Ideas for summer school?? Our theme is ';Wild about Wildlife';...?

It is my first year teaching summer school and I am trying to come up with my lesson plans. Our theme is wildlife, but I would like to break each of the 4 weeks into a theme regarding wildlife. Any ideas/websites would be helpful!! Thanks!!Ideas for summer school?? Our theme is ';Wild about Wildlife';...?
Week 1African animals


Week 2 Australian animals


Week 3 American Animals


Week 4 Ocean animals


( any order)... also Arctic or Antarctic animals, wetlands


The sites below have lots of lesson plans and ideas. Project Wild ( and the wetlands class) has lots of FREE materials. Check with your local State Forest, National Forest, BLM office etc. for materials and speakers. For example, our Forest office donated lots of aerial maps of our states. Great to use for map class, but then we turned them over and used to make our own posters. Our state department of wildlife has lots of movies to lend and a speaker bureau. The Hide Barrel is very popular. The speaker brings hides, claws, feathers etc. from a variety of animals. Kids love to dissect owl pellets, watch and feed class pets etc. Making plaster casts of animal tracks at the river walk is fun. A field trip to an animal sanctuary or zoo might be appropriate. See if you can get a behind the scenes tour. Our kids were thrilled to be able to actually feed the wolves. For snacks, animal crackers are easy. Or, one favorite was making jello in those little cups,then inserting washed rubber or plastic animals ( insects, worms, dinosaurs etc.) into the jello. The kids were delighted!





Recommendation: Cram in lots of learning, don't be afraid to use big words, have something they can make and take home. Have short frequent reviews.