2nd Grade Zoo

It was a great collaborative effort between the second grade teachers and the library.  The classroom teachers kicked off the research projects by having students select an animal.  Then they discussed habitats, warm/cold-blooded, and backbones.  Students were introduced to the online Britannica Encyclopedia and World Book in library.  Online Britannica Encyclopedia is a great resource for students, because it has a read-aloud feature and students can select from 3-reading levels. Students also used nonfiction books, and PebbleGO.

Armed with their research, students created a 30-second write up of what their animal would say about themselves.  Students used the ChatterKids app to record their voice, talking about their animal from their animal's perspective.  After recording, students uploaded their videos to their Google Drive folder.  From there, we used goo.gl to generate QR codes, which were added to each student's project.

In library, students also used PicCollage to create their "I Am an Animal" poems, adding their animal picture and using the iPad camera to snap a photo of their printed poem.  Finally, they added their first name, cropped their poem and selected a background to complement their animal.

Students were also introduced to:

ChatterKids

QR reader

PicCollage

The culminating activity was the Zoo Display in the gym at the end of the research project.  Parents could scan the QR codes to view and listen to the videos and talk to each student about what they learned.

 <==examples of the "I Am an Animal" poems.