Make Way for Ducklings Unit Study
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Make Way for Ducklings Theme
Make Way for Ducklings
by Robert McCloskey is a wonderful introduction to a unit study about ducks. As a homeschooling Mom as well as a classroom teacher I found Make Way for /Ducklings to be an exciting way to explore all areas of the curriculum.
Rubber ducks can line-up in ABC order. Observe the habitat around the duck pond carefully and then create a cooperative bulletin board collage to show what you have learned. Add and subtract the ducklings as they hop in and out of the duck pond.
Make way for the ducklings and waddle on over for lots more hands-on, educational learning activities...
by Robert McCloskey is a wonderful introduction to a unit study about ducks. As a homeschooling Mom as well as a classroom teacher I found Make Way for /Ducklings to be an exciting way to explore all areas of the curriculum.Rubber ducks can line-up in ABC order. Observe the habitat around the duck pond carefully and then create a cooperative bulletin board collage to show what you have learned. Add and subtract the ducklings as they hop in and out of the duck pond.
Make way for the ducklings and waddle on over for lots more hands-on, educational learning activities...
Photo Credit: Mallard Duckling by _PaulS_
on Flickr, Creative Commons
Ducklings Table of Contents
Ducklings on Boston Common
Photo Credit: Ducklings from Make Way for Ducklings on Boston Common
on Flickr, Creative Commons.
Make Way for Ducklings
has always been one of our favorite stories. I often read the book as we rode the subway into town to visit Boston Common, The Corner Bookstore or when we went to feed the ducks on the pond.At the edge of Boston Common, just as you cross the street from the Corner Bookstore there is a row of duck statues made from brass that children love to pat, sit on and admire. This is an artist's tribute to Robert McCloskey's ducks from Make Way for Ducklings.
If you are ever in Boston be sure to visit these duck statues.
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Language Arts
Make Way for Ducklings
by Robert McCloskey
Photo Credit: Make Way for Ducklings
Available on Amazon
What better way to start off this unit study than to read the book that inspired it, Make Way for Ducklings. It has be a favorite of ours for years. Make sure that you have plenty of copies in your classroom for all the children to read during Silent Reading time.
Mr. and Mrs. Mallard from Make Way for Ducklings
Stuffed Ducks for Reading With
As we begin reading the story, Make Way for Ducklings, I introduce Mr. and Mrs. Mallard and then bring out the ducklings as they are first mentioned in the book. I pass out a duck to each of the children so that they have a duck to snuggle with as they listen to the story. We give each of the ducklings a necklace with it's name on it. Then we practice putting the ducklings in ABC Order.
Note: If you have more children than the number of ducks in the story, you could have the children help you name more ducks according to the alphabet, take turns with the ducks or ask the children for suggestions.
Note: If you have more children than the number of ducks in the story, you could have the children help you name more ducks according to the alphabet, take turns with the ducks or ask the children for suggestions.
Ducklings Play Follow the Leader
Ducklings in Alphabetical Order
Ducklings Play Follow the Leader
Buy This Allposters.com
Write the names of each of the ducklings on the rubber ducks and then ask the children to put them in ABC order.
This makes a wonderful activity for the first few children who come into the classroom as they wait for others to arrive.
As the end of the day when the children are lining up to go home I show random ducklings to the children in line. They read the name of the duckling and then we put it in a basket to sleep for the night.
NOTE: This activity could also be done with the children's names instead and be set up to help take attendance.
Unit Studies and Lesson Plans for Make Way for Ducklings
- Make Way For Ducklings | Five in a Row | TheHomeSchoolMom.com
- Five in a Row homeschooling resources for Make Way For Ducklings | Five in a Row | TheHomeSchoolMom.com including lesson plans, worksheets, author websites, illustrator websites, go-alongs, and more.
- Make Way for Ducklings Literature Guide - TeacherVision.com
- Make Way for Ducklings is the ideal book to entertain and teach with. This lesson plan includes activities and resources to go with the book.
