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LESSON MINI

Exploring with Jane Goodall

Grade:

K-2

Topic:

People

Unit:

Historical Figures
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Overview

Researcher in white observing chimpanzee in forested setting.
© NHPA/Superstock

In this lesson mini, students learn about the life of Jane Goodall through an informational text. Students practice early reading skills while learning about this pioneering primatologist and anthropologist. They engage with the text to identify key details about Goodall’s life, her groundbreaking chimpanzee research in Gombe, and her contributions to animal behavior studies. Through guided reading, discussions, and simple comprehension activities, students will develop their understanding of both Goodall and chimpanzees.

Ideas for Implementation
Science
Literacy
Library media
Learning centers
Intervention or enrichment
Interdisciplinary collaboration
Key Vocabulary & Definitions
Africa (noun): a large continent where Jane Goodall studied chimpanzees
chimpanzee (noun): a kind of ape that is related to people
continent (noun): a large area of land
dream (noun): a wish for the future
knuckle walk (noun): a kind of walk on all four limbs in which a chimpanzee leans forward on its arms
limb (noun): an arm or a leg of a person or a four-legged animal
rainforest (noun): a forest that receives lots of rain per year and in which many chimpanzees live
scientist (noun): a person who discovers new things by collecting information
tool (noun): something that helps people or animals to complete a job
Authentic Learning Extensions
Authentic learning opportunities for studying Jane Goodall’s life involve real-world experiences and practical applications that help students understand how scientists contribute to our understanding of animals in their natural habitats. Here are some examples:
Animal Observations: Ask students to observe an animal of their choice in its habitat and record their observations on a sketch pad. This gives students the opportunity to develop their observation skills and gather data meaningfully.
Community Connection: Partner with local wildlife organizations or animal sanctuaries to give students hands-on experience with animal care and conservation efforts.
Field Trip: Organize a field trip to a local zoo or farm so that students can learn about and observe different animals using scientific methods such as observing, researching, and collecting data.
Library Research: Guide students to explore books about Jane Goodall in the school media center or local library. Encourage them to choose both fiction and nonfiction books at their reading level. After reading, have students create simple picture-and-word presentations, or presentations of their choosing, showing what they learned about Jane Goodall and her work with animals.
Observe and Sketch: Ask students to observe human beings in their natural habitats and sketch and/or write their observations in a sketch pad. Consider asking students to observe and sketch their families, classmates, or teachers at school and/or home.
Scientific Documentation: Have students document animal behaviors using ethograms and other scientific recording methods, similar to those used by Jane Goodall. This introduces students to scientific methodology in the real world.

Choose Activity

Activity 1
Activity 2
Activity 3
Activity 4
Activity 5
3
Exploring with Jane Goodall

Activity

1:

Jane Goodall’s Dream

By the end of the activity, students will be able to describe Jane Goodall’s dream of living in Africa and also reflect on their own dreams.

