This is a guest blog post by Cindy Price, a first-grade teacher from Delaware. If you like what you read here, take a look at her blog at  Mrs. Price's Kindergators , and be sure to check back here for more of her guest blog posts!

What do all kids love? Animals, especially ocean animals!

In first grade, we are focusing a lot on nonfiction readers. Sometimes, it is hard to find a nonfiction reader that is right for all of your students. The nonfiction readers in the  Ocean Animals Set of Zoozoo Animal World , however, are great for all of your learners. Below, I’ll walk you through the lesson that I teach to my class using the   Sea Turtle    book.

To begin the lesson, we always start with our Wonder Wall. For those of you who have never heard of a Wonder Wall, it is a place in the classroom where the kids can post their wonders and refer to them throughout the lesson. On a sticky note, students write one thing they wonder about or want to know about sea turtles.

After the Wonder Wall, I show them the cover of the book. The kids look at the cover and then turn and talk with a partner to see what they know or think they know about sea turtles.

After discussing the cover, we begin to read the book. I love the pages of this book because the pictures are bright and colorful, and the text is easy enough for all learners to be successful. With a clean page layout, the reader can focus on what the text is saying. 

As I read the text to them, I stop and ask them questions. I also allow them to ask questions and to talk with a partner throughout the book.

After we discussed the books, we completed some activity sheets. You can download my activity sheets for FREE at the bottom of this blog post! I created an activity sheet for each book: Sea Turtle , Octopus , Dolphin , Shark , Seahorse , and Killer Whale .

I love these books! I used   Sea Turtle   as an example in my post, but the   Ocean Animals Set   also includes   Octopus ,   Dolphin ,   Shark , and   Seahorse . We also read   Killer Whale   from the Arctic Habitat Set!

~~~

Click on the left image below to download Cindy Price's FREE 15-page activity sheet about Ocean Life Animals! Click on the right image below to learn more about the ZooZoo Animal World Series that is featured in this post.