-uck Word Family Worksheets
Duck Themed Phonics Lessons
Teach a phonics or spelling lesson related to the Make Way for Ducklings story by focusing on the -uck words. Create a list of words that rhyme with duck then use them to create poetry.
-uck Word Family Activities
Charts and printable -uck word activities. See, Say, Spell and Write. Rhyming words.1 point
-uck Word Family - Worksheets and Printables
-uck word family activities - worksheets and printables. Talking flash cards, word jumble, word search, alphabetical order manipulatives and worksheet for these words: chuck, cluck, muck, stuck, duck, shuck, truck, luck, stuck and tuck.1 point
Duck Words
Duck Vocobulary
Photo Credit: Mallard Family
From WPClipart
Post the outline of the Adult Duck in the center of the bulletin board showing a duck pond scene. Label the parts of a duck using yarn and index cards to help the children spell and use words such as feather, bill, feet, head, neck, tail, wing, etc.
Keep a stack of duck shaped papers near the bulletin board. Whenever you run across a word related to ducks, write it on a duckling and add it to the bulletin board.
On the side of the bulletin board, list words that are more distantly related to the word duck such as evade, dodge, etc.
List of words containing duck
List all words that contain duck1 point
Words related to duck - Thesaurus
Related / Similar Words: duck's egg, hedge, fudge, evade, put off, circumvent, parry, elude, skirt, dodge, sidestep, dip, douse1 point
Color the Duck
Duck Outline coloring page from Supercoloring1 point
Color the Duckling
Free Duck Coloring Pages1 point
Math
Count Your Ducklings
Duck Math
Mother's Helper
Plumb, Henry G.
Buy at AllPosters.com
At the sensory table., set up a bowl of water for the pond and a nest colored towel that has been arranged in a nest shape nearby. Set up the sensory table near a magnetic whiteboard for recording math problems. Use a dry erase marker for writing :
____ ducks in the pond.
____ ducks in the nest.
____ ducks all together.
Children move the ducks in and out of the pond and then use magnetic numbers to record their findings.
This activity could be done on paper but many children have difficulty not getting the paper wet and we have found that the magnet numbers and whtiteboard are lots of fun.
How Do You Count a Dozen Ducklings?
Mini Rubber Ducks
Available on Amazon
Start by counting 12 ducklings one by one as they line up behind Mrs. Mallard.
Then try to arrange them 2 by 2 and skip counting by 2's.
Can you line them up 3 by 3?
Continue the pattern.
Will you be able to line them up 5 by 5?
Keep trying with each of the other numbers.
Duckling Math
Math activities inspired by reading Make Way for Ducklings
Probability, Area Measurement and Data Management more...1 point
Science
Ducklings Learn about Water
Duck Pond Science
- Using Make Way for Ducklings to teach about Bird Migration
- This lesson teaches bird migration by using the award winning Caldecott Medal honor book: Make Way for Ducklings. It accesses a website to give a history of the book and the plot. It promotes student interaction through discussion, internet information and activities to include computer games, videos, and color sheets.
- It's Raining! It's Pouring!
- As the Rain Pours Down the Learning Soars...Water, rain, puddles, wetness...This lens will give you dozens of ideas, resources, hints and tricks to create water-themed rainy activities for both homeschool families and classrooms.There are endless possibilities to spark the interest of your wet littl
The Duck Pond
Learning about the Duck's Habitat
Duck and Ducklings
English School
Buy at AllPosters.com
Make a bulletin board from the art your children produce and then set up an aquarium just below that with a sensory table nearby. As you learn more about the duck pond, the animals that live in the pond and the plants that grow there, add them to the bulletin board with words that label them large enough for the children to see them when writing.
Hatching Ducklings
Observation of Ducks
Boy Holding a Duckling
Roberts, H....
Buy at AllPosters.com
What an experience it is to watch the duck eggs hatch. They are born wet but soon their feathers dry out and fluff up. Nothing beats the opportunity to actually observe this process first hand.
Social Studies
Where did the Ducklings Live?
