River Otters: Playful Friends of the Woodlands!

Turn you Classroom into A Wet and Wild River Otter Habitat

Learn about River Otters through games and hands-on learning centers. Decorate your classroom with a Woodlands Riverbank Theme.

Learn the habits of River Otters, the food they eat and how they raise their young. You will find suggestions for both fiction and non-fiction books about river otters and discover the difference between River Otters and Sea Otters.

Check out the ideas for Word Walls, Poetry, Songs, Flashcards and lots of other games related to river otters.

There are math activities for understanding river otter measurements and ideas for making a Lapbook to use as a portfolio to culminate your River Otter Unit Study.

River Otter Table of Contents

How to Make a Tree
Create a Riverbank Habitat in your Classroom!
Word Wall in the Tree
Hot Root Soup File Folder Game for Riverotters
Word Walls
A River Otter's Personal Office
River Otters Read the Room
Center Time
Little Joe Otter
River Otter Habitat
River Otter Math
Little Joe Otter looks for patterns in the fish.
The Science of River Otters
River Games
Art, Music and Drama
Little Joe Otter's Literacy Bag
River Otter Coloring Pages
River Otters on eBay
Fish Catching Games
River Otters in the News!
Animals that Live on the River or Riverbank
Other Water Related Unit Studies
River Otter Cousins
Friends of the River Otters
The Riverotters are in the Four Wheeler's Online Unit Study Directory
Evelyn's Hands-On Learning Blog
Look Who's Talking about River Otters
Follow EvelynSaenz on Twitter
About the Author of this Riverotter Lens
The Riverotters are on the Isle of Squid

River Otters, land or water animals?

Lutra canadensis

The most aquatic of "land" mammals, the river otter is well adapted to fishing in cold northern waters. This web-footed weasel has a thick layer of insulating fat under its short, dense fur , thus allowing for year-round activity. They may be 125 centimetres long and weigh 11 kilograms.

Otters have never been abundant in Alberta. Moderate numbers still occur throughout the mixedwood, northern foothill and montane zones. In the winter their tracks may be found along frozen streambeds where they search for icefree holes to hunt fish, freshwater clams and other aquatic animals. Because of their size and habits, otters have few natural enemies.

Mating usually occurs in February. One to four kits are born in late April, often in an abandoned muskrat den.

This information comes from Alberta Fish and Wildlife.

How to Make a Tree

Meet Grandfather Tree who tells River Otter Tales

During the summer a group of parents helped Mrs. Seagraves by making a tree for the corner of her classroom. She used it to tell stories to the children and introduce them to new Creatures of the Woodlands.

Make a Tree

Mrs. Seagraves says,

"Meet Grandforest Tree. He lives in our Environmental Center Classroom, and he has many tales to tell. We love to listen to him tell us stories about nature and the environment.

He has a really neat voice. We also like to try to find the different creatures which make their home in and around Grandforest Tree.

If you look carefully, you might find a bat, preying mantis, a 5 lined skink, an opossum, a raccoon, a snail, ants, or a river otter! We like to use the puppets and tell our own stories just like Grandforest Tree."

River otters live along river where trees hang over the bank. Grandforest Tree watches over the Little Joe Otter and his family as they slide down the bank and splash into the water.

Meet Grandforest Tree: Meet Grandforest Tree, a talking tree who tells tales about environmental education to children

Create a Riverbank Habitat in your Classroom!

More Ideas to bring the River Otters' Habitat to Life

The Salamander Room is a great read aloud for introducing the River Otter Habitat to your students. A young boy imagines how he could turn his room into the perfect habitat for a salamander.

I made a recording of it and have Grandfather Tree read it to the children.

The Salamander Room (Dragonfly Books)

by: Anne Mazer

The Salamander Room
A young boy finds a salamander and thinks of the many things he can do to make a perfect home for it. His room actually turns into the salamander's habitat.Otters eat salamanders and live in the same area. Check this book out for ideas to transform your habitat.

