Polar Bear Needs a Home - Denver Public Schools



[pic]

A Third Grade Research Project

by Becky J. Smith

Monday, November 19, 2004

[pic]

December 4, 2004 [pic]

Dear Third Grade Animal Specialists,

The Albuquerque Zoo is very excited! We are about to receive a new polar bear. We have never had a polar bear in our zoo before and this is thrilling news! Unfortunately, we don’t have enough space in our zoo to create a brand new exhibit for the polar bear. He will have to share an exhibit with another animal. We already have a walrus exhibit and a harp seal exhibit. Can you please help us decide which of these three animals should live together: the polar bear, the walrus or the harp seal? We will also need to know what kind of plants, water supplies and other things to put into the exhibit. When you have all the information, would you please put your final decision together in a computer slide show? We’d like to show it to our board of directors! They will be the ones to make the final decision about the animals’ new exhibit.

Thank you for your help!

Mr. Mine. A. Byrd

President of the Albuquerque Zoo Association

Polar Bear Needs a Home!

An Animal Research Project

Subject: Science and Technology

Grade Level: Third Grade

Lesson Summary

This lesson is designed to introduce the topic of habitat to third grade students. They will be creating a zoo exhibit for a polar bear that is being donated to the Albuquerque Zoo. The zoo is not big enough for a brand new cage, so the students will have to choose which of three animals in the arctic section should share an exhibit. They will choose from a polar bear, a walrus and a harp seal. They will make suggestions about what should be included in the exhibit. Using a KWL chart format, we will generate a list of things we know about polar bears and a list of subsidiary questions about polar bears and their needs that we’d like to know more about. Students will read about polar bear lifestyles, eating habits, hunting habits, and their habitat. They will access information sources from the library, from the Internet and from Encyclopedia software. I have created a list of appropriate websites for students to access that have relevant information about polar bears. Students will record their findings and information on sticky notes to add to the KWL chart. As a class, we will organize the newly gained information utilizing the Kidspiration software. The final project will be a Kid Pix slide show presentation that explains which animals will be the best cage mates and why. Students will create the slides, enter the text and record their own voices reading the text. They will share their slide shows with each other and with their parents on the evening of our Carnival of Learning in May.

State Standards: Science

Standard 3.1

State Standards Information Literacy

Standard #1

Standard #2

Standard #3

Standard #8

Standard #9

District Standards: Technology

Benchmark#1 End #3

Benchmark#2 End #1

Benchmark#3 End #1

Technology Integration

Students will use technology in three different formats during the project. They will use a variety of resource to find factual information, including the Internet and Encyclopedia software to gather information. They will use Kidspiration to organize their facts. They will use demonstration software, Kid Pix, to display their final decision and the reasoning for the decision.

Lesson Description

Lesson Introduction: The lesson will be introduced in the computer lab where I teach, students will be read a fictitious letter from the Albuquerque Zoo. The letter will state the dilemma and ask for their help! It will request they decide which exhibit will work best for the polar bear and what attributes the exhibit will need. It will also request that they send their final decision in multi-media format so that it can be shown to the zoo’s board of directors. We’ll begin our project with a KWL chart. Students will pull from their own background knowledge to fill in the K column. Together, we’ll begin the brainstorming process of asking what questions will need to be answered before making the final decision. These questions will be listed in the W column.

We’ll divide the class into teams to research each of the animals involved in the project: polar bears, walruses and harp seals. Student teams will gather information from a variety of sources in the library and on the computer. They will write the newly acquired facts on sticky notes and place them in the L column.

As a class, we’ll use the In Focus and Kidspiration to organize the new information. Students will each make their own decision about which two animals should be living partners and what the exhibit should include. They will display their final thoughts in a Kid Pix slide show. The culminating activity will be when the students share their slide show with family members and fellow classmates at our annual Carnival of Learning.

Computer Activities

Prior to Computer use: Students will have had practice in using the Kidspiration software in the months or weeks before we begin this project. We will practice organizing thoughts and ideas. Students will have an opportunity to try a graphical organization mini lesson on their own computer in the lab. I will also predetermine websites that will be useful and appropriate for third graders to access. These websites will be made available to the students on a shared Microsoft Word document. They will only need to click on the web addresses in order to access the sites. I’ll confer with Mrs. White in the library to create mini lessons about finding, reading and using nonfiction books. She and I will team teach a lesson on taking notes, using the sticky note method of recording information.

