animal research reports

Myclass has been diggin into a very cool animal research project over the last few weeks.  We began by comparing a non fiction animal book to a fiction animal book.  Then they learned all the non fiction text features in readers workshop.  We learned to read like non fiction readers would....once our mind is full of information we stop and jot our learning.  This led us to choose an animal and begin using our skills to read about them.  We used the book and some kids search sites through the local library to gather information for five different paragraphs they would later write.  With the help of lessonplansos.....we had some great tools to guide the students as well as a rubric and self evaluation to use later.

Once the students had gathered the information for their five paragraphs using a box and bullet technique...

   

Then they added a topic sentence and a conclusion sentence before drafting their final paragraphs....these paragraphs will each go into the coordinating section with a drawing or photo they print from the computer.  The final product will also include an about the author section with a book recommendation (my super sweet teaching partner came up with this clever addition) of a fiction book about their animal.

The unit will end with some great oral presentations....which we plan to do in the library to share with our librarian what we have learned.  Then....after using Amanda nickersons chocolate chip cookie rubric unit they will help in grading their work.  Finally we will have a writing celebration which is the most fun.....I guess I better get their realistic fiction narratives graded so we can celebrate that first!

Here are some more pictures of the kids work and them in action....

best part of this project is that they are all in different spots working 

at their own level and pace...