Amazon Price: $6.99 (as of 12/15/2009)

Exploring the Forest With Grandforest Tree: A Story of Seasonal Activities for the Curious Child

by: Joanne Dennee, Julia Hand

Exploring the Forest With Grandforest Tree
Meet Grandforest Tree. He lives in our Environmental Center Classroom, and he has many tales to tell. We love to listen to him tell us stories about nature and the environment. He has a really neat voice. We also like to try to find the different creatures which make their home in Grandforest Tree. If you look carefully, you will find a bat, preying mantis, a 5 lined skink, an opossum, a raccoon, a snail, ants, and much more! We like to use the puppets and tell our own stories just like Grandforest Tree.

Amazon Price: (as of 12/15/2009)

The Tree House provides a shady Theater for your River Otters

Set up a Computer in the Tree for River Otter Movies

For a simpler version of Grandfather Tree try buying one or making one from a refrigerator box. There are great videos on Youtube showing how river otters swim, dive, slide and play that you could set up to play on a computer set in a hallow hole behind a panel in Grandfather Tree's trunk..

Playhouse Tree

Amazon Price: (as of 12/15/2009)

The Interactive River Otter Bulletin Board

Let your little River Otters help to make the scene grow.

Bulletin Board:
River Otters live in the woodlands near ponds and streams. To make the pond or stream:

1. Start by covering your bulletin board with an old blue sheet (paint it if it's not blue) to resemble a river or pond.
2. Have the kids experiment with blue and yellow paint on large paper at the easel.
3. Once they are dry the kids can cut them out in the shapes of leaves, treetops, bushes, grasses, sedges etc.

4. Cut index cards to resemble fish and use these for children to record the names of books they have read. (River Otters love to eat fish.)
5. Use the overhead projector to blow up the outline of an otter to it's actual size.
6. Cut out the otter and attach it to the bulletin board with the caption "Fishing for good books to read".
7. An air bubble could be added above each fish for each additional child who has read the book.

More River Otter Bulletin Board Ideas

Make Your Walls Come Alive!

Your Bulletin Board can become another river otter habitat within the classroom.

Wetlands Mural: To make a Word Wall for your River Otter Unit make a diorama such as the one your see here. This diorama is based on the real Wading Bird Rookery diorama at the American Museum of Natural History!

Ask the children to suggest words to post on the bulletin board to help during Writing Workshop.

Encourage your Little River Otters to read in the River Otter Reading Nook

Turn your Reading Loft into a River Otter's Den

River Otter's Den:

1. Ask your parents to build you a reading loft or check out the links to ones you can buy below.
2. Use an old refrigerator box to create a treetrunk around it or in one corner.
3. Line it with pillows and have a bin of otter books available.
4. Set up a CD player with Nature Sounds to very quietly play in the background.
5. Use clear Christmas lights, light rope or some means of lighting the area.
6. Add a couple of stuffed otters (see below) to cuddle with or read to.
7. A blue rug resembling a river might be added to the entrance.

Word Wall in the Tree

These Magnetic Leaves are perfect for writing words on. They can be attached to magnetic boards, filing cabinets or any other metal surfaces in the room.

As it gets near the ceiling, the branches could continue onto the ceiling along with the leaves and branches along the ceiling above the reading area. Some of the leaves could hang a little further down and have words written on them. Write the same word on each side so that as they move around everyone can still read them. For example these are ideas for animals that could be found up in the tree:

Lear Words

Photo Credit: Word Wall Words
on Flickr, Creative Commons.

bird
chipmunk
bluejay
crow
owl
squirrel

Have the kids suggest other words and make more leaves. Look for ideas in "Little Joe Otter" and other books by Thornton Burgess.

(Please note that the SquidTeam is working on the photo issue with this module.)

