The Research Monster Club: Week 17 and 18

Biography about Cristiano Ronaldo

Week 17

Lesson Plan:

Build background knowledge in the students about some of the less familiar topics in the Leveled Research Library. I remember when I worked together with another teacher to do researching at the end of the school year with a third-grade class. Students were afraid to try and research new and unfamiliar topics. We found some videos for them to watch to build their background knowledge. This week, my plan is for the research monsters to watch an educational video while eating their snack before they begin researching.

Blue level researching on the blue level with multiple resources (not pictured), organizing paragraphs, and publishing on the computer.

What happened:

Green Level researching and diorama about Mambas

On Monday, they watched an episode of Bill Nye the Science Guy about deserts while they ate their snack. By the time I returned to the room, the video was finished and some students had gotten started on their research. I had third graders learning about how to organize sentences into paragraphs with main ideas. I had three monsters finish their research about a person, so they organized their biographies in chronological order instead of main idea.  They struggled with this concept. They did great on gathering their information, but now we hit a road block to get through. Several of my research monsters finished their reports on the yellow, green, and blue levels. A student began to publish on the computer to work on writing paragraphs.  A couple of students organized and finished their reports on their own without teacher support.

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Green Level researching about Great White Sharks

On Thursday, seven research monsters arrived in my room after school. They got straight to work after their snack. After they watched Bill Nye on Monday, I decided to start showing something like the fireplace we did in December.  It was more like meditation videos with music to forest scenes, ocean views, and waterfalls. I tried to inspire them for future research projects, as usual.
I received a yellow, a green, and 2 blue reports. Two of them were typed. One had a diorama attached to it. So proud of the work my Research Monsters gave me. I can already see the growth in the third graders and my fourth graders are starting to research and organize their report without my support.

Green Level researching about Hyenas

Week 18

Lesson Plan:

Keep the monsters researching. Encourage the research of a water ecosystem. Only 4 weeks until Spring Break. It is a long haul to the beginning of April.

​What happened:

Green Level researching about butterflies.

On Monday, eleven monsters appeared in my room ready to research. For their snack time, they watched an episode of Bill Nye The Science Guy about oceans. For our meeting today, I played a musical film about oceans. It mostly served as background music and ambiance. Several students finished their biography about a U.S. president. A few of the students worked on blue and green level reports. A couple of students published or researched their reports on the computer. It was a quiet, yet swift moving day for the research monsters.

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Blue Level researching about Persian cats

On Thursday, seven monsters came to the meeting including a new member. I read a yellow level book about corals to them. I also informed them about the books on coral, tide pools, and kelp forests that were going to arrive. Several seemed very interested in researching these water ecosystems. There were several students researching on the green level. Some students moved up a level. One student decided to research the Loch Ness Monster, another is researching Persian cats, while another organized their research about George Washington. The country books on the green level started to become a researching trend as well. I received several reports today and a few had dioramas attached to them. 

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