Activities for Students at the Computer: All computer usage will be done in the Elementary Computer Lab. Small groups will use the computer to access the Internet websites about polar bears, walruses and harp seals. Mrs. Self, the lab assistant, will be in the lab for guidance and assistance. They will record their findings on sticky notes. The small groups will also use an Encarta 98 cd to find information and pictures about their animal. As before, they will record their findings on sticky notes. All sticky note statements will be placed under the “L” on the KWL chart. Students will use the computer create a Kidspiration web of the findings of the whole group. They will refer to the KWL chart in order to create the web. Finally, students will be creating a slide show of their decision in a Kid Pix slide show format. They will do this individually.

Activities After Using the Computer: After the students have searched the websites, used Encarta and created their own Kidspiration organizer, we will gather together in a whole group. We’ll share our organizers and evaluate the quality of our researching. We may create new questions! This would facilitate going back through the research process to find more sticky note answers. Once we’re satisfied with the quality and quantity of information, students will then be able to make their own decision about which animals belong together and why. They will demonstrate their decision and explain their final exhibit needs in a slide show. Students will share their slide shows with each other and with their families.

Culminating Activity

Our final event will be the sharing of the slide shows on the evening of the Carnival of Learning. The school sponsors a spaghetti dinner, free of charge, for all the families of our elementary students. The families then are invited into the classrooms to see a variety of learning projects they’ve completed. They will have an invitation on the student’s desk that invites the family to the computer lab to see the slide show created by our third grade animal specialist! We’ll have the lab decorated like a zoo.

Essential Questions and Subsidiary Questions

Essential question for students to answer: “Which exhibit partners will be the best choice? What exhibit elements should be in place to meet the needs of both animals?” An example of these essential questions is attached in Kidspiration format.

Subsidiary questions that may be posed for the student:

← How does an animal’s biome affect its lifestyle?

← How do the plants affect food supply?

← How does the water supply affect how or where the animal builds its home?

← How does temperature affect the animal’s skin or fur?

← How do animals interact with other animals in their biome?

← How much room and space do animals require?

← What shelters do they need for warmth and protection?

← What food sources do the animals share?

[pic]

Ignacio Elementary Third Grade Research Project

Students will determine which zoo exhibit will be best for the new polar bear that is soon to arrive at the Albuquerque Public Zoo. They must choose which two animals will make the best exhibit mates and tell why. Students will make recommendations about what changes might need to be made in the exhibit for the new inhabitant.

The Research Model

I’ve chosen to use the “Know It All” model for the third grade project. Our students have minimal exposure to the research process and the KIA model allows for excellent guidance and scaffolding. The four steps are clear in their sequence and easily followed by both students and teachers!

The four steps of the “Know It All” research model are as follows:

1. What do we need to know? Students and teachers brainstorm what information should be gathered in order to successfully complete this project. I’d like to incorporate the KWL chart at this point to guide the discussion. Students can draw from their previous knowledge about zoos, as well as any prior knowledge about the three animals involved in the project. They can generate a list of questions that they want answered and post them on the chart. The research skill of recording thoughts and questions will be the most important part of this step.

2. Where will we find the information? In this step, students brainstorm possible places to locate answers to the questions generated in the first step of the research process. Our third graders have had little exposure to all the resources in our school. We will generate a list of possible resources and available personnel in a whole group format. We might talk about professionals who work with animals and if any are in our area. The research skill of strategizing resources will be introduced and practiced.

3. How will we use the information? Students at this stage of the research project work with the teacher to discuss what to do with the information they have gathered. They can discuss application processes, synthesizing information and also how to display their final outcome. At this point, I’d like to return to the KWL chart and allow students to put up sticky notes with the answers to our questions under the “l” portion. For the purposes of our project, it will be predetermined that students will display their final conclusions in the form of a Kid Pix Slide Show. Together, we will determine a process for organizing the information, using a Kidspiration web. Research skills at this stage include organizing information, applying information, synthesizing and coming to a final conclusion.

4. How did we do? Step four of the “Know It All” process is the evaluative step. Students design a method to review and evaluate the success of the project. They ask themselves if the final outcome achieved what the original question asked. They determine a manor in which to measure this outcome. For our purposes, we’ll have the final slide show for each student to show their decision. They will share the slide show with classmates and with their family at our annual spring carnival of learning. Together we’ll generate a list of items to be included in a rubric for self evaluation and teacher evaluation. The research skills included at this final step are reviewing the work produced and self evaluation. I also like the shared learning!

Real Life Applications

The real life application of this lesson comes in two forms. The first will be for students to see how much planning goes into creating an exhibit at a zoo as well as maintaining one. Students will come to realize that there is a lot of planning involved in preparing an environment for an animal that is not native to our area. Secondly, we will ask questions that inspire further thought. These subsidiary questions might include “Why do we have zoos?” “Are zoos good for endangered animals?” “Is there a time when zoos are not the best thing for animals?”

