Desert Drama

What's happening in deserts? Find out about plant and animal life in the world's arid regions. Write and design desert scenes that are filled with drama!

• 1.

  Areas having annual rainfalls of 10 inches (25 cm) or less are considered to be deserts. Identify deserts on a world map. Which continents and islands are largely desert? Which have few desert areas? Why? Read a variety of books about deserts. Find out what animals and vegetation have adapted to survive in arid desert regions. Enjoy folklore about deserts and desert animals.

• 2.

  Write a report or dramatic story about the desert with Crayola® Colored Pencils on lined paper. Include details from books you read. Review sections to recall information. Revise and edit your writing. Write the final report or story, changing colors to emphasize details.

• 3.

  Fold a large piece of white paper in half. Attach your writing to one half of the paper with a Crayola Glue Stick. Design a desert scene on the other half. Use Crayola Washable Markers to draw large areas of sand and sky. Add objects such as cacti and the sun. Fill in large areas with marker color.

• 4.

  Add details to your drawings with colored pencils. Include animals, people, and plants mentioned in your writing. Add rays to the sun, needles to a cactus, and shade in sand areas. Draw desert-theme borders around your writing.

Benefits

• Students read both fiction and nonfiction books with desert themes.
• Students write desert stories and reports, reviewing texts for information to include in writing.
• Students design desert scenes with details and setting elements imagined while reading.

Adaptations

• Research specific animals of the desert such as bats, rabbits, snakes, birds, spiders, scorpions, and beetles. Draw animals and their desert homes. Include pictures of their food and water sources as well as other animals that prey on them.
• Use markers to draw a large outline map of the world. Shade in desert areas with colored pencils. Cut green paper into tall cacti, one for each of the world's major deserts. Write facts about each desert on cacti using Crayola Metallic Colored Pencils. Gl
• Write original folk tales about the desert. Find ways to explain the mysteries of the desert. Incorporate special characteristics of resident animals. Design creative borders around the paper. Compile tales into a class book. Design the front cover so each author can add a small symbol related to his or her folk tale.