The first 8 books with hand written question templates that I ever put together.
As I am constantly reviewing my presentation for a conference, I am going to be asking a group of teachers “What do you want researching to look like in your classroom?” As I think back to the past three years of getting research started in my classroom, my reason for starting it, each time it took a turn and grew into a “Research Monster”. It was never the same in the end, as when it started, and I always learned something new along the way and improved upon weekly practices. I started researching in 3rd grade because I went to a meeting of regional EL teachers and another teacher had presented a project of her students researching in the classroom. We taught the same grade so I knew my kids could do this. I wanted this for my students. I just wanted my students to be able to research.
What did I want researching to look like in my 3rd grade classroom? I wanted my students doing more reading and writing during their ELA block. I wanted them to research in science and social studies. I wanted wonderful, simple projects to hang in the hallway. I wanted my students to feel empowered to find the answers for themselves. I got all that I wanted and so much more. It was a journey for them and me. I learned how to teach them to write a paragraph. For some, I taught them how to write a sentence, a paragraph, understand main idea and detail, and so much more. I got students to research a state, a country, a planet, fossils, the moon, and to write a biography. I had a designated place in my room for researching. The researching in my room began in December and continued until the end of the year.
What do I want researching to look like in my 1st grade classroom this year? At the beginning of the year, I wanted to engage some of my higher students who came to first grade reading at a second grade level. Now, I just want all of my students to be able to research at whatever their reading level.
What did I want researching to look like in my 1st grade classroom?
I wanted to improve the comprehension and reading levels of my highest readers. I wanted them to have something challenging and independent to do. This was going to open up more time for me to work with my lower readers on comprehension and decoding. I begin researching in my classroom with a hand-written question template and a copied “reader” from our reading series about Beavers. My student could do it. They could research independently. So I decided to gather some more books and give them a choice of what to research. It turned into a giant “Research Monster” in my classroom. I had all reading levels researching in my classroom and a writing center that spread to two tables with students choosing to spend their entire center time reading and writing. I had slowly built a leveled research library in my classroom with two buckets. I started this activity in the middle of April and it engaged the entire class until the end of the school year.
I wanted to improve the comprehension and reading levels of my highest readers. I wanted them to have something challenging and independent to do. This was going to open up more time for me to work with my lower readers on comprehension and decoding. I begin researching in my classroom with a hand-written question template and a copied “reader” from our reading series about Beavers. My student could do it. They could research independently. So I decided to gather some more books and give them a choice of what to research. It turned into a giant “Research Monster” in my classroom. I had all reading levels researching in my classroom and a writing center that spread to two tables with students choosing to spend their entire center time reading and writing. I had slowly built a leveled research library in my classroom with two buckets. I started this activity in the middle of April and it engaged the entire class until the end of the school year.
Researching in my classroom is already looking a little differently from years past. The teacher across the hallway has decided to put the leveled research library in her classroom this year and I can use it with my students since we switch for our ELA block. I have given her all my templates and showed her how to find the books I got from the library last year. We are already up and running and I am slowly getting students to independently research in the classroom. Only time will tell what I will learn about teaching research this year. –LE
monster compliments of www.clipartpanda.com
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