Whales for Kids: An Engaging Classroom Project

Teaching whales for kids? Read this post for a beluga directed drawing idea, activity to build whale vocabulary, and engage your primary students in science and ELA lessons.

whales for kids: nonfiction science lessons

Teaching Kids About Whales

Whales are my favorite animals! They are completely amazing! Not only do they live in our oceans, but they are the largest animals in the world. I love teaching kids about whales and sharing my enthusiasm and amazement over these majestic creatures.

Whales for Kids: Know Wonder Learn

Just like with any new science unit, we start by sharing what we already know. Another reason why I love teaching about whales is I find that kids do not usually have a lot of prior knowledge about them. This activity builds the excitement to learn about whales even more.

We share what we wonder about whales and come up with “deep thinking” questions with a partner. I always let kids write their questions on sticky notes. I think this gets them more excited about doing it. They share their “wonders,” and we add them onto a poster.

I have the kids record their prior knowledge and questions on the KWL sheet.

Whales for Kids: Anchor Chart

I use a large anchor chart with the labels “can, have, are, eat, look” to record facts as we read from some different whale books over the next few days. I use a chart like the one below to keep all of our new learning organized and attainable. Later, we use this useful chart to help us with our whale non-fiction writing.

Whale Facts for Kids

As a review activity, I have my students do a cut and paste of whale facts. In pairs, they have to decide which category to put each whale fact underneath. This activity is a great follow-up activity as it provides excellent practice for students and acts as an assessment for me to see who understands their whale facts.

Another important lesson for the kiddos to learn is about the parts of a baleen whale and a toothed whale. They are different, and any study about whales must teach these differences. For example, their size, parts, how they eat, etc.

We make a large anchor chart with pictures of each type and added on the labels. After, they do the cut and paste activity to practice labeling the parts of whales.

parts of a whale labeledd diagram anchor chart for kids

I always want my students to learn and understand new vocabulary with each new theme we undertake. For our study about whales, I give small groups of students a few different theme words to study.

Whales for Kids: Nonfiction Book

They each have a non-fiction book about whales, and I ask them to use the glossary at the back of the book to help them.

Define the word.
Illustrate the meaning of their word.
Teach the class.

We previously learn about non-fiction text features so that my students know what a glossary is and why people used them.

Students love this activity. They are engaged and working the whole time. They do a great job of clearly illustrating each word.

When it comes time to teach the class, they are ready and willing with their theme words. Using this method, the whole class learns about more than their new word. They learn the meanings of many new whale words they never knew before.

As a culminating activity at the end of our whale unit, I ask my class to write a non-fiction story about whales. They are allowed to write whatever they have learned. They can also use the information from the anchor charts posted around the room.

I used this as my assessment piece. Students illustrate one type of whale of their choosing and to label it using a ruler.

It’s a beautiful feeling at the end of any unit to witness the products of my students’ learning!

whales for kids: non-fiction fact writing

Whales for Kids: Art Activity

As a fun art activity, I do a directed drawing of a beluga whale. My students get to practice on a piece of scrap paper first. Then we draw the beluga again on a large piece of black construction paper. They use white chalk pastels to color in the belugas and smudge the pastel with their fingers. Last, they cut them out and add an eye and a mouth with black pastel.