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Week 15
Lesson Plan:
I have several templates that I would like to create and attempt to interest students in researching the topics. Until then, I continue to plan for a read aloud and then the students research for the rest of the meeting.
New templates for researching Native Americans, Creatures of Legends, and Explorers.
What happened:
On Monday, I began our meeting for the 16 research monsters that arrived, by reading a blue level biography about Walt Disney. Some were very interested in the fact that Mickey Mouse was originally called Mortimer Mouse until his name was changed to Mickey. After the read aloud, the research monsters got to work. Several of them moved onto the blue level and they found it a bit challenging. They didn’t rush through their reports like they did in the past. This frustrated some, yet challenged others. I had two students researching Abraham Lincoln with the U.S. Presidents detail template. One student wanted to research Valentine's Day with the holiday template, while another researched Rosa Parks with the biography template.
I also began to test a theory. I wanted to see if students improved their ability to hand-write multiple paragraphs with a two-finger indent if they typed their report on the computer and then hand-wrote another report.
Many of my third graders moved onto the green level. They researched at their new level and practiced main idea and sentence order while writing their reports. Overall, I received about 5 reports today on the yellow, green, and blue levels.
On Thursday, I did not get an opportunity to read to my 7 monsters due to a late bus arrival after school. By the time I had returned to my room, where one of my fellow teachers was watching them, the research monsters had already finished their snacks from home and were deeply involved in their research projects. They diligently gathered information, organized it independently, typed and hand-wrote reports, and created posters.
A student brought their own resources to a meeting to research their favorite soccer player. One student brought her own resources to complete a biography. Another student took one of the biography templates home so they could complete the research on a biography them had for class. This is what the Leveled Research Library is all about, teaching students to research authentically and independently. Overall, today was another great day, not many completed reports, but several were in the process towards completion and the effort presented was outstanding.
Week 16
Lesson Plan:
Continue to move students through the levels of the research library and encourage them to research various topics besides animals.
What happened:
On Monday, it was Presidents’ Day. There was no school for students.
Introducing the diorama as a simple publishing idea. On Thursday, I had 7 research monsters arrive in my room after school to research. I had to handle a couple of situations after school, so I arrived back in my room with my students already researching. We started our meeting researching and never stopped. I had a couple of students researching on the computer with various websites. I received a couple of completed reports. I discovered a google researcher, a sentence copier, and the rocks and minerals template needed to be adjusted or else I needed to find more resources for a report on diamonds. Everything gave me ideas for more blog posts. I also introduced my monsters to creating a diorama as opposed to making a poster to publish their reports.
Free Diorama template in my TPT Store. Please click on link below...
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