Animal Inquiry
I'm sorry; I wrote this entry on September 20, but it did not get published. I just realized the error.
Last week the class selected the animals about which they were most interested in learning more. The class has been divided into five teams, each researching a different animal. The groups are Dolphins, Penguins, Big Cats, Raptors, and Sharks. This week the children began the inquiry process by brainstorming what they know about their topic and what they want to know about their topic. At the end of the process, they will review the “facts” they already know to see if their thinking has changed. For example, as I wandered around the room earlier this week, the penguin group wrote that penguins don’t have fur when they are little. When I questioned them they told me, "They get it later." As I left the table, I asked if penguins were birds or mammals. The debate was ongoing as I continued my rounds.
They are now in the process of gathering information about the animals from a variety of resources - books, magazines, the Internet, and videos or DVDs. You can help your child by gathering books, artifacts, or pictures pertaining to their animal or its habitat or by offering ideas for projects that will reflect their learning and add interest to their presentations. Books may be kept in their cubby so has not to get mixed up with our classroom library.
We could also use help in the classroom with reading and taking notes. Later we will need help with organizing the information and doing some typing. We could use help on the following days: Tuesdays at 1:30 pm, Wednesdays at 1:15 pm, and Thursdays at 10:45 am. Each work period is about 45 minutes long. If you would like to come in and help during any of these times, please let me know. Don’t feel you have to commit to every day or every week. Whatever works for you will be fine and much appreciated! If you can come in, please let me know in advance, as the schedule can change.
We also have a field trip scheduled for the Honolulu Zoo on October 17. We will have a guided tour entitled Mammals. After the tour. we plan to have lunch at the zoo before returning to class. I would love to have one or two parent chaperones join us. Please let me know if you can help. Thank you!
Posted on September 20, 2007 12:52 PM | Permalink