Hey y’all! Happy Spring Break!!!
I am so proud of my kiddos and what they did with our research project. At our school, each classroom takes a different region of Texas and studies the animals. We each take a different one so that we can share with each other and compare the differences. Our class studied the Texas Gulf Coast. This is the area that includes Corpus Christi, Galveston, Houston, etc. Here is what we did:
We talked as a whole group about the land and they wrote a page about what the land was like. Then, they were off to pick which animals they wanted to learn about. They could work in partners or by themselves. They would pick an animal they were interested in, take the bag back to their seats, and begin their research. They wrote notes on post-its that they stuck to my mini-clipboards as they answered questions that we brainstormed were important.
After they answered the four questions, they wrote their research on a book page. They added a title and picture to the page.
Here is how I organized it:
A basket to hold all the materials in ziploc baggies.
Here is what was in the bags:
One held the paper:
The others had books about an animal, printed information from websites, as well as the title and picture they would use when they write their book page.
Here are some pictures of the finished products:
Covers:
Title page:
Table of contents:
Book pages:
The last page was titled “Animals You Won’t Find Here”. We talked about how certain animals need a certain kind of habitat. They wrote down a few animals that would not live in the Gulf Coast and Why.
My students were so excited to show Mom and Dad what they had put together at Open House. This took about two weeks for them to finish, but they absolutely loved it. I am considering putting out materials specifically for researching and making a non-fiction book at writing workshop. I will post about it after I try it out.
Here are some printables for you:
Click Here For a Powerpoint Version of Materials
I uploaded the powerpoint version so you can easily change it for your needs. If you want the same font as me, I used Pea Stacy Fancy. You can download it for free here.
I used handwriting paper that I printed from Stationery Studio. You could use any handwriting paper for the pages.
I realize that was a long post, but I hope you can use the printables to do research in your classroom. I was absolutely amazed at what my firsties could do!
-Mrs. Patton