Picture Books for the Otter's Den

Supply the den with a good assortment of picture books such as Playful Slider by Barbara Juster Esbensen and My Little Book of River Otters which tell the life cycle of these playful little creatures. Otters Underwater by Jim Arnosky is written in large print with very few words per page making it ideal for beginning readers.

Little Joe Otter and other books in the series bring the woodlands to life with cute little fictional characters. Each chapter is only a page or so long so that they work very well in a classroom setting for story hour.

Playful Slider: The North American River Otter explores the world of the North American river otter, describing the playful mammal's behavior and characteristics.

Adventures of Little Joe...

Playful Slider: The North...

Otters under Water (Pictu...

My Little Book of River O...

The Brook Book

Another River Otter Den idea

Turn the Lemming's Igloo into a River Otter's Den

This shows a lemming nest at the beginning of the unit when it is still winter. Later we cover it with brown blankets to turn it into spring and then green for the grass of summer. We use rope lights to see inside to read. After you have finished studying Lemmimgs you can turn your Igloo/Lemming Tunnel into a River Otter Den for quiet reading time.

See other ideas for a Bluebird Meadow Theme, Frog Unit Study or a Mouse Theme.

This Igloo can easily be adapted to the following Unit Studies

The Igloo changes with the seasons. In Fall the mice use it to store seeds of knowlege (Books they are learning to read.) In winter it is a Lemming Den. As spring arrives it becomes a Woodchuck's Den. Then the Frogs use it as a place to bury themselves in the mud, reading away the winter, until they emerge in the late spring. As summer nears we use it as a bird blind to watch the Bluebirds, Purple Gallinules and Alligators.

Lemmings: Falling into the Sea of Knowledge

When the winds start to howl and the snow begins to blow you can capture your student's attention with this innovative Arctic Unit Study focusing on lemmings. Your little lemmings will be excited to learn with a theme that includes little furry crea...

Woodchucks Under the Porch

Woodchucks chuck wood and Groundhogs determine the coming of spring. They eat your garden, dig holes under the porch but look adorable when they are first born and start to venture out of their dens. Watching the woodchuck babies venturing out from...

Whitefoot the Wood Mouse: A Mouse Unit Study

Whitefoot welcomes homeschoolers, teachers, parents and children to turn into mice, scurry through the tunnels and sniff out learning opportunities in every corner. Whitefoot the Wood Mouse welcomes everyone to his nest where learning never ends. He...

Frog Unit Study: Hopping to Learn

Take trips to the frog pond. Become a frog and play games and sing songs, gobble up the insect words and swat the fly verbs. This lens will give you dozens of ideas, resources, hints and tricks to create frog-themed activities for both homeschool fam...

Bluebirds of the Meadow

Summer nears and the bluebirds start nesting along the fenceline. The children are fascinated with the way they fly back and forth to build their nests. They become the focus of our next Unit Study, Bluebirds of the Meadow. As your little bluebirds...

Plush River Otters

Cute little River Otters for snuggling and reading to!

Keeping a few soft and snuggly river otters in the River Otters' Den sparks children's imaginations and encourages them to read more.

Plush River Otter Puppet...

Plush River Otter 8"

Safari Incredible Creatur...

Reading Outside the River Otter Den

Busy little river otters can be reading all day long in every corner and under every bush!

RHYMING AND CHORAL READING: Poems and songs about otters should be printed on large poster paper, laminated and hung near the Calendar. (See Otter Math) Read and sing these each morning at calendar time. Choose a student to hold the pointer (maybe a cat-o-nine tail or a willow twig) to help everyone follow along. Call on students to find words that illustrate various phonics rules or grammar rules. Laminating allows you to use dry erase markers on them. During center time they can

-trace over words beginning with a certain letter
-find words with a short o as in otter
-underline the verbs
-circle the nouns

Many more ideas for teaching beginning readers will keep your little otters busy during Center Time.

Nature's Otter Blueprints

Nature created the River Otter....Ever wonder how?

