Explain to students that they will be learning how a specific animal prepares and survives hibernation so they can successfully design a “hibernation hotel” that meets all of these animal’s needs.

Create a list of animals you want your students to choose from. There are several informational texts and web site resources for primary learners in this lesson’s Resources list.

Give each student a cluster organizer to record the information they find. The smaller space on a cluster organizer helps keep emerging writers from being overwhelmed by a blank page or worksheet, while still building essential research skills.

Cluster Organizer

Have students focus on one question or area at a time. Guide their work and research with questions like:

• Where does my animal hibernate?
• How does it prepare to hibernate?
• What does the animal eat before or store to eat during hibernation?
• What predators does this animal need protection from?

Create

Ask students to design a hotel room that meets the needs and wants of their animal. To help direct student work, assign the Hibernation Hotel template.

Hibernation Hotel Template

As students design their hibernation hotel room, prompt with questions like:

• What does the sleeping area have in it?
• What is it like? Warm, soft, dark?
• Are there snacks to eat if the animal wakes up?
• What features keep the animal safe?

When they are done with the visual design, have students record their voice to explain their hotel room.

You can also have students write suggestions for What to do before you arrive. Students can share suggestions like eat extra berries, nuts, and salmon.

Share

Have students print their designs, descriptions, and suggestions to display in your classroom or library media center. If they include student voice, share the digital versions on your classroom web page.

Resources

Clive McFarland. A Bed for Bear. ISBN: 978-0062393326

Michelle Meadows. Hibernation Station. ISBN: 1416937889

Elaine Pascoe. How and Why Animals Prepare for Winter. ISBN: 1574716646

Henrietta Bancroft. Animals in Winter (Let’s Read and Find Out Science). ISBN: 1442006463

National Wildlife Federation - Hibernation: The Big Sleep

Standards

Next Generation Science Standards - Life Science Grades 3-4

K-LS1-1 From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes

Use observations to describe patterns of what plants and animals (including humans) need to survive.

K-ESS2-2 Earth's Systems

Construct an argument supported by evidence for how plants and animals (including humans) can change the environment to meet their needs.

K-ESS3-1. Earth and Human Activity

Use a model to represent the relationship between the needs of different plants and animals (including humans) and the places they live.

K-2-ETS1-1. Engineering Design

Ask questions, make observations, and gather information about a situation people want to change to define a simple problem that can be solved through the development of a new or improved object or tool.