30-40

Minutes

Materials

Colored pencils, crayons, or markers
Whiteboard and display
Writing utensils

Resources

Britannica Library How to Be a Scientist https://library.eb.com/levels/early/article/How-to-Be-a-Scientist/644163
Britannica Library Jane Goodall article and images https://library.eb.com/levels/early/article/Jane-Goodall/635638
My Little Book of Big Dreams (one per student and one for teacher display)
Prepare for the Activity: Prepare the blank little books for students to use in step 9, including a model book to set expectations.
1
Tell students that during today’s activity they will learn about a famous scientist named Jane Goodall by reading about her work and looking at images.
2
Explain to students that scientists are people who discover new things by exploring, researching, and observing.
3
Invite students to think about important discoveries scientists have made in the past that have made the world a better place. Write their ideas on the whiteboard.
4
Display the Jane Goodall article and its images. Read the captions aloud to students, and then have them describe what they notice in the pictures.
Caption 1: Jane Goodall was a famous scientist. She worked with chimpanzees in Africa.
Caption 2: Jane Goodall learned many new things about chimps. What she learned changed how people think about these animals.
5
Based on the images and captions, discuss the following guiding questions as a class using think-pair-share or whole-group discussion:
How do you think Jane Goodall worked with chimpanzees in Africa?
What are your guesses about what she learned about chimpanzees?
Why do you think Jane Goodall was such a famous scientist?
6
Read aloud the “Introduction” and “How Scientists Gather Information” sections from the How to Be a Scientist article. After the reading, ask students these questions:
How do scientists learn new things?
How do scientists gather information?
How did Jane Goodall gather information about chimpanzees?
What do you think was Jane Goodall’s dream?
7
Lead a class discussion about the importance of having dreams by asking students what it means to not give up on the things they want. Use Britannica Library, ImageQuest Jr., or another royalty-free source to display images of people achieving their dreams. Emphasize that Jane Goodall’s dream was to live in Africa and study animals, especially chimpanzees. Discuss how she made this dream come true through hard work and determination.
8
Invite students to think about and share with the class what they want to do when they grow up. Write students’ ideas on the whiteboard.
9
Provide each student with a blank My Little Book of Big Dreams, and ask them to think about what they want to do in the future. Tell students to draw, label, and/or write their thoughts.
10
Encourage students to share their little books with a partner, and ask for volunteers to share their dreams with the rest of the class.
11
Wrap up the activity by asking students to share how their dreams are similar to or different from Jane Goodall’s dreams.
Language Learner Support: Provide visual vocabulary cards with pictures and simple definitions for key terms (scientist, chimpanzee, Africa, discover, observe, dream). Before step 2, introduce these terms using the cards and have students repeat the words. During discussions, encourage students to use sentence frames such as “I see ___,” “Jane Goodall worked with ___,” and “My dream is to ___.” Consider pairing English language learners with strong English speakers during think-pair-share activities to provide language models and support.
Mini Book Writing: Depending on students’ writing levels, tailor the My Little Book of Big Dreams activity to be more centered around drawing and labeling or more focused on writing. Provide tailored prompts as needed through guidance and modeling or written open-ended questions. This approach ensures that all students work on developing their independent writing skills at their own pace.
Making Connections: Challenge advanced students to make deeper connections by asking extension questions such as “What obstacles do you think Jane Goodall faced as a woman scientist in the 1960s?” and “How might Jane Goodall’s discoveries have changed laws or policies about protecting animals?” During the My Little Book of Big Dreams activity (step 9), encourage these students to write about the steps they would need to take to achieve their dreams and potential challenges they might face. Have them research and share one additional fact about Jane Goodall or another scientist who overcame difficulties to achieve their goals.
Jane Goodall Timeline: Have students create a simple timeline of Jane Goodall’s life using pictures and words. Provide pre-made images or have students draw key moments: dreaming about her future, going to Africa, working with chimpanzees, and becoming famous. This variation emphasizes sequence and cause-and-effect thinking.
One Teaching, One Assisting: For collaborative teaching and learning environments, this learning activity is well suited to a One Teaching, One Assisting strategy. In this model, one teacher leads the activity while the other circulates, assisting individual students as needed. This ensures that when students encounter difficulties, they receive immediate help in the form of personalized support and answers to their questions. By addressing students’ unique needs and keeping them on track, this approach enhances individual learning experiences and fosters a supportive classroom environment. Studies indicate that immediate feedback and individualized attention can significantly enhance student understanding and retention of material.
Activity Introduction: Both teachers introduce the activity and invite students to share ideas about scientific discoveries. The lead teacher leads the discussion while the assisting teacher scribes student responses on the whiteboard.
Image Analysis and Discussion: The lead teacher displays the Jane Goodall images and reads captions aloud while the assisting teacher assists students in describing what they see. During the guiding questions discussion, the lead teacher facilitates the think-pair-share while the assisting teacher circulates to support student conversations.
Article Reading and Discussion: The lead teacher reads aloud from the How to Be a Scientist article while the assisting teacher displays the text and tracks along. Both teachers collaborate to ask follow-up questions and ensure student comprehension.
Dream Discussion: Both teachers lead the discussion about the importance of having dreams and not giving up, with the lead teacher displaying images of people achieving their dreams and the assisting teacher facilitating student sharing about future careers.
Independent Activity: The lead teacher explains the My Little Book of Big Dreams activity, while the assisting teacher prepares materials and hands them out to students. Both teachers circulate to assist students during the drawing and writing process.
Activity Wrap-Up: Both teachers facilitate partner sharing and lead the final discussion comparing student dreams to Jane Goodall’s dreams. Both teachers conclude by reinforcing Jane Goodall’s key achievements and the importance of pursuing dreams.
Exploring with Jane Goodall