Otters are fish-eating mustelids (related to ferrets) known for rudder-like tails, flipper-like feet, and a silent dive that is always followed by expert swimming of an extremely hydrodynamic mammal.

An otter's eyes and nose are located near the top of its head so that it doesn't have to stick its head out of the water to breath or look around, which would attract predators. It's mouth is full of sharp teeth for catching, killing, and ripping up fish, and are also good for opening rock-weakened shells of clams and mussels.

Reading in the Bathroom: Post quotes from books you are reading in the bathroom with the name of the Author. Hang Posters labeled with words they are learning. Ask children for suggestions. The more they are involved the more likely they are to read, remember, and take care of their habitat.

River Otter Charts and Graphs

CHARTS AND GRAPHS: Make charts and graphs of the information you learn as you study about River Otters. Post these around the room, add to and refer to them throughout your River Otter Unit Study.

Hotroot Soup, a River Otter Song

This is a song sung by a River Otter a book by Brian Jacques

Hotroot Soup
(A song sung by Folrig the Otter)

When I was just a liddle beast,
I was so small and weak,
I'd often fall flat on me tail,
An' I could 'ardly speak.
I scarce could totter round the the floor, Me whiskers used to droop,
'Til granma made a great big pot
Of good ole 'otroot soup!
An now I'm brisker than a bee,
River Otter

More fitter than a mole,
Most every day I 'ear granma say,
'Give 'im another bowl!'
I'll live a thousand seasons,
Grow strong as any tree,
Give me a spoon an' fetch it soon,
Good 'otroot soup fer me.

by Brian Jacques, in "The Outcast of Redwall"

Hot Root Soup File Folder Game for Riverotters

Help the river otters match the correct spoons to the bowls of soup. Write the answers on the back for self checking.

This file folder center for practicing the 6's table was designed by a 12 year old. Check out her other designs by clicking on the link below.

Multiplication File Folder Games: File folder games for practicing multiplication facts.

River Otter Poetry

Skipper and Company sing and recite poetry!

Otter Meal
(A lil' poem for older otters)

'Twixt the puddin',
Meadowcream an' tarts,
Liddle rosehip balls an' apple minicake,
Shaped like luvverly hearts.
Me an' me otter mateys,
Don't see what we really want,
It just ain't on the table,
Though other vittles may taunt.
Hotroot Soup is what we want,
Our stommachs grumble loud,
So get us a big potfull, sir,
An' we won't complain aloud!

by Susie Saenz

Check out Susie's Everglades Poem.

Word Walls

for your River Otter Study

WORD WALL: Make sure that the wall is big enough for all children to be able to read the words from where they sit to write. Use this wall for Words related to your River Otter theme that your children need help spelling. Add just a very few words at a time and review them often.

Make other word walls all around the room.
-Post words about fish near the aquarium.
-Make a life sized drawing of an otter on a door and label it's parts.
-Make a Bulletin Board with Playful River Otters and a sign "What are we doing?" Label it "River Otter Verbs" and brainstorm verbs to add to it.

There are all kinds of activities that you can do with Word Walls to help the children learn to read and write.

More Word Wall Ideas

River Otter Word Walls

You will find lots more Word Wall ideas and ideas for learning to read on these lenses:

Word Walls and Pointers

Word walls are a collection of words for beginning readers to use to promote learning in reading and writing. WordWalls are most effective when the children help to generate them. This lens will point out various types of WordWalls used in classroom...

Beginning to Read

Mrs. Wishy Washy and The Big Bad Pig are inviting you all beginning readers to join them in the adventure of learning to read. Learn how to make Word Walls, Literacy Bags, activities for Center Time and lots, lots, more. You will find suggested begi...

A River Otter's Personal Office

Each of your Little River Otters can have a quick and easy reference folder at their desk.

PERSONAL OFFICE: Each student should have a personal office with their own list of words that they are working on and reminders of rules of editing and the pieces they are writing. Include words related to the River Otter Theme.

