Glued to brown paper

Find this magnet in the pouch. Place the magnet on the matching shape.

Mr. Castor is getting ready to work.

In Spring, Mr. Castor makes a nest for his family. The nest is inside a lodge. The lodge is the home of the Castor’s family.

Help Mr. Castor put his lodge on the pond.

The lodge is in a pond.

Mr. Castor makes his home in the ponds. He builds his lodge with branches and twigs . Inside the lodge is a room where the Castor family lives. This is where they take care of their kits. Baby beavers are called kits. Their name is Casper and Cassie.

Swim with Mrs. Castor and the kits by placing them in the matching shape.

Casper and Cassie swim with Mrs. Castor

When Casper and Cassie are a few weeks old, Mrs. Castor takes them out of the lodge using the water tunnels. They can swim when they are just one day old. They use their webbed feet to paddle in the water. The beaver’s flat tails help them swim faster.

Have a delicious lunch with Casper and Cassie.

Casper and Cassie are growing fast.

Mrs. Castor stops feeding them milk when they are two months old. Now, Casper and Cassie go out on their own and find food. Cassie and Casper like to eat twigs and barks from many trees.

Help Casper to build the dam by placing the magnet on the matching shape.

Casper is building a dam

When the Casper and Cassie are one year old, they start to work around their house. Casper has made a pond for the family by building a dam. The dam is a wall of branches and logs across the stream. Behind the wall, the water builds up and spread to make a pond.

Help Cassie to cut the tree by placing the magnet on the matching shape.

Cassie is cutting a tree.

Cassie helps Casper by cutting trees for wood for fixing their lodge and the dam. She uses her strong teeth to cut through trees.

Let Casper and Cassie know that the big bad neighbor Mr. Coyote came to visit.

Bad neighbor visits their pond.

While Casper and Cassie are working on land, they are in danger. Mr. Coyote is one of their bad neighbor. Mr. Coyote could destroy their home and take them away. Also, Mr. Bear, Mr. Lion, and Mr. Fox are bad neighbors of the Castor family.

Help Cassie make more splashy noise to warn Casper that Mr. Coyote is close by.

Cassie slaps her tail on the water.

Cassie saw Mr. Coyote around their house. She makes a loud noise by slapping her tail on the water. Splaaaaaaat! That sound tells Casper and the rest of the Castor family that bad neighbors are around their neighborhood. They move into the deep water to hide from

Give Casper a hand to finish building the dam.

Casper finishes the dam.

Casper finishes the dam with more branches and logs. Stones help hold the logs together. They also add mud and branches to stop water from running through. The Castor family spends a lot of time fixing and making their dams and their lodge very strong.

Take some food home with Casper and Cassie. Place the magnet on the board.

Casper and Cassie bringing a branch home.

At the beginning of the fall season, Casper and Cassie cut small branches and twigs . They bring these to the pond. This way, they save food for winter season.

Now, save food with the Castor family before the Winter comes.

Casper and Cassie stores food for the winter.

Casper and Cassie carry branches down under water. They have helped their family to make a store of food close to their lodge. When winter comes, there are no fresh plants growing at the pond. They will eat bark from the branches they have store in the pond.

Huddle with the Castors to get warm and have some snacks until spring comes!

The Castor family is in the lodge.

In the winter, the Castor family spends most of their time in the lodge. It is warmer inside, and they huddle together to keep each other warm.When winter is over, the Castor family go out their lodge and start all over again.

American Beaver Facts

Kingdom: AnimaliaPhylum: ChordataClass: MammaliaOrder: RodentiaFamily: CastoridaeGenus: CastorSpecies: Castor CanadensisGroup Name: ColonyDiet: Herbivore

Weight: 60 poundsBody length: 60 to 100 centimetersTail Length: 50 centimetersHabitat: Ponds, Rivers, Wetlands.Homerange: Throughout North AmericaLifespan: 24 years Beaver is largest rodent in North America and world’s second largest. Beavers are nocturnal semi-aquatic.

American BeaverLarge round body

Large flat scaly tail

Webbed back feet

Clawed front feet, 5 toes

Large front sharp teeth, inscisors

Where the North American Beaver lives.

Areas where the North American beaver lives

Works Cited

Bauman, Amy, Patricia Corrigan, and John F. McGee. The Wonder of Beavers. Milwaukee, WI: Gareth Stevens Pub., 2000. Print.

Brownell, M. Barbara. Busy Beavers. [Washington, D.C.]: National Geographic Society, 1988. Print.Corrigan, Patricia, John F. McGee, and Patricia Corrigan. Beavers: Beaver Magic for Kids. Milwaukee, WI: Gareth Stevens Pub., 1996. Print.

Crewe, Sabrina, and Andrew Pepworth. The Beaver. Austin, TX: Raintree Steck-Vaughn, 1999. Print.

Desai, Shilpa, Bianca Rodrigo, and Fairfax County Librarians. “6-8 Years Old’s Knowledge.” Personal interview. Jan. 2012.

Mara, Wil. Beavers. New York: Marshall Cavendish Benchmark, 2008. Print.Switzer, Merebeth, and Elin Kelsey. Chipmunks. Danbury, CT: Grolier Enterprises, 1996. Print.

Glued to brown paper