Pet Research

   We've been working on research-identifying a topic, asking questions, making a plan, and recording facts. Here is our class chart we made for research. Then we wrote what we learned about dogs and created a dog to glue our facts on. We practiced this process using cats and birds. We brainstormed pets before we began our research. Then students voted for the one they wanted to research. We researched the top 3. Birds were the 3rd pick, cats the 2nd. We finished with dogs since it was the one most students were interested in learning about. 

Teachers can find these activities and more in my Pets Learning Fun unit.

Penguin Research

Our anchor charts we made through out the week.

 Our books: the front cover,

 title page,

 bubble map,

 table of contents,

 brace map,

 diagrams,

 back cover,

 and facts.

    Our pages are in the correct order; the pictures wouldn't load in the correct order. The students filled out their own bubble, tree, and brace map as we stretched out the words together and I recorded on our anchor charts. Then students wrote their facts on their own. After completing our books, they showed their partner each part of the book and read their facts. 

Polar Bear Research and Nonfiction Book

    We began by sharing our schema (what we thought we knew) about polar bears with our partner and then adding it to our schema chart. We rolled a question die and then listened for the answers while reading. We finished by drawing the topic (polar bears) on one side of a sticky note and then drawing/writing one fact on the other side of the sticky note.

    We reviewed nonfiction text features like diagrams and table of contents.

     We completed a tree map by listening for things polar bears are, can do, and have. We filled in one branch of our tree map each day. I wrote on our class tree map as students wrote on their own. We stretched out the words and I filled in the word chunks.

    We illustrated and wrote two facts about polar bears for our book. Each day we wrote to inform about polar bears during our writing time.

 
  Here's a picture of our class diagram, schema chart, and tree map.

Research on Walruses

   We started our walrus research by discussing our schema about walruses. I wrote down every "fact" that was shared and put under our schema. As we were reading, we would review our schema and move any incorrect information to the misconceptions section of our chart. We added information learned to the new learning section daily. We created a diagram of a walrus and discussed what the purpose of their parts are. We also created a walrus tree map with facts we learned.

   
Throughout the week, we worked on the tree map and facts part of our books. Then on Friday we finished the rest of the book and put it together. The fact we learned that almost every student wrote about was walruses look pink when their hot because their blood vessels expand until they are close to their skin surfaces. The students thought that was so cool! Here's a look at our All About Walruses books.