Kinderbears Mini Offices: Learn how to make Mini Offices

River Otters Read the Room

A River Otter Center to encourage use of the word walls that you have created

READ THE ROOM: Otters look everywhere for fish so you could cut index cards into fish shapes and use these to label the room. During circle time ask children to come up with several new words each day and attach them to those things. Later on during center time children can "Read the Room" or "Write the Room" with a partner taking turns with a pointer.

"Write the room" allows for differentiated skills practice. Children from Julie Lay's Class use a special form, grab a clipboard and off they go to "research" letters and words.
Notice the marking pens are glued (tip down) on a block of wood.

Writing to Read Kindergarten: Writing in Kindergarten is Active, Engaging and Social

Center Time

for small groups of River Otters

What follows are activities that have worked well in my classroom for Center Time.

As I transition from the Lemming Theme to River Otters I gradually change more and more centers until they all reflect the River Otter Theme. Then I begin to transition to Woodchucks
To learn more about Center Time see my lens on Beginning to Read.

Woodchucks Under the Porch

Woodchucks chuck wood and Groundhogs determine the coming of spring. They eat your garden, dig holes under the porch but look adorable when they are first born and start to venture out of their dens. Watching the woodchuck babies venturing out from...

Beginning to Read

Mrs. Wishy Washy and The Big Bad Pig are inviting you all beginning readers to join them in the adventure of learning to read. Learn how to make Word Walls, Literacy Bags, activities for Center Time and lots, lots, more. You will find suggested begi...

Beaver Unit Study

Paddy the Beaver knew perfectly well that he would have visitors just as soon as he began to build his dam. He expected a lot of them. You see he knew that none of them ever had seen a Beaver at work unless perhaps it was Prickly Porky the Porcupine,...

Raccoons in the Corn

Raccoons love to investigate. In this unit study we will be investigating the lives of raccoons with both fiction and non-fiction books, sensory table explorations and even a visit from a wild raccoon. Let Bobby Coon teach you about life on the Gree...

Lemmings: Falling into the Sea of Knowledge

When the winds start to howl and the snow begins to blow you can capture your student's attention with this innovative Arctic Unit Study focusing on lemmings. Your little lemmings will be excited to learn with a theme that includes little furry crea...

Clam Shell Flashcards

River Otters will gobble up these vocabulary games!

CLAM SHELL FLASHCARDS: Make clam shells out of cardboard. Put a picture on one side and the name of the picture on the other. Students put all the shells with the words facing up. They read the word to their partner and then turn it over to self-check. Later on they could start with the picture side up and try to spell the word.

The ABC's of River Otter Prey

A center for learning ABC order

ABC OTTER FOOD: Using sentence strips write the names of foods that otters eat. Add a picture or have the children draw one. Using a pocket chart and an alphabet chart, put the words in ABC order.
(clam, frog, salamander, snake, lizard, bird. beetle, fish)

TABLE TOP POCKET CHART ST...

Hungry River Otters Eat their Words

A Vocabulary Word Center

HUNGRY OTTERS EAT THEIR WORDS: Draw an otter on a sheet of computer paper. Cut two slits in it's stomach. Make a strip of paper to weave through showing what the otter has eaten. On the strip draw a fish, freshwater clam, turtle, snake, snail, crayfish, wasp, frog, salamander etc. Write their words. As the child pulls the strip through he/she reads the word and then pulls a little more and self checks with the picture.

River Otters "Go Fish"

The Go Fish Game with a River Otter Twist

OTTERS GO FISH: Make a deck of cards with two sets of each card to play go fish. A picture and word on one card and just the word on the other helps the children to focus on reading.

Charades: Guess who lives in the River Otters' Neighborhood

CHARADES: Make a set of cards with animals from the woodlands on acorn-shaped cardboard. Attach a can, covered in tree bark, to your tree at a height that the children can reach into. Children can take turns pulling out a card and imitate the animal until their partner guesses which one it is.

