Week 19
Lesson Plan:
Continue to keep the monsters researching. Read aloud a book this week. They will only be excited about a topic if I am excited about a topic and show them new ideas in the world. Encourage more students to bring in resources on topics of their choice.
What happened:

On Monday, I read aloud the first half of a blue level book about the Cherokee tribe of North America. I talked to the students about important details when researching a Native American tribe. Then, they started researching. There were 11 members here today. It was surprisingly productive for a Monday. Several students had built up a collection of reports and one by one they finished them. I received a couple of biographies on Abraham Lincoln and Walt Disney. I received a report about Valentine's Day. One student brought in a book to begin researching Johnny Appleseed. Several students had almost finished gathering their information on various topics. It was a great day for researching and I saw growth in several of my monsters today.
On Thursday, I finished reading the book about the Cherokee tribe in North America. I had 5 monsters researching today for our club meeting. One monster brought in 3 biographies to begin gathering information. Another organized their biography about George Washington. Then, he learned how to write a five-sentence introduction for his report before moving to the computer to type his report. My other three researchers learned about how to do a diorama to publish their respective reports on Persian cats, Pteranodon, and Great White Sharks. It was a great meeting. They were a little squirrelly, but they did beautiful work and are learning more and every week. See my Instagram story on Mondays and Thursdays for their work and other researching moments during our meetings.
Week 20
Lesson Plan:
Prepare new templates for the research monsters to continue to grow their researching skills to become authentic and independent researchers.
What happened:
On Monday, we had an early dismissal because of weather so all after school activities were cancelled.
On Thursday, I had 6 research monsters arrive and were surprisingly ready to research. I don't know about your school, but ours is ready for spring break and it’s still another week away. I thought they wouldn't really want to get to work, but I was pleasantly surprised at how much they accomplished. Two monsters worked on organizing their biographies. Another typed a biography with an introductory paragraph. One student fervently researched Yorkshire terriers using books, the computer, and Epic Books on the iPad in various rotations. One student tried researching something new on the blue level and began to gather information about the planet earth. Today was a really good day and the research monsters worked very hard.