A hands-on, 40-50 minute craft project where students build a small diorama of one animal habitat, add two animals that genuinely live there, and label what the habitat provides them — the topic's main "Apply" activity, extending the Habitats Worksheet into something students make rather than just fill in.
This is the one genuinely hands-on, creative resource in the Grade 2 Animals topic, designed to follow directly after the Habitats Worksheet while the six habitats are still fresh. Students choose one habitat, build a simple background, add two habitat-appropriate animals (drawn, cut out, or toy figures), and write two labels — one naming the habitat, one naming what it provides. A requirements checklist keeps the project focused on content over craft, and built-in sentence starters support students who are still building confidence with spoken academic English during the share-out.
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Watch for students defaulting to whichever habitat is easiest to draw (e.g. everyone picking Forest) rather than the one they understand best — a quick show-of-hands on habitat choice before starting can help you nudge for variety, which also makes the share-out more interesting.
SUPPORT: Work with a partner; choose animals directly from the Habitats Worksheet's Part B list rather than generating new ones.
ON-LEVEL: Completes independently using the 6 steps as written.
CHALLENGE: Adds a third animal to the diorama and explains what would happen to it if placed in a different habitat.
Score with the Grade 2 Animals Unit Grading Rubric (Accuracy, Reasoning, Completion, Communication — out of 12), using the rubric's dedicated Diorama Mini-Project score sheet. This project intentionally does not have a fixed-answer key, since habitat choice and animal choice are open.
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