KS3 Animal Unit Non-Fiction Discursive Zoo Argument

A complete unit to teach the presentation of Animals in Fiction and Non-Fiction texts, leading to several discussions and a final discursive argument about whether or not Animals should be kept in Zoos.

• Unit of Work with clear lesson by lesson focus and link to worksheets
• Notebook file and Pdf file of teacher notes - written on whiteboard as moved through this unit - may be of use to assist with teaching certain lessons.
• All resources mentioned below and in the unit are included
• Room Display inspiration - titles, words and images

Includes

• Animal alphabet
• Adjectives and verbs to describe Animals
• Animal related onomatopoeia, similes and metaphors
• Animal habitats
• Animals in the media - positive and negative portrayals, bias int he media
• Collective nouns for animals
• Description and connotation of negative and positive in description - vocabulary copyright of ‘Descriptosaurus’ by Alison Wilcox, published by Routledge 2013
• Animal combinations - inspired by ‘Axel Scheffler’s Flip Flap Series’, published by Nosy Crow 2014
• Reference to National Geographic - paper copy, website or instagram feed.
• Pet argument - annotate and analyse
• CCEA KS3 Past Paper ‘Wood Green Animal Shelter’ - analyse for writer’s craft
• Animals in Film, and as fashion fads
• Writing to inform - argument
• Article ‘Calling Animals ‘pets’ is insulting, academics claim’ - connotation of appropriate words for ‘pets’ - read poems ‘Old Dog’ and ‘Sheepkiller’ to further the discussion
• How are animals used? Poems ‘The Battery Hen’ , ‘The Early Purges’, and ‘Killing a whale’ to further the discussion
• Animal rights - what are they and how are they compromised?
• Writing to explain - discussion of animal rights
• Hierarchy of animal kingdom
• Issue of Extinction - furthered by use of CCEA KS3 Past Paper ‘The Black Rhino’
• Zoos vs Safari - investigate and create a balanced argument in response to the topic: It is unfair to keep animals in Zoos.