Researching Rain Forest Animals

In preparation for the end of the year students are refining their research skills. We have been researching the animals that live in the rainforest to better understand the importance of protecting it. Students are working in pairs to research a rainforest animal of their choice. They recorded their new learning in their research notebooks so they could later create a PowerPoint presentation. Students were then instructed to present their new learning through a PowerPoint for the class. They really enjoyed this project, and it's preparing us for our last writing sample of the year that we will type for our portfolio.

Braille

During guided reading this week we focused on figuring out what was important in non-fiction texts using a article describing Helen Keller.  We dove deep later in the week and created our names in Braille using miniature chocolate chips.  We had a great time learning how people  can be different, but still make a difference.  Louise Braille became blind and at the age of 13 created Braille so blind people, including Helen Keller, could read like everyone else.  We had discussions about compassion for others that are different than us, and really grew an appreciation for others.

We had to study the Braille alphabet to correctly represent our names in Braille.  We even had to include an extra character in our names to show that they are capitalized. 

Synergizing Researchers

First graders in Ms. Wilson's class are using the Mac Air lab to research animals of their choice.  We will be researching them for the remainder of this week and adding our new learning to our research notebooks.  We are so excited to use our school's newest technology with the help of Mr. Massey.  We're also synergizing with the Research Center and Ms. Quinn's computer lab.  We have really become researching machines! 

Check us out in action. 

Collecting non-fiction books of our choice from the Research Center.

Here we are working hard to collect facts from our non-fiction books to add to our research notebooks.

We have highly anticipated using the Mac Air lab to do research on this website.  Feel free to research other animals with your child at home.

Ms. Quinn helped us use World Book Kids in the computer lab to add even more information to our notebooks. 

We are happy animal researchers, and can't wait to share our new learning with you.