Avoiding Plagiarism

Students in the early elementary grades are most likely not aware of the importance of avoiding plagiarism. They must be introduced to what plagiarism is before we can begin to show them ways to avoid it! We’ll hold a talk about stealing other people’s things and works and then have the discussion dovetail into a plagiarism discussion. By utilizing a variety of resources to find information and by taking short excerpt notes, students will be less likely to take the information word for word from their sources. I’m even thinking of slipping a sticky note onto the board that is blatantly plagiarized and allowing students to react to it.

Collaboration with the Media Specialist

I will set a planning meeting with Mrs. White, our library assistant, to discuss the project and request her involvement in the researching phase. We will discuss whether it is better for the students to find their own books, or whether she could select several quality books for them. She will be asked to create a mini lesson on using nonfiction information in the library, reading for details and recording the information. I’m sure this will take several sessions with students. I will be available during these mini lessons for assistance and guidance. We will do several practice activities that require students to find a piece of information about an animal other than the three in our project. We will demonstrate where to find the nonfiction books in the library. Mrs. White or I will model how to read and summarize information. We’ll show how to write sentences on the sticky notes without copying the information from the book. Students will then have several opportunities to try finding detailed information on their own or in partners. Mrs. White may be able to find videos about arctic animals for students to watch!

Assessments

Students will have two assessment rubrics during the project. The first one is for their Kidspiration web organizer. They will also have a rubric for the final slide show. These rubrics will be shown to the students prior to actually doing that part of the project. I will fill the rubric out with each student as we sit at their computer! It will be a joint evaluation between the student and me. The two rubrics that I created are included at the end of this paper.

Bibliography

Crow, Sandra Lee. Penguins and Polar Bears, Animals of Ice and Snow. Washington: National Geographic Society, 1985.

Greenland, Caroline. Polar Bears. Danbury: Grolier, 1986.

LaBastille, Anne. The Seal Family. Washington: National Wildlife Federation, 1973.

Dingwall, Laima. Walrus. Toronto: Grolier, 1986.

"Polar Bear." Encyclopedia of the Animal World. 2 ed. 1972.

"Seal." Encyclopedia of the Animal World. 2 ed. 1972.

"Walrus." Encyclopedia of the Animal World. 2 ed. 1972.

Management Plan

This entire project will take place outside of the classroom. It is designed to be a computer lab project. Students will come to the lab for 45 minutes each week. They will receive instruction and do the project while in their “special” time. They will also do the library mini lessons during their library time with Mrs. White. Because we have the deadline of the Carnival of Learning, we may use some afternoon open lab time to complete portions of the project. Students will use the computer lab rules that have been posted and reviewed all year long. The lab is a quiet, respectful place of learning and rules are lovingly, but firmly enforced. If a student is not working or misbehaving, they are quietly reminded to redirect their behavior. Subsequent problems result in denial of the computer usage for a short period of time. They hate that!! We’ll begin this project in January in order to allow for time to learn the software, the library skills and to carry out the actual research. Kidspiration skills will take about 2-3 weeks to master and then Kid Pix will take about 2-3 weeks to learn how to make quality slides. The slide show creation takes about 4-5 weeks. The reward for the students will be sharing their final project with their families on Carnival night.

[pic]

Kidspiration Rubric

|Subject Area |Points Possible |Points Earned |

|Student Name is on the Project. Teacher |1 | |

|name is also on the Project. | | |

|Web is organized. Each animal has their |4 | |

|own center. Information is attached with | | |

|arrows pointing to the animal. | | |

|Symbols or pictures are inserted where |1 | |

|appropriate. Subtitles are attached. | | |

|Spelling is perfect. |1 | |

|Thinking is clear and detailed. Each |2 | |

|animal has good information. | | |

|Web is arranged so it is easy to read. |1 | |

|Total Points |10 | |

[pic] [pic] [pic]

Slide Show Rubric

|Subject Area |Points Possible |Points Earned |

|Student Name is on the Project. Teacher |1 | |

|name is also on the Project. | | |

|Slide show has at least 5 slides |5 | |

|Slide show tells what the final best choice|3 | |

|is for the polar bear and why. | | |

|Slide show tells what the exhibit should |2 | |

|look like. | | |

|Slide show has quality pictures and |2 | |

|backgrounds. | | |

|Capitalization is perfect and spelling is |2 | |

|perfect. | | |

|Total Points |15 | |

Websites for Researching

Polar Bear Websites











Walrus Websites







Harp Seal Websites







Kidspiration Essential Questions

seals.es on the computer will include going to several websites and finding factual information about polar bears, walruses an

[pic]

seals.es on the computer will include going to several websites and finding factual information about polar bears, walruses an

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download