We began by comparing and contrasting characteristics of lions and lambs. Then we discussed what types of weather might represent each of those animals. On the last February school day I created a chart with the graphing question, "Will March come in like a lion?" My students hung a link under the lion or lamb image to record their response to my question. The links formed a chain so it was easy to see which animal had been selected by the most students. We counted and recorded how many links each animal had. We used our math language to talk about which animal had the most links and which had the least.

On March 1st we talked about if March had come in like a lion or a lamb. We added an image of that animal to our calendar pocket chart. Each day at calendar time we decided if it was a lion or a lamb day and continued to add images to our calendar pocket chart. We also discussed how many images of each animal were in our pocket chart and which animal had the most/least. On the second to last March school day, I presented my students with another chart with the graphing question, "Will March go out like a lamb?" Once again they hung links to record their response to the question. Once again we counted and recorded the number of links for each animal.

On April 1st we discussed whether March had gone out like a lion or a lamb. We also took all of the images out of the pocket chart, sorted them by lions and lambs, and counted the total of each. Lions and lambs weren’t just a part of calendar time. We chanted and sang nursery rhymes about lambs and sheep. "Mary Had a Little Lamb", "Baa Baa Black Sheep", and "Little Bo Peep" were the nursery rhymes we learned that month. We shared the "Sheep" series by Nancy Shaw, Sheep on a Jeep, develop phonemic awareness skills.

Our lion tales included Andy and the Lion, Dandelion and The Lion and the Mouse.

For vocabulary development we learned that male sheep are rams, female sheep are ewes, and baby sheep are lambs. We also learned that a male lion is a lion, a female is a lioness, and a baby is a cub. In our pocket chart center students matched those vocabulary words to corresponding pictures. This activity was self-correcting as the backs of the words and pictures were coded to match each other.

Flocks of sheep and prides of lions could be found in our block area. Sheep in a Shop, Sheep on a Ship, Sheep Out to Eat, and Sheep Take a Hike to help. 

White cotton balls and black pompoms were a part of our math area where students placed sheep’s wool (the cotton balls and pompoms) in numbered paper bags or on numbered sheep cutouts.

It’s been a while since I have been in the classroom and during that time happily several publishers have published many outstanding nonfiction books for early childhood classrooms. With that in mind you may want to add titles such as Lions (Animals I See at the Zoo series) by JoAnn Early Macken and Sheep (Animals That Live on the Farm series) by JoAnn Early Macken to your library center.

Corey Patti who works in the Danvers store drew the lions and lambs for me.