Students in Jen Elness and Colleen Freeman’s first grade classes enjoyed learning the art of research this past month.
Science teacher Jen Elness said the animal projects were a process which began before Thanksgiving.
After discussing animals of all different kinds early in the unit as a class, students were then asked to partner up. These pairs, and some times trios, first goal was to agree on one animal which they would research and learn more about. Some animals chosen were rabbits, turkeys, lions, whales, moneys and sharks.
After picking their animal they were given the beginning of three questions to get them started;
1) My animal can…
2) My animal is…
3) My animal has…
They also talked about what their animal might eat or the animals prey, where they might live and what they might do.
After much research these young science students put together a display about their animal. They had to show the environment in which their animal lived, have their fact sheet attached, and could include some photos or drawings.
They were also required to build an animal habitat diorama. A shoe box was used to set the stage. Students used paper of many colors to design a place they thought their animal might live. Some created trees in jungle form, or water for fish to swim in. Some added a little plastic figurine of their animal to finish off their diorama.
The children learned the research process but they also learned the art of working with and agreeing with another student to make important decisions pertaining to their project.
All of the projects turned out great. The students were very proud of the work they had done.