Geography of Make Way for Ducklings
Boston, Massachusetts - View of the Boston Common Frog Pond
Buy at AllPosters.com
many times during this unit and each time we focused on a different aspect. To understand the geography of the Boston Area and learn about where the ducks traveled in the story, we rearrange the classroom using chairs or pillows, the rug or pathways to represent the Corner Bookstore, the Boston Common, the Duck Pond, or the street where Officer Clancy helped them cross.
Photo Credit: The Old Corner Bookstore by Boston Public Library used under creative commons
Photo Credit: Ducklings on Boston Common by Jeremy Burgin used under creative commons
Photo Credit: Duck Pond on Boston Common by David Paul Ohmer used under creative commons
Photo Credit: Charles Street in Boston by Mulad used under creative commons
- NJ Tech Teacher Musings: Make Way For Ducklings - A Year Later
- This teacher uses Google Earth and other media sources to create a lesson in geography for k-3 students related to Make Way for Ducklings.
- Make Way For Ducklings Interactive Map | Schwartzster.com
- Make Way For Ducklings Interactive Map
The map above follows the journey of the Mallard Family in the classic Make Way For Ducklings by Robert McCloskey, complete with photos a - GoogleLitTrips
- GoogleLitTrips use Google Earth to take you on a tour of the places mentioned in Make Way for Ducklings.
Art
Colors of the Mallard Duck
Duck Art
Art is a vital part of any unit study and this unit study about Make Way for Ducklings is no exception. Set out yellow and green paint at the easel and allow children to discover how these colors combine to make green. Use these paintings to cut out vegetation for the bulletin board.
Study the artwork of famous painters of ducks such as Audubon, noticing the shapes and colors he used to make his ducks look so realistic. Allow the children to use crayons, watercolors or other materials to draw and color ducks as they learn more about Mallards and other species of ducks.
Over the course of the Make Way for Ducklings Unit Study, use the artwork that the children produce to make a bulletin board habitat collage, use them to illustrate books that they write and use them to illustrate cards to be used to play Go Fish or Concentration. Make sure to have the children label the illustrations to promote reading and writing skills.
Photo Credit:Mallard Ducks by Lantern Press Available on Allposters
Photo Credit: Mallard Duck Drawing used under creative commons
Photo Credit: Ducks on the Pond used under creative commons
- Make Way for Ducklings Art Lesson | Scholastic.com
- Like Robert McCloskey, children will discover that observing something up close can help them get the details just right in their own drawings. Though you may not be able to invite ducks into your classroom, bring in stuffed animals!
- Duckling Parade Lesson Plan
- Duckling Parade Make Way for Ducklings! Create dioramas depicting scenes from this children's classic about a family of mallards who live in the Boston Public Garden.
1. Read Make Way for Ducklings by Robert - AEContent - Make Way For Ducklings: A Link to a Study About Cities
- Many young children who live in suburbs quite close to the city have very little experience going into the city, nor do they have an appreciation for the architectural riches that cities provide. In this interdisciplinary unit students will come to an understanding of the differences between cities and towns.
Duck and Duckling Templates
Use the duckling templates or cookie cutters to create books shaped like ducks. Duck shaped books are wonderful for recording duck words, duck observations or writing duck stories.
- Duckling Templates
- Two-sided duckling with separate wings and feet.
- Mallard Duck Template
- Color the Mallard Duck
- Duckling Glove Puppet
- Make ducklings for each finger using yellow rubber gloves, orange felt triangles and googly eyes from Christa Vaghi
Make Way for Ducklings Tablescape
Creating a Tablescape for Make Way for Ducklings
Photo Credit: Make Way for Ducklings Tablescape by Manchester Library
Used under creative commons
Recently the library in Manchester, NH was asked to create a tablescape depicting the setting of Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey. These photos show stages in its creation.
Show your children these examples and then make your own tablescape. After rereading the book, brainstorm the various settings. Each child might choose a different place to create on your table scape. Will you use clothespins and painted cardboard as they did in the library or will you use other mediums?
