We began our enquiry into penguins by creating a ‘KNOW’ (or THINK we know) chart and a ‘WONDER’ (what we want to know) chart. Please note that ALL ideas are recorded at this point and will be proven – or disproven – by the end of our unit.
We followed up with a visit to the Library to explore the penguin entries in the on-line World Book database via the laptops. Students have now been put into partnerships and they have chosen the penguin that they want to research in-depth.
Beginning this week the student-partnerships will spend 45 minutes each Tuesday on the laptops doing research on their chosen penguin. We also have an extensive collection of fact-based books in the classroom and the library. Students will collect information on their data sheets and then formulate this information into a report format. These reports will be orally presented to the class at the end of the unit.
Early last week I sent home a letter about the World Book on-line resource, along with how to access the penguin websites which I have attached to my Delicious account – a link on this blogsite. Feel free to explore the on-line sites at home with your child. They should be able to tell you the name of their specific penguin – although, these were just chosen at the end of the day on Friday so they may not be totally clear on how to pronounce their penguin’s name yet:)