Activity

2:

Jane Goodall’s Life

By the end of the activity, students will be able to summarize defining moments in Jane Goodall’s life and explain how her work contributed to our understanding of animals.

>40

Minutes

Materials

Colored pencils, crayons, or markers
Images of Jane Goodall
Lined paper (one sheet per student pair)
Whiteboard and display
Writing utensils

Resources

Britannica Library Jane Goodall article (one printed copy per student and one for teacher display) https://library.eb.com/levels/early/article/Jane-Goodall/635638
Build a Summary instructional strategy
Sequence graphic organizer (one copy per student)
1
Tell students that in today’s activity they will learn about Jane Goodall by reading an article as a class, writing a summary in pairs, and then completing an independent sequencing activity.
2
Show students images of Jane Goodall from Britannica Library, ImageQuest Jr., or another royalty-free source.
3
Provide each student with a copy of the Jane Goodall article. Display and read the article aloud, and ask students the following guiding questions to check comprehension:
Who was Jane Goodall, and what did she study?
What was her childhood dream?
How did she study chimpanzees?
What did she learn about chimpanzees?
How does she protect animals and nature?
4
Use the Build a Summary instructional strategy, and assign students to work in pairs to summarize Jane Goodall’s life.
5
Instruct students to write a one-sentence summary for each section of the Jane Goodall article. Write the article section names on the whiteboard for support: “Early Life,” “Studying Chimpanzees,” and “Continuing Her Work.”
6
As a class, discuss the different sentences that each pair wrote, and compare and contrast ideas.
7
Draw a timeline of Jane Goodall’s life on the whiteboard and invite students to highlight key events. Start with her birth in 1934, then her journey to Kenya in 1957, her work with chimpanzees in Tanzania during the 1960s, and her travels to protect wild places and animals. Consider showing students a map of Africa and pointing to where Kenya and Tanzania are located to help orient them to Goodall’s work.
8
Provide each student with a copy of the Sequence graphic organizer, and ask them to pick three defining moments in Jane Goodall’s life and create a visual representation of them in the order in which they happened.
9
Invite students to share their work with a classmate and discuss what they drew.
10
Wrap up the activity by asking students to share something they learned about Jane Goodall’s life from the informational text.
Group Summary: Instead of having students build a summary in pairs, invite them to summarize the Jane Goodall article as a whole class. Then use the class summary to create a timeline on the whiteboard. This variation gives students the opportunity to practice synthesizing and applying key ideas and provides support for early readers and writers.
Sequence Graphic Organizer: Ask students to write a few sentences or a short paragraph in each box of the graphic organizer to represent three defining moments in Jane Goodall’s life. This gives students the opportunity to develop their critical thinking and independent writing skills.
K-W-L Graphic Organizer: To reflect on the Jane Goodall article, use a K-W-L instructional strategy instead of the Build a Summary instructional strategy. This approach gives students the opportunity to reflect on their learning before, during, and after the reading.
Parallel Teaching: For collaborative teaching and learning environments, this learning activity is well suited to a Parallel Teaching strategy. In this model, the class is divided into two groups, and each teacher delivers the same activity simultaneously to their group. This reduces the student-teacher ratio, allowing for more interaction and individualized attention. With smaller groups, students are more likely to participate actively and receive immediate feedback, which fosters a deeper understanding of the content and promotes a more engaging learning experience. Evidence suggests that small-group instruction leads to increased student engagement and improved academic outcomes.
Exploring with Jane Goodall

Activity

3:

Jane Goodall and Chimpanzees

By the end of the activity, students will be able to describe how chimpanzees behave in their natural habitat by using key vocabulary words from an informational text.