Photo Credit: Swan Boats Tablescape by Manchester Library
Used under creative commons
Music
Singing about Ducks
The song Five Little Ducks form the Raffi CD is not only a fun song to sing about ducklings but can be a fun way to entertain children as they waddle down the hall to lunch.
Six Little Ducks is a completely different song. We use that song to learn about subtraction, counting backwards and always coming back when you are called. This song also has quite a few words in it that contain the diphthong, th. After throughly learning the song, when the children can follow along pointing to the words, we use the chart of this song to look for words containing the diphthong, th. As these words are discovered children write each word on a feather (Notice that feather has a th).
Later the children can use the feathers during center time to look for the matching words on the chart. Singing the song quietly to themselves helps them to remember the words that they are reading.
Photo Credit: Duck and Flying Ducklings
Available on Allposters
Physical Education
The Duck Dance
Dance Like a Duck
Children can get lots of exercise and have lots of fun dressing up as ducks and dancing the duck dance.
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Culmination
Lapbooks for Make Way for Ducklings
Please add your Make Way for Duckling Lapbook links...
Photo Credit: Officer Clancy from Make Way for Ducklings
on Flickr, Creative Commons.
You never know where you are going to find content related to a unit study. This picture is from Make Way for Ducklings showing Officer Clancy as he helps the duck family cross the street. It seems to have been displayed on the back of a truck.
The following are examples of lapbooks that are used to illustrate learning activities children did while doing a Make Way for Ducklings Unit Study. As you do your unit study, be sure to take pictures, make a lapbook, tell all about it on a Squidoo lens and then link it here.
Living and Learning: Make Way for Ducklings Lapbook
More examples of possible activities to include in a Make Way for Ducklings Lapbook.2 points
Make Way for Ducklings - lapbook
Includes pictures and descriptions of the elements of the Make Way for Ducklings lapbook.1 point
Make Way for Ducklings Lapbook p
Includes pictures and descriptions of the elements of the Make Way for Ducklings lapbook.1 point
The Reed Family Blog: Make Way for Ducklings Lapbook
Many different resources can be used to collect information and have it all come together in a beautiful lapbook. This link not only shows the pictures of their lapbook but also sites sources.1 point
Make Way For Ducklings Traveling Buddy Backpack Project
As each classroom receives the backpack, they email our class and let us know how Jake is spending his week with their students. The classrooms send us pictures for us to publish on the web.1 point
Robert McCloskey wrote Make Way for Ducklings
Biography of Robert McCloskey
Robert McCloskey grew up in Maine and wrote many stories besides Make Way for Ducklings
about the lives of children including Blueberries for Sal 
.
Ducklings for your Learning Centers
D is a Duck
Buy at AllPosters.com
Sometimes you find puzzles and sometimes you find rubber duck but whatever you find there will be something you can do to turn it into a learning center.
Look Who's Twittering about Make Way for Ducklings
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- hippiejennie
- Make Way for Ducklings - What a joy it was to watch some of these dent their shells, and then break out into the wor... http://t.co/6yKUnIJp
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- hippiejennie
- Make Way for Ducklings - What a joy it was to watch some of these dent their shells, and then break out into the wor... http://t.co/qBgJSYJ7
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- signmoses
- Exclusive Sculpture Exhibition by Renowned Make Way for Ducklings Artist Nancy Schön http://t.co/dnOMFI87 via @newspin
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- BodyHealthFitne
- Exclusive Sculpture Exhibition by Renowned Make Way for Ducklings Artist Nancy Sch: Boston/Brookli... http://t.co/4HBqz71s #bodybuilding
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- mahvrick
- Exclusive Sculpture Exhibition by Renowned Make Way for Ducklings... http://t.co/qsmIOzti
automatically generated by Twitter
Learn more about Birds
Make Way for Ducklings Unit Study Activity Suggestions
More activities to accompany a Make Way for Ducklings Unit Study
Make Way for Ducklings is such a popular book and unit study that many teachers over the years have developed activities to accompany it. Here are some additional resources with ideas to enrich your learning time. Look for activities that you know your children will enjoy as well as activities that are open ended enough for all children to learn and grow in skills and comprehension.
