Then we filled our classroom with owl books and began separating them into piles of fiction vs. nonfiction books. The kids were very surprised to discover that some fiction books about owls could teach us real facts as well.
We explored many of those non-fiction books individually and together, and then we used that info to help grow our chart of "Things We've Learned."
Art is such a great medium for thinking deeply and in new ways about our subject matter. Not only did the kids have to decide which type of owl they wanted to paint, but they had to figure out how to actually paint their owl as well.
Then we finally got to meet 3 REAL owls - a bard owl, a great horned owl, and a dwarf owl. They were as amazing and interesting as we'd hoped!
By the time we had researched, read about, and even met 3 real owls, we were fully prepared to write our first All About Books.
It turned out that we had MANY animal lovers in our classroom, so the topic of owls was a big hit. The kids definitely weren't ready to be done with the subject matter! However, their conversations began turning away from owls to conversations about nocturnal animals in general. Our nocturnal animal interest really took off when one of the students brought in this chart.
So, we began by thinking of all the things we WONDER about nocturnal animals...
We used webs to keep track of our growing knowledge about the senses nocturnal animals use to thrive at night.
We also listened to numerous non-fiction books read aloud and practiced remembering and recording interesting facts.
Bats seemed to popping over and over again in our conversations, so we spent some time exploring bats and echolocation using books and videos. I loved listening to the kids try to explain the mechanics of echolocation to each other!
The question of exactly WHICH animals are nocturnal kept popping up. The kids even used the chart to try and separate our classroom animals into piles of nocturnal vs. diurnal ones.
So, we set out to find the answer. Partners looked carefully through books and made lists of nocturnal animals.
Then we shared our lists to create one big master list.
And finally, we used our master list to create a visual that we could all look at and learn from.
Most of these animals aren't easily accessible to explore, yet I still wanted to find a way to make our investigation a little more concrete, hands on, and playful too. I also knew how much these kids love stuffed animals and how much imagination and joy animals could add to their play. So, I proposed that each child search their home and and bring in a stuffed nocturnal animal that they wanted to learn more about it.
We started talking about all the ways we could learn more about our animals and came up with this list. However, we recognized that observing the "real" thing wouldn't be feasible right now (despite a few children's insistence that we could stay at school all night, go out to the woods, and watch for them...hmm)
Right away the kids started playing creatively with and designing things for their animals.
Each child began their first ever research journal by illustrating and writing 3 or 4 things they already knew about their particular animal.
Then we spent several days researching more about our animals using books, web links, and the Pebble Go site on our Ipads.
We also spent some time just enjoying our books, marking all the interesting parts with sticky notes, and sharing our findings with each other.
Since this group LOVES to build, we got to work on a big project - each child used their new knowledge about their animal's habitat and what it eats to plan out and create a realistic habitat for it to live in.
One of the best things about our building projects is getting to share our hard work with each other and reflect a little on our favorite parts as well as what we found challenging...and how we persevered. The focus, perseverance, conversation, creativity, resilience, and collaboration that naturally happens amidst such projects is immeasurable.
Each child also chose a picture of their animal from one of their books and spent time in the art room carefully sketching and painting it. The finished products were breathtaking. Check out the amount of detail in each picture...
I had been promising the kids a real pet for a long time, and it was finally time to deliver. I was looking for something that was low maintenance yet fascinating, and I just happened to discover that many earthworms are nocturnal. I also realized what a great addition worms could be to our nocturnal investigation because they would enable us to learn through "real" hands-on observation and investigation, rather than through research alone.
It turned out that several of the kids already knew quite a bit about worms.
Just as I had suspected, the worms were a HUGE hit. It was unbelievable to watch how quickly many of the kids went from being leery to not wanting to put the worms down.
They pet the worms, held them, learned to carry them carefully around the room, examined them closely through magnifying glasses, and oohed and aahed. They used several senses to observe closely and document their findings.
We were even able to make a big chart of all the things we had learned about worms simply from observing them...
Of course we got some books out as well,
and began pooling our collected info to create a mind map all about worms.
After learning about the parts of a worm (head, segments, egg sac, etc.) we put our new knowledge to use painting worms.
And then we once again used the Pebble Go site to research even more facts about worms.
The more modalities through which kids learn about and experience new topics, the more likely they are to understand, think deeply about, and remember them. So, we sang about worms and slithered around our carpet...
made them out of clay,
watched a show about them,
painted with pretend ones,
and even made them out of beads and built creative structures for them to live, fly, sleep, and swim in.
We also performed a few hands-on experiments to help us learn a little more. We had talked a lot about worm tunnels, so I knew the kids would be fascinated to actually see some. In our first experiment we set up jars containing worms, banana peels, sand, and soil, and then we covered the jars for the weekend with black construction paper. On Monday we drew and wrote about our predictions of how the jar might look different and then recorded our findings.
We couldn't tell if our worms had eaten any of the banana peels during our above experiment, so we decided to set up a worm taste test. Once again, we recorded our predictions and discoveries...just like "real" scientists.
Mr. Brennan heard about worms and wanted to take some home, so he came and taught us all about his greenhouse and how the worms could be helpful there. We promised him some worms, and he in turn promised us a little taste sometime soon of the lettuce they "help" to grow.
The kids continued to explore the worms regularly, and they even began finding what they're pretty sure were some babies.
One of the kids told us they'd heard of people eating real worms. We discovered that some folks really do eat them, but we learned that they always boil their worms first. Then we got creative (and a little bit gross!) and wrote our own recipes (another tie-in to how-to writing) containing worms - worm tacos, chocolate covered worms, worm soup, and more. Delicious!
A student from our class had also requested to take some worms home to her compost bin, so we used videos and a visit from a composting expert (her dad) to help us learn more about the process and the important role worms play in it.
When we wrote our original pretend recipes the kids started talking about the possibility of eating gummy worms. So...I presented them with several gummy worm recipes, we read through them all, and then we voted on our favorite. Checking out all the recipes seemed like a meaningful way to make our how-to unit in writing come to life. On Friday we got to work making jello worm cups. The recipe was a success!
I heard from numerous parents throughout our investigation that they were becoming equally fascinated by all the tidbits they had been learning from their children about worms, so we decided to work collaboratively to make a big teaching mural for them. Together we brainstormed a list of everything our mural would need in order to look like a realistic worm habitat. Then we all chose jobs and got right to work. After our pictures had been added, we went back and added our facts to go along with them. Finally, we used our mural as the backdrop for a video that we sent our parents to teach them ALL ABOUT WORMS.
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