Lesson Plan: Sweet Dreams, Hedgehog

A guide for using our resources

Children will examine how hedgehogs get ready to hibernate.

Science Focus: animal adaptations

CCSS (and states that have similar standards): RI.1.1, RI.1.7, RF.1.3, RL.1.5, W.1.5

Simple, spectacular ideas to boost your lessons.

• This fanciful rhyming tale follows several pajama-clad animals as they board a “hibernation train” and try to get cozy. The book is perfect for pairing with nonfiction— each of the featured animals is a real winter sleeper! You’ll even find scientific information on the last page.

• Using the sentence pattern from the issue, create your own patterned text on chart paper. Substitute “hedgehog” with the name of a different hibernator in each sentence. You can get ideas for animals from the video or the game.

Skill: art, content knowledge

Materials: paper plates, markers, scissors

• Cut paper plates in half so that each child gets half a plate. With the straight edge facing down, have children cut a curve (like a small semicircle) out of the right end.
• Next, have children color the hedgehog and draw its nose, eye, mouth, and ear.
• Have children cut along the lines of the paper plate’s ridges to make the spikes.
• On the back of the plate, have kids write one fact they learned about hedgehogs.