As mentioned in previous posts, we have been learning about space over the last few weeks. The main purpose of our space unit was to provide the students an opportunity to conduct research. We began our research by asking questions. The students divided up in small groups to write down questions they have about space on post-it notes. We then added those post-it notes to a chart. We then created a class Circle Map to record information about space found from various sources. We wrote the information from each source in different colors to keep track of where our answers to questions came from. As a class, we read through various sources, including the online source
Pebble Go. Fellow teachers, if your school does not subscribe to
Pebble Go, I highly recommend it. After we read each source, we stopped to see if any answers from our chart had been answered. If they had, we added the answers to the chart and put a colored dot, corresponding to the souce it came from, on the question. This taught the students that we could look at the remaining unanswered questions and narrow down if they had a common theme. For example, once we answered a few questions, we realized most the remaining questions were about astronauts and space shutttles so we were able to use the Table of Contents and Index to narrow down specific sections of the sources to look at. This was a good way to hit home the importance of text features.
After researching as a class, the students divided into small groups to conduct their own research. They created their own Circle Map on large construction paper and chose their own sources. After a few days of research, they wrote their own sentences based on their research findings on topics such as astronauts, planets, stars, and space shuttles. They wrote their sentences on chart paper as groups as a way to get them used to taking information from the sources to the Circle Map to sentence form.
The following week, the students used Pebble Go again, but this time by themselves in the computer lab, to record information about space on an individual Circle Map. In class they added more information from various library books. The students even checked out their own space books from the library for their research - I didn't even have to tell them or ask them to! Once they had completed their Circle Maps, they wrote an introductory sentence for their first draft of their research paper. They wrote their first sentence as a "Did you know fact?" Once they had their first sentence, we talked about the need to stay on topic. For example, if their first sentence was about stars, the rest of their sentences needed to be about stars. If they did not have enough information on their Circle Maps, they were free to go back and look at more sources.
After writing their first draft, they met with me during Guided Writing (which we usually do on Thursdays instead of Guided Reading) to edit their work. The students then rewrote their research paper. They then glued their Circle Maps and final draft to a large piece of black construction paper. They added planets to the paper with dot paints and then added start stickers. We hung their final research projects in the hallway and they were so proud. I am so proud and amazed at how well they did on their first official research papers!
