Beastie
noun
a real or imaginary animal or creature.
With our younger or middle school students we often study animals, sometimes referred to as beasties. We learn their names, their habitats, and their other various features.
This theme also offers an opportunity to introduce the difference between singular and plural animal names, and how to say and spell them. Typical to the English language, there are many irregularities.
For example, quite a few animal names don’t change whether they are singular or plural –i.e. sheep, fish, or deer. Others, like mouse and goose become mice and geese respectively, but moose does not become meese! (it stays the same - moose)
Finally, here’s my favorite: hippopotamus becomes hippopotami.