This post is a little bit late... as in a year late. Every October I teach a nonfiction research unit about bats, and I decided to really go all out with it last year!
I've been super inspired to keep my students engaged each year. I had been wanting to transform my classroom based on a theme, but was always so nervous to take the plunge! This was the first time I did anything like this, and based on the feedback I got from my students is something I definitely plan to do again. So... welcome to the bat cave!
Prior to entering the classroom I told my students we were going on a research expedition into a cave to study bats. At first they were like um, okay, but once they entered the cave they were super excited! Within about 7 seconds, one student immediately turns back to me and says "This is so fun".
The pictures are pretty unimpressive because well, the lights are off. What really sold it was the sounds.
I've been super inspired to keep my students engaged each year. I had been wanting to transform my classroom based on a theme, but was always so nervous to take the plunge! This was the first time I did anything like this, and based on the feedback I got from my students is something I definitely plan to do again. So... welcome to the bat cave!
Prior to entering the classroom I told my students we were going on a research expedition into a cave to study bats. At first they were like um, okay, but once they entered the cave they were super excited! Within about 7 seconds, one student immediately turns back to me and says "This is so fun".
The pictures are pretty unimpressive because well, the lights are off. What really sold it was the sounds.
I had this playing on repeat for most of the time we were in the bat cave. I projected it on the smart board, but put a screen shade up for 2 reasons: 1. It was already really dark and we needed some light to actually get work done, and 2. I didn't want them to see the background. Update for this year: Create a playlist in YouTube so I don't need to run up to the computer to press play again every few minutes.
The students were required to read leveled books and create a poster about what they learned from the book. This was part of a jigsaw activity and the books were leveled. They gave short presentations to the class, and after each one we recorded interesting facts in our Bat Scientist Research Journal. The note taking part was mostly teacher directed since in October of 2nd grade the most of students aren't really ready to accurately and independently determine main idea and details from presentations.
The funny part is that this is exactly what they were going to do, but we did it listening to a quiet clip of bat sounds in the background and with the lights off. Some students brought in flashlights and I had a few set up around the classroom, which is something I will make sure I plan for ahead of time. We needed more light, but I didn't expect to get a ton of flashlights since I send out a Remind message the night before when I realized that we wouldn't be able to see. Update for this year: Give them at more notice about the flashlights!
Check out my resources that go along with this:
This would be appropriate for 2nd - 5th grade. The higher the grade level the less teacher support you provide and allow the students to work more independently. This is a research project, so the forms provided would be appropriate for multiple grade levels.
This is another research project which includes the following: a paper bag craft, research journal, vocabulary pages, friendly letter writing, and informative paragraphs.
No comments:
Post a Comment