1. Mary Clardy Kathy Domboski Emily Crews

2. Diary Diary of a Wombat by Jackie French (Children’s Fiction) Read aloud book Have students research animals and their habitats. Students will create a diary documenting the animal in their habitat or if they were removed from their habitat. In his diary, a wombat describes his life of eating, sleeping, and getting to know some new human neighbors. (Titlewave)

3. Poem Animal Poems by Valerie Worth (middle school poetry) Choose 2-3 poems from book to share (Recommendations: Bats, Minnows, Penguin) Students will research an animal of their choice and it’s habitat. Students will create poems describing the animal and their habitat. An illustrated collection of twenty-three poems about snails, whales, bats, camels, and other animals. (Titlewave)

4. Movie Hoot by Carl Hiaasen (YA fiction) Show the clip from the movie about them deciding to protest the building of the pancake house which will ruin the Owl’s habitat. Students will research an animal and the habitat that is endangered. Students will create a poster persuading people to save the habitat and the animal. Roy, who is new to his small Florida community, becomes involved in another boy's attempt to save a colony of burrowing owls from a proposed construction site. (Titlewave)

5. Debate Wildlife Detective: How Forensic Scientists Fight Crime Against Nature by Donna Kallner (Intermediate/YA nonfiction) A factual look at crimes against wildlife from a forensic point of view. Learn about how scientists solve and convict criminals of crimes such as poaching. Read a case about elk being poached and how they solved the crime. Have students divided in the group to research the effects of poaching, the animals and the habitats. Have students choose sides to create a debate atmosphere. Debate about whether poaching is a crime.

6. Glog Breakfast in the Rainforest: A Visit with Mountain Gorillas by Richard Sobol (Intermediate/YA nonfiction) A photographic journal of Richard Sobol’s journey through African Rainforests as he observes and documents the life of gorillas within in their habitat. Share photographs from the book. Assign an animal and provide information about what they eat. Have students research what they eat and determine the habitat based on their food. Create a glog to show what you learned.

7. Bibliography Novelist Titlewave Wilson Web French, Jackie. Diary of Wombat. The story of a wombat whose habitat is interrupted by his human neighbors. He interacts with the humans as though they live within his natural environment. Worth, Valerie. Animal Poems. A collection of short poems about a variety of animals. Poems include information about their habitat, physical features and capabilities. Hiaasen, Carl. Hoot. Kallner, Donna. Wildlife Detectives: How Forensic Scientists Fight Crime Against Nature. A factual look at crimes against wildlife from a forensic point of view. Learn about how scientists solve and convict criminals of crimes such as poaching. Sobol, Richard. Breakfast in the Rainforest: A Visit with Mountain Gorillas. A photographic journal of Richard Sobol’s journey through African Rainforests as he observes and documents the life of gorillas within in their habitat.