River Otters leave their Scent

River Otters learn about one of the Five Senses

WHO WENT WHERE? Otters have scent glands just like skunks and leave their marks around their territory. Just before recess have two children soak scrapes of cloth in two distictly different smelling liquids. The go out to the playground and leave the cloths all around. When the rest of the children go outside they try to find the cloths and smell them to try to guess which one left his/her scent.

River Otter Riverbed

Make the Rice Table into a Riverbed

RICE TABLE RIVERBED: Put on plastic aprons. Fill the Rice Table with mud. Add some plastic otters, and other plastic woodland animals. Scatter some birdseed onto the mud. Keep the rice table covered when not in use. Over the weekend the seeds will start to sprout. What a surprise for the children! Let them continue to explore and discover the parts of the plants. Keep a journal of their observations.

Create your own River Otter or Clam Shell Flashcards

Create and print out your own flashcards.: Flash My Brain allows you to create and save your own sets, play more games, save and view your study progress, print in a variety of formats, generate iPod flashcards, and access 100,000s more flash cards. You can manage flash card decks, splitting and combining them, and you can even import flash cards from CSV files and other formats.

All you need to get started is a net-connected computer that can run Flash Player 8. Flash My Brain is Net-powered software which means you can use it at school, work, or home.

Short a Clam Bucket

River Otters learn their Vowels

SHORT A CLAM BUCKET: Make more clams out of cardboard. Paste pictures of words with short vowel sounds on them. Attach a magnet strip to the back of each one. If the word has the sound of short a as in clam, stick it to the outside of the pail. Tin pails are still fairly inexpensive.

Sorry, there are no results available from Amazon.

HANDWRITING and SPELLING PRACTICE

River Otters learn to write

HANDWRITING and SPELLING PRACTICE: Otters live in areas with birch trees. If you can find fallen birch trees it can be fun to write on the bark with pens. (Don't strip the bark from live trees as it will kill them.) Birch Bark Paper

Otters also leave their tracks in the mud so your little otters might like writing in the mud outside, on a cookie tray covered with mud or sand, or painting their words with water outside on the playground.

When picking spelling words have each child look in their journals for words that they are having difficulty remembering how to write.

They should practice these words during the week and take a test with a partner at the end of the week. Write misspelled words in their Personal Office.

To practice their words they might to use goldfish crackers to form words and then just like little otters gobble them up.

Whole Group Reading and Writing

Gather the your whole family of River Otters together and rewrite a story or poem.

WHOLE CLASS READING AND WRITING: Read to the children at various times throughout the day. After reading City Mouse/Country Mouse you might try rewriting it as River Otter/Sea Otter. Try rewriting Chicka Chicka Boom Boom with an Oak or Maple tree. After reading Little Joe Otter try making up new adventures for the little creatures. These would also lend themselves well to puppet shows or skits.

Paper Doll River Otters!

Dress them for any holiday!

CHARLES AND BROOK OTTER
Charles and Brook are very excited because they have been invited to the Annual Toymaker's Masquerade Ball.

Click here to print out their outfits that they will wear on their trip.

paper dolls

Encourage your children to make more clothes. How would these cute little otters dress for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, the Winter Solstice, Kwanzaa, or for a birthday party?

River Otter Research

RESEARCH: Read lots of non-fiction books about otters, rivers, and woodlands. Make graphs and charts about what you learned. Write your own non-fiction and fiction books. Read several ABC books and then write a class ABC book with each child responsible for a letter of the alphabet. Brainstorm together for ideas for each letter.

Quiet Time for Little River Otters

Gather around on the rug to listen to stories.

This would be a great time to read "Little Joe Otter" by Thornton W. Burgess. This series of little books brings the woodlands to life with cute little fictional characters. Each chapter is only a page or so long so that they work very well in a classroom setting for story hour.

