Insect Reports

We have just finished up or insect unit. This year we have completed many non-fiction writing/reports about people,holidays, and animals. For this project, students were grouped with their reading small groups. This allowed students to work with other students on their same instructional level. Students completed this project almost 100% on their own! They used available resources such as ebooks, books, pebblego, and other internet resources. This project was completed over the course of 5 days (6-7 days would work better)....here is the break down

Day 1: Introduction
I alway use Day 1 of our units to introduce our topic. We spend the day reading books, researching, and learning about the topic. Most of the time this is completed in a whole group setting. Lots of discussion takes place on this day as well build our knowledge and interest about our topic.

Day 2: Group Research

Students formed leveled groups. Each group spent the day reading books, ebooks, QR codes, and visiting pebblego.com to learn about different types of insects. At the end of this day group decided on the particular insect they would be researching.

Day 3: Targeted Research

Groups specifically researched their chosen insect. Each group made a list of the things they wanted to know about their insect such as; habitat, prey, food, life cycle, etc. They created an outline in their journal.

Day 4: Rough Draft
Students used the information they gathered to begin the rough draft or their reports. Groups had 3-4 students in them which allowed each student to contribute at least 1 sentence to the writing.

Day 5: Drawing and Presentation (this really should be 2 separate days)
I provided each group with various pictures of their insect. They used them as a guide as they drew and labeled their insect.

Then, each group practiced presenting their drawing and reading their report.

Next, Each group presented their project as I used the ipad to record a video of each group.

Finally, I create a QR code for each group and attached it to their drawings.

They are hanging in the hall for students, parents, or teachers to scan and watch!

I am so proud of my students for working so hard on this project!