Make Way for Ducklings Activities from Live Oak Media
Suggested activities to accompany a Make Way for D more...1 point
Create a Make Way for Ducklings Word Wall
Suggested vocabulary words from Robert McCloskey's more...1 point
Make Way for Ducklings - Open Court
Educational resources from Open Court1 point
Quacking about Ducks
Have you used Make Way for Ducklings to teach your children?
Please tell us how you have used these ideas with your children or tell us about other ways that you have used the story Make Way for Ducklings to teach your children.
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gypsykitschpress
May 29, 2012 @ 2:44 pm | delete
- So darn cute. Love this lens.
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AlleyCatLane
Apr 28, 2012 @ 11:15 pm | delete
- You must be a fantastic teacher. Your study lenses are always so thorough, creative and fun.
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JoyfulReviewer
Apr 27, 2012 @ 7:27 pm | delete
- I love how you so brilliantly tie the subject to so many different areas, like math and music ... greatly enhancing the learning experience. ~~Blessed~~
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myfairladyah
Apr 2, 2012 @ 5:55 pm | delete
- one of our family favorites also
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naturegirl7 Aug 14, 2011 @ 8:20 pm | delete
- Make Way for Ducklings is one of my favorite children's books. You always write such good units. Sprinkled with dust from the Angel of the farmyard on a Back to School Field Trip and featured on 70 Super Angel Blessed Squidoo Pages.
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Spook
May 28, 2011 @ 5:29 am | delete
- Quite simply, brilliant. Wish I was a kid again.
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akumar46
May 15, 2011 @ 10:19 am | delete
- Your ideas of teaching children are brilliant.
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annmackiemiller May 15, 2011 @ 9:50 am | delete
- amazing lens - those sculptures are wonderful. Angel blessed and featured on Angel Blessed in May
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JoyfulPamela
Apr 2, 2010 @ 10:32 am | delete
- As requested, here is the address of the "Birds of the Air" lens. It earned a purple star yesterday!!
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Evelyn_Saenz
Apr 2, 2010 @ 1:37 pm | delete
- Congratualtions on the well deserved Purple Star!
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JoyfulPamela
Mar 24, 2010 @ 6:56 am | delete
- I'm back! I'm going to add this to my educational bird lens for people. Thanks!
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JoyfulPamela
Mar 12, 2010 @ 4:32 pm | delete
- Terrific, , Evelyn!
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eclecticeducation
Mar 11, 2010 @ 9:34 pm | delete
- Another great unit study that you have done! :) We had a duck nest in our backyard (we live in the suburbs!) 2 years in a row. I miss it and wish it would come back. Blessed by an Angel.
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Evelyn_Saenz
Mar 12, 2010 @ 11:02 am | delete
- One year we watched a mother duck and her babies. We would observe them carefully and could even recognize individuals the second year. Ducks are so much fun. I hope you have a pair of ducks come make a nest this year.
Thank you so much for the Blessing, SquidAngel.
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amy1980
Oct 20, 2009 @ 3:19 pm | delete
- We were just in Boston in July, and the little ducks were dressed up in Independence garb. I guess they dress them up for the holidays! Such a cute book, and we'll definitely be taking the kids to see all the wonderful places in Boston from the book.
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Evelyn_Saenz
Aug 24, 2009 @ 2:06 pm | in reply to KimGiancaterino | delete
- Thank you, Kim.
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KimGiancaterino Aug 24, 2009 @ 1:58 pm | delete
- Delightful... I'm featuring this lens on my Squid Angel Diary this week.
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About the Author of this Duck Unit Study
Let's write about Ducklings
Come write about ducklings on Wizzley, a fun and easy place to express your opinion:
by Evelyn_Saenz
My passion is teaching and finding ways to teach children in fun, hands-on, creative ways. The unit studies I make on Squidoo reflect my view that learning... more »
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