Bats

One of the many things I miss about teaching is the opportunity to be creative.  (I know, it seems that the powers that be are doing their very best to take this away from teachers. Sad.)

A friend asked me to sub in her third grade classroom for two consecutive days and allowed me to create a project for her students.

This is the result of the two days.

Students answered the question about whether or not they have ever seen a bat by stamping the bat stamp in the yes or no column on our survey.

They answered the first two question in their 'bat book' that is from http://www.kidzone.ws/animals/bats/ws12.htm.  They took a few minutes to talk about what they know and what they wanted to learn with their team.  

Then we read the book Bats by Gail Gibbons.  On chart paper we logged interesting facts as we read the book.  We discussed the diagram in her book.  We talked about the bat life cycle.  They completed the back page of their 'bat book' and set it aside for later.

Students drew the border line around the construction paper edge using a ruler.

On a separate piece of paper students drew the (1) life cycle of a brown bat and labeled it.

My example shows the little brown bat life cycle from www.kidzone.ws as I didn't have time to draw it.

(Just so you know, ahead of time I cut paper for all of the learning I wanted presented on the poster.  I've done these before where spaces were bordered for learning presentation and some students have a tough time recreating the spaces they see.  As I was short on time I thought the paper would help with spacing and it also created some fun.  There's just something about pockets and little books and folding paper.) 

They folded the life cycle paper in thirds and applied glue to the middle section on the back.  It was glued in the bottom right corner.  I stressed getting it close to the border lines but not covering up the border lines.

Next they drew a (2) diagram of the parts of a bat and labeled it.  It was glued next to the life cycle.

 

The 'bat book' presented a problem as it could not be glued to the poster without losing information or taking up too much space (and some of it upside down!).  A pocket was created to hold the book.  I think this might have been the highlight of the poster.

Using a rectangle, the ends were folded under.  Glue was put on the folded under part and along the bottom of the paper (under the folded part, too).  The (3) pocket was placed on the poster next to the diagram.  I'm sorry I don't have a picture illustrating making the pocket.

 

During math time the students completed the Bat Wing Span book.  I had hoped we would have time to survey students about myths (http://www.bats4kids.org/) and feelings about bats to create data for graphs and to analyze, but there wasn't time.

I created the book using Publisher.  The wing span chart was created in Excel using data I found on various websites.

If you don't know how to make a little book, I found this video to help.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmPZlFBR6I8

We completed the (4) book and added it to our poster. 

 

During Science time we review what we read earlier by reading and talking about the following website.  http://www.globio.org/glossopedia/article.aspx?art_id=45&art_nm=Bats

In writing we started a paragraph about what we have learned about bats.

The next day we started off with the book Stellaluna by Janell Cannon. 

As we read we logged differences between bats and birds.    Using a venn diagram from math-aids.com (I added clip art of a bat and a bird) students compared and contrasted birds and bats.  The (6) venn diagram was ready to be added to the poster.  On my example we waited until we had the facts and opinions done and then added all three to the poster.  

The little 'matchbooks' are a fun way to add  (5) facts and opinions to the poster.  Once again we were running short of time so I limited the facts to two and the opinions to two.

 

 

We added, reviewed, edited, and rewrote the (7) paragraph about what was learned to the piece of notebook paper custom cut to fit the space left on the poster.  For kids who like to write a lot, a second sheet was added and students were instructed to not write on the top line.  I used that as a glue line to attached the top (first page) and their writing was two pages, the top one flapped open.

 

 

Finally, the best part!   A chance to (8) illustrate a bat.  I didn't give them paper for this, it was done to the poster paper.

To finish the poster a (9) title and border was added.  Students who finished early could add an illustration of another bat on the pocket and fact/opinion matchbooks.

If we would have had more time I think it would be fun to write a story with a bat as a main character.  I read Bat Love the Night by Nicola Davies to the students.  This would be a great opportunity to work on descriptive words and adding voice to writing.

Vocabulary

I wish I knew where I found the vocabulary levels so I could give the author proper credit.

Each week when introducing the new vocabulary words the students would rate the words.  It can be done on paper (make a list of the words for the students and they each rate the words) or it can be done using the smartboard.  (Each student had a card with the levels and meanings and a clicker.)  


Personally I liked the smartboard (using clickers) because of the graph generated by the results.     We would spend a little time discussing the graph and how about half the class really knew the word or less than a fourth of the class knows the word.  The graph fascinated the students.

I had to remind students to be honest about their knowledge of the words.  At the beginning everyone put their knowledge level of all words at 3 or 4.  Once they were comfortable with the knowledge that no one would know who put the rating of 1 or 2 they were honest.

Once we rated and discussed the graphs we moved on to a powerpoint with the words.  The powerpoint was loaded with pictures, clip art and video clips that were intended to help the student understand the meaning of the word.  The powerpoint was set up so the word did not appear until clicked to appear.  The students spent some time thinking about what word was represented, then discussed with a shoulder partner and finally I would make the word appear.  They loved being right.  I showed them an example of the word in a sentence then they spent some time thinking of a sentence to share with their shoulder partner.

Here are the levels (if you know who created this, please let me know):

1.  I never saw it before.
2.  I've heard it, but I don't know what it means.
3.  I recognize it in context as having something to do with...
4.  I know it well.

Fluency Graph example

This gives you an idea of how we charted our growth with words read per minute.  The data shown does not belong to any child in my classroom as I made it up.  The goal (target) at the beginning of the year was less than 123 but I had the student put 123 as the target on the chart because (1) it's the time of year that 123 is the goal and (2) it is the ultimate goal so why not use it.  The students charted their own growth using the template chart created for them to use.

Fluency Graphs

I wanted the goal (123 words) to appear on the students' graphs.  I googled how to put a target line on a graph and found a solution that worked for me.  There may be another way, maybe even easier than what we did, but I'm happy.  We just added another column of data with the goal.  The goal is listed with each entry.  Now we have a line showing the target number and the students can see how close they are to the goal.  They read to me today to get a new number to add to their chart.  Maybe I imagined it, maybe it was real, but it seemed like they all tried a little harder.  They've always been interested in their fluency (words read per minute) number, but now it has become a competition to get that WRPM above the target line.  They love reading to me.  They love getting their new number.  They love using excel to chart their growth.

They are becoming so quick at figuring out how to follow me on the computer and how to use the computer.  It might be time to allow them to gather more data about themselves.  Maybe a timed test on multiplication facts.  I wonder if a target line on their graph for multiplication facts would inspire them as much as the WRPM.   Now to figure out what would be a reasonable goal for multiplication facts in one minute....