Little Joe Otter

A story of River Otters

.

Little Joe Otter lives in the Green Forest and swims in the Smiling Brook. He is friends with Paddy the Beaver, and Jimmy Skunk but is weary of Reddy Fox.

Little Joe Otter is a wonderful children's story that teaches lessons of conservation and love of wildlife.

Adventures of Little Joe Otter

by: Thornton W. Burgess

Amazon Price: (as of 12/15/2009)

Thornton Burgess was the Author of Little Joe Otter

More About Thornton Burgess

Childrens Care Foundation: Thornton Burgess sitting with children gathered around him at the Home for Destitute Crippled Children
Chicago Daily News, May 25, 1915
Old Mother West Wind By Thornton Burgess: It is a free etext that includes a chapter entitled "Little Joe Otter's Slippery Slide".
Thornton W. Burgess Society: The Thornton W. Burgess Society is a non-profit educational organization founded in 1976 to carry on the pioneering conservation work of author/naturalist Thornton W. Burgess (1874 - 1965). Mr. Burgess, who was born and grew up in Sandwich, MA., went on to achieve national and international recognition for his children's stories that teach lessons of conservation and love of wildlife.

Over 170 books and 15,000 stories by Burgess chronicle the tales of Peter Rabbit and his animal friends, including Jimmy Skunk, Grandfather Frog, Johnny Chuck, Sammy Jay, Reddy Fox, Hooty Owl and many others. Through these engaging stories, generations of young people have learned about the natural world and have developed an understanding of the importance of conservation of our natural resources.

MORE Picture Books for the River Otter's Den

River Otter Picture Books

After reading these books to the children I like to make them available to take home in Take Home Literacy Bags.

Puddles and Ponds (Outdoor Science Series)

by: Rose Wyler

Describes some of the many living things inhabiting or visiting puddles and ponds. Suggested hands-on activities throughout book.

Amazon Price: (as of 12/15/2009)

Rain Drop Splash

by: Alvin Tresselt

Picture book, simple story; raindrops begin to fall and eventually form a puddle which then becomes a pond and then a lake lake.

Amazon Price: (as of 12/15/2009)

Animals of the Ponds & Streams (Animals Around Us)

by: Julie Becker

Animals of the Ponds & Streams
Lots of pictures, photographs and drawings. Describes otters and nine other animals inhabiting ponds and streams. Suggests child visit pond or stream and watch quietly to observe the many inhabitants.

Amazon Price: (as of 12/15/2009)

Frogs, Toads, Lizards, and Salamanders

by: Nancy Winslow Parker, Joan Richards Wright

Describes the characteristics, habits, and natural environment of a variety of frogs, toads, lizards, and salamanders. Includes glossaries, range maps, and a bibliography and index.

Amazon Price: (as of 12/15/2009)

Otters under Water (Picture Books)

by: Jim Arnosky

Otters under Water
Two young otters swimming, playing, and feeding in a sunlit pond under the watchful gaze of their mother.

Amazon Price: $6.99 (as of 12/15/2009)

Chapter Books for Bigger River Otters

Chapter books about river otters for older children can also be used as read alouds for younger children.

Taggerung (Redwall, Book 14)

by: Brian Jacques

Redwall lovers, rejoice! The epic continues with Taggerung, the 14th book in Brian Jacques's popular series. An otter born in Redwall Abbey is kidnapped by members of an opposing clan who believe he is destined to be a great Taggerung, or warrior hero; Tagg later rebels against his adoptive tribe and goes in search of his true home.

