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Animal Homes: Where Animals Live

Students explore the different homes animals build and live in — nests, dens, burrows, webs, and hives — discovering that every animal has a home that meets its needs.

KindergartenAnimals30 minutes1 class period5E ModelExplicit teaching4 StandardsCommon Core
Start the Lesson
Lesson at a Glance

Everything you need before the bell rings

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to…

  • ✓Name animal homes.
  • ✓Match an animal to its home.
  • ✓Know a home meets an animal’s needs.
  • ✓Explain why animals need homes.
Essential Question

People live in houses — but where do birds, bears, and bees live? How do animals find or build a home?

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Lesson Phases
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Vocabulary Terms
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Standards Aligned
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Interactive Task
Home Explorer · Interactive

The Home Explorer

Project this and tap each animal home. Have students learn who lives there and how the home keeps the animal safe.

🪺 Explore animal homes — tap eachTry it

The Lesson · 5E Model

30 minutes, five moves

Tap any phase to open the teacher moves and student actions.

1

Engage — Where Do They Live?

5 min

You live in a home — where does a bird live?

👩‍🏫 Teacher Moves

  • Ask where animals live.
  • Name a few homes.
  • Set the goal: animal homes.

🎒 Student Actions

  • Name animal homes.
  • Wonder about more.
  • Predict the idea.
2

Explore — Explore the Homes

8 min

Students investigate.

👩‍🏫 Teacher Moves

  • Send students to the Home Explorer.
  • Tap each home.
  • Learn who lives there.

🎒 Student Actions

  • Tap each home.
  • Name who lives there.
  • Say why.
3

Explain — Homes Meet Needs

9 min

Teacher explains.

👩‍🏫 Teacher Moves

  • A home keeps animals safe and warm.
  • It is near food and water.
  • Match animals to homes.

🎒 Student Actions

  • Explain safe/warm.
  • Explain near food.
  • Match animal to home.
4

Elaborate — Build a Home

8 min

Apply.

👩‍🏫 Teacher Moves

  • Have students build a home for an animal.
  • Say how it meets needs.
  • Compare two homes.

🎒 Student Actions

  • Build a home.
  • Explain the needs.
  • Compare homes.
5

Evaluate — Exit Ticket

5 min

Three quick checks.

👩‍🏫 Teacher Moves

  • Hand out the exit ticket.
  • Look for animal + home.
  • Collect as formative data.

🎒 Student Actions

  • Name a home.
  • Match an animal.
  • Explain a home.
Standards Alignment

Built to the standards you report on

Aligned to Next Generation Science Standards and Common Core literacy. State-standard crosswalks available on request.

NGSS
K-ESS3-1

Represent the relationship between the needs of living things and the places they live.

NGSS
K-LS1-1

Observe to describe patterns of what plants and animals need to survive.

NGSS
K-ESS2-2

Construct an argument about how animals change their environment to meet their needs.

CCSS
RI.K.1

Ask and answer questions about key details in a text.

Differentiation

One lesson, every learner

Multilingual Learners

ELL / EMERGING READERS
  • Animal + home picture cards.
  • Sentence frame: “A ___ lives in a ___.”
  • Match animals to homes.

Support & Access

IEP / 504
  • Start with nest and den.
  • Use clear picture cards.
  • Match one animal at a time.

Stretch & Extend

GIFTED / EARLY FINISHERS
  • Match many animals to homes.
  • Explain how a home keeps an animal safe.
  • Build a model animal home.
Materials

What to gather

  • 📽️Projector / board
  • 📓Science journals
  • 💻The Home Explorer
  • 🖼️Animal-home cards
  • 🖍️Crayons
  • 🎫Exit-ticket slips
Vocabulary

Key terms — hover for a quick definition

homewhere an animal livesnesta bird’s home of twigsdena cozy home in a cave or holeburrowa home dug undergroundweba spider’s sticky homehivea bee’s homesafenot in dangersheltera place that protects
Evaluate

Exit Ticket

Preview the three formative checks. Tap “Sample answer” to see what mastery looks like — hide them before you print for students.

QUESTION 1
What is a bird’s home called?
A nest.
QUESTION 2
Where does a rabbit live?
In a burrow (a tunnel it digs underground).
QUESTION 3
Why do animals need homes?
To stay safe and warm and be near food and water.

Going deeper? Build an animal home.

Have students build a home for an animal out of craft materials and explain how it keeps the animal safe. A printable animal-home sheet is in the Science library.

Study · Flashcards

Study the key terms

Tap a card to flip it, then rate whether you knew it. Built from this lesson’s vocabulary.

🃏 Animal HomesFlip
Card 1
Term
Tap to flip →
Meaning
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Practice · Quiz

Check your understanding

A quick self-check with instant feedback, drawn from this lesson’s key terms.

📝 Animal HomesQuiz
Score: 0
1 / 6
Question 1
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Practice · Worksheet

Printable worksheet

A print-and-go review sheet with a built-in answer key. Tap “Show answer key” to reveal answers, or print the clean version for students.

🖨️ Animal HomesPrint
Name: ________________________
Date: ____________

Part A · Write the word that matches each meaning

Word bank: burrow, den, hive, home, nest, safe, shelter, web
  1. where an animal lives
  2. a bird’s home of twigs
  3. a cozy home in a cave or hole
  4. a spider’s sticky home
  5. a home dug underground
  6. a bee’s home
  7. a place that protects
  8. not in danger

Part B · Show what you learned

  1. What is a bird’s home called?
  2. Where does a rabbit live?
  3. Why do animals need homes?
Answer key — Part A: 1) home · 2) nest · 3) den · 4) web · 5) burrow · 6) hive · 7) shelter · 8) safe
Part B: 1) A nest. 2) In a burrow (a tunnel it digs underground). 3) To stay safe and warm and be near food and water.