The Cat, the Opossum and the Research Zone!

Over the past few weeks a second grader in my classroom has been talking and writing about her encounter with an evasive little critter. Her dramatic animal adventure is a good read! Here is part one of her first draft:
"It all began when Stupid draged a opossum in for my mom to surprise her...it was a gift. (Stupid is my mom's cat.We call him Stupid because he does some things that are stupid. For real!) My mom picked up the possum in a towel and set it in a bucket, and left it in the shed all day long. She put him in there so the cat couldn't get to him. When me and grama got home we checked on the opossum and he was still alive so we decided to take him to the Lindsey Museum. We headed there at comute time, so it took us a long time to get there. My grandma stoped in clayton to see if he was still breathing, and he was, so we kept going to Lindsey. Forty-five minutes later, we arived in the Lindsey parking lot and my grandma lifted the paper towel and the possum was gone! We searched the whole car and could not find him. Oh my goodness!!!" As Payton told her story, the children naturally asked for more information about this little creature. What does it look like? Where does it live? What does it eat?

The start of this dramatic animal adventure, so eloquently penned, became the catalyst that launched our second grade classroom into the Research Zone!!!

So, what exactly is 'research'?
It's a verb that means 'to study thoroughly.'
It's also a noun that means 'scholarly investigation; a close, careful study.'

In our case, each student has been asked to choose an animal they want 'to study thoroughly'.The ground rules for this in-class project are simple...

1. Read everything you can find about your chosen animal.

2. Name and classify your animal; whether it be a vertebrate or invertebrate, warm-blooded or cold, along with other defining characteristics.

3. Make a poster that shares at least four facts you've learned as you've researched, with either a photo or drawing of your animal.

4. Finally, share what you've learned with the class!

Now our library visits and computer lab lessons will become an opportunity to learn more about animals and the fundamentals of research and writing, propelled by this naturally motivating topic and second grade science standard. Of course, each student can take it a step further and write a dramatic animal adventure, whether it be real or make-believe! Now wouldn't THAT be interesting!