Amazon Price: $8.99 (as of 12/15/2009)

The Ring of Bright Water Trilogy: Ring of Bright Water;the Rocks Remain;Raven Seek Thy Brother

by: Gavin Maxwell

Whoever said dog is man's best friend never met Mij! Mij is a cute, cuddly pet shop otter who captures the heart of Graham Merill (Bill Travers). It doesn't take Graham long to realize that London is no place to raise a slippery otter. So he takes Mij to live in a ramshackle cottage on the coast of Scotland. Together they set out to explore the curious and magnificent natural wonders that surround their seaside home--from orphaned geese to tooth-less sharks. While Mij spends his days frolicking in the icy cold sea, Graham finds himself falling in love with the beautiful town doctor, Mary (Virginia McKenna). Before long, the three become inseparable friends.

Amazon Price: (as of 12/15/2009)

River Otter Habitat

A River Otter would be at home on the banks of this river.

River Otter Habitat

A waterfall in Franconia Notch State Park, New Hampshire. Thank you kiwisoutback for providing free images with a creative commons license to Squidoo Lenses.

River otters love to slip and slide down waterfalls like this one in Franconia Notch State Park.

Recently we visited the river otter exhibit at the Miami Metro Zoo and watched the river otters as the dipped and dived in the man made river. They chased eachother up the bank and plunged down the waterfall. It is rare to see river otters in the wild so try to take a field trip to a zoo where you can watch them up close. Be sure to come back and tell us about all that you observed.

Plants give your classroom the Riverbank Feeling!

River Otters live near riverbanks with lots of plants.

Classroom Vivarium: Filling a classroom with living plants, animals and natural materials brings life to learning.

Growing Beans

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PLANTS: Ask parents to donate lots of healthy plants. Have the children start some plants from seeds. Try growing birdseed in the rice table or in a dishpan. Sweetpotatoes grow quickly into long vines and eventually have white flowers. Go on a fieldtrip to a riverbank or pond where you are allowed to collect samples and take back some plants. Pussy Willows grow easily from cuttings. Other plants may need to be dug up and transplanted.

Classroom Plants

Allow children to choose the plants and animals that they would like to care for and have them record their observations daily.

Classroom Pets and Wild Sightings

Observe and care for River Otter Neighbors

CLASSROOM PETS: It is important to try to have at least one member of each group in the Animal Kingdom. I recommend a hamster for the mammals, finches for birds, turtles for reptiles, tadpoles for amphibians, a pregnant fish and butterfly or ladybug caterpillars for insects. While studying otters it might be nice to have a ferret but hamsters are easier to care for.

WILD ANIMALS: Get outside too and see what you can find in the wild. Feed the birds. Watch for insects and reptiles. Go on walks and scavenger hunts and lots of field trips. Take notebooks to record your observations and share that information when you return.

Otter Anatomy

What's in and what's out!

Comparing River Otters with Sea Otters: It's a common mistake to confuse sea otters with their cousins the river otter because river otters live around either freshwater or the ocean. In fact, there are so many river otters around our seashores, and they are so active in the sea, that people are easily convinced the otter they see is the sea otter. But once you know what to look for, you'll easily tell river and sea otters apart.

This site comes with a FREE printable poster.

Little Joe Otter reads this book to his son every night.

Excerpt - page 32: "... Gone fishing, my daddy and me."
A father and son go fishing, with a big fishing rod for the daddy and a little one for the child.

Gone Fishing (Sandpiper)

by: Earlene R. Long

Amazon Price: $5.95 (as of 12/15/2009)

The Tree of Knowledge! Additional Display Space

There are lots of trees in a River Otter's habitat.

1. Start with a large tree branch that has fallen to the ground in a wooded area.
2. Put it in a large coffee can, secure it with rocks, and pour plaster of paris into the can so that the tree will set up firmly.
3. Occasionally change the location of the tree.
4. Use it to display information the children have learned about otters or as a Word Wall to display words related to otters.
5. Hang poems that the children have written onto theme shaped cover stock paper.
6. Ask the children for other ideas.

Election Time for River Otters:

Vote for your favorite river otter book!

Which books taught you something you didn't already know? Click on the arrows to chose different books on river otters and how many points you give them!(note: you must read them first.)