30-40

Minutes

Materials

Colored pencils, crayons, or markers
Images of Jane Goodall working with chimpanzees
Whiteboard and display
Writing utensils

Resources

Britannica Library Chimpanzee article https://library.eb.com/levels/early/article/Chimpanzee/637317
Britannica Library Chimpanzees video https://library.eb.com/levels/early/assembly/view/283151
Picture Glossary instructional strategy and graphic organizer (one per student)
1
Tell students that during today’s activity they will become scientists who study chimpanzees, just like Jane Goodall did during her career as a scientist.
2
Ask students what they know about chimpanzees and then show them the Chimpanzees video. Repeat the video as needed to ensure student comprehension and discuss the following guiding questions as a class:
Where do chimpanzees live?
What do chimpanzees look like?
How do chimpanzees spend their days?
How do chimpanzees walk?
What do chimpanzees eat?
How do chimpanzees communicate?
How do chimpanzees care for their babies?
3
Provide each student with a copy of the Chimpanzee article and a Picture Glossary graphic organizer.
4
Engage the class in a guided reading of the text, placing special emphasis on new vocabulary words or phrases presented in the text. Do this by pausing at key words to define them and discuss their meanings. Sample vocabulary: chimpanzee, rainforest, limb, knuckle walk, and tool.
5
Invite students to complete their picture glossaries in pairs; then ask for student volunteers to share their glossaries with the rest of the class.
6
Tell students to reflect on the importance of scientific research and the process of making observations to discover new things.
7
Show a picture of Jane Goodall working with chimpanzees. Discuss how Jane Goodall studied chimpanzees in their natural habitats for many years, and as a class, discuss how to use different observation tools to gather information.
8
Ask students to share something new they learned about chimpanzees. Consider tossing a beanbag or ball to make this activity more engaging and interactive.
Picture Glossary: To support students who are developing their fine motor skills, provide picture banks of a few key words from the Chimpanzee article for them to cut and paste. Then have the students write the vocabulary words. This activity helps early learners develop their spelling skills as well as their one-to-one correspondence.
Vocabulary Cloze: Instead of asking students to complete a Picture Glossary graphic organizer, provide them with a Vocabulary Cloze instructional activity to build vocabulary and make important observations about chimpanzees. Consider using vocabulary words such as people, hair, arms, Africa, tools, or other terms you think are appropriate.
One Teaching, One Assisting: For collaborative teaching and learning environments, this learning activity is well suited to a One Teaching, One Assisting strategy. In this model, one teacher leads the activity while the other circulates, assisting individual students as needed. This ensures that when students encounter difficulties, they receive immediate help in the form of personalized support and answers to their questions. By addressing students’ unique needs and keeping them on track, this approach enhances individual learning experiences and fosters a supportive classroom environment. Studies indicate that immediate feedback and individualized attention can significantly enhance student understanding and retention of material.
Activity Introduction: Both teachers introduce the activity and invite students to become scientists who study chimpanzees.
Chimpanzees Video: One teacher leads the video discussion by asking students the guiding questions while the other teacher scribes students’ answers on the whiteboard and assists students in understanding the key ideas presented.
Article Reading and Picture Glossary: The lead teacher explains the activities while the assisting teacher provides each student with a copy of the Chimpanzee article and a Picture Glossary graphic organizer.
Activity Wrap-Up: Both teachers lead a class discussion of how scientists use observation tools to gather information. Both teachers conclude the activity by having students share something new they learned about chimpanzees.
Exploring with Jane Goodall

Activity

4:

Minutes

Materials

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Resources

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Exploring with Jane Goodall

Activity

5:

Minutes

Materials

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Resources

EXTERNAL
INTERNAL
Prepare for the Activity:
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3
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a)
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TEXT BLOCK: Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam,
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum .
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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum .
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum .
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