Ready or Not, Dawdle Duckling
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National Science Education Standards
Content Standards K-4

Ready or Not, Dawdle Duckling has curriculum connections in both Science and Language Arts content areas. It may be used to address one of the six Science Content Standards K-4 as published by the National Research Council in National Science Education Standards.

  CONTENT STANDARD C—Life Sciences

Ready or Not, Dawdle Duckling also offers many curriculum connections in the Language Arts.  It may be used to address six of the 12 standards as published in Standards for the English Language Arts by the NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) and the IRA (International Reading Association):

Standard 3 (strategies for comprehension, interpretation, evaluation, and appreciation of texts)

Standard 5 (strategies for writing and using writing process elements)

Standard 6 (applied knowledge of language, media, and genre)

Standard 8 (use of technology in research and communication)

Standard 12 (communicating for a purpose)

Many of these Science and Language Arts content standards can be addressed when working with Ready or Not, Dawdle Duckling.  In addition, Mapping the Cove addresses Social Studies standards, while many of the activities, particularly Hiding Here, Hiding There, address Information Literacy standards.

For a full chapter of standards based curriculum activities for Ready or Not, Dawdle Duckling, see the book Toni Buzzeo and YOU.

Sharing animal camouflage books with students will help them to gain knowledge and begin to think about how camouflage helps animals to survive.  There are three books that you might want to share.  I See Animals Hiding by Jim Arnosky (Scholastic, 1995) explains, through water color illustration and text, how coloration, seasonal changes, and body shape enable animals to escape danger in their habitats.  In We Hide, You Seek by Jose Aruego and Ariane Dewey (Greenwillow, 1979) when his East African animal friends challenge Rhino to play hide-and-seek, he goes on a hunt to find all the animals camouflaged in their native habitat.  Hard-to-See Animals by Allan Fowler (Children’s Press, 1997) is a Rookie Read-About-Science title that uses illustrations and brief text to explain how a variety of animals use their coloring to camouflage themselves in their environments.

FIND OUT MORE

About Teaching about Ducks: Explore the topic of duck teaching from the links on the author's webpage. 

About Wetland Habitats.  Consider subscribing to Ducks Unlimited Puddler magazine for children up to age 11.  For only $10 a year, your class can join as a Greenwing member and receive four issues of the magazine.

SAMPLE CURRICULUM ACTIVITIES (A complete standards-based curriculum guide for Ready or Not, Dawdle Duckling is available in the book Toni Buzzeo and YOU)

Hiding Here, Hiding There: Dawdle Duckling and his siblings find many places to hide at the watery shore.  Ask students to name all of the places the ducklings find to hide.  Then, ask them to list the three friends Dawdle calls on to help him hide.

Now, ask students to think of different baby animals, for example, those that live in the forest like rabbits, squirrels, or raccoons or those who live in the ocean like crabs, jellyfish, or starfish.  Have students imagine that these babies and their siblings are trying to hide from their mamas.  Where are some of the places they might find to hide in their environment?  Who are the friends living nearby in their habitat that might help to hide these animals?  (Wildlife and Plants of the World, published by Marshall Cavendish, 1999, is an excellent reference set for use by primary students, if you’d like to do some research.)

Nature’s Hide-and-Seek: In Ready or Not, Dawdle Duckling, Dawdle and his siblings hide on purpose.  But in nature, many animals play hide-and-seek just by blending with their environment when they are camouflaged.  Discuss camouflage with students.