Who Does Not Live Here?

Four habitats sit on the left of this 1st grade page, each with a block of four animal cards beside it, and in every block one animal is out of place. The child crosses it out. On the sheet shown the Arctic, with ice floes, an iceberg and snowflakes, holds a narwhal, a monkey, a seal and a walrus. The ocean holds a starfish, an octopus, a squirrel and a crab. The pond holds a giraffe, a swan, a beaver and a dragonfly. The rainforest holds a parrot, a toucan, a clownfish and a gorilla.

Crossing out the stranger is the reverse of matching, and it is harder: children have to check all four against the habitat before deciding. The odd animal always belongs somewhere else, and asking where, the monkey in the rainforest, the giraffe on the savanna, the fish in the ocean, the squirrel in a forest, doubles the learning. Not every stranger is a zoo animal: the squirrel lives in the park near most schools, so children cannot just look for the exotic one. The Arctic block is new compared with the base page and brings the narwhal and walrus, animals many children have never seen, so it is worth naming them before starting.

One sheet, four crosses, and the stranger does not sit in the same corner of every block. The squirrel is drawn with a very orange face, and some children will call it a fox; it is still the one that does not live in the ocean. Follow up by asking children to draw the four strangers in their right homes. The base page of the family matches animals to habitats with letters.