Week 6

Week 6: Owl Poetry!

Last week ended up being a short one! I had an all day workshop at the university on Thursday and on Friday, all Orono schools were closed because of the storm. Although everyone loves a snow day, we had to postpone a bunch of fun activities (Valentine's Day and 100th Day of School) that my mentor teacher and I had planned, so we're going to have to wait until our break is over to do all of that. 

          Owl Research Project

At the beginning of the week, though, we made some great progress with my owl unit. The week before, students had each picked a specific owl from a hat which they were to do research on. I set-up a Porta Portal ahead of time with appropriate web resources where students could find specific (age-appropriate) information to fill in a "My Owl Fact Sheet". They were so excited and they blew my mind with their researching skills. As I walked around the room they kept calling me over to tell me exciting facts about their owls, and I didn't even have to act surprised about some of them (did you know that the Burrowing Owl makes a sound like a rattle snake to scare off predators? Me neither.)

 The skills these kiddos have working on computers still blows my mind. They were pumped when they picked their owls from a hat and I was surprised at how quickly and efficiently they got to work! I can't remember the last time I got excited about a research project...

After they completed this research they got to use the color printer (which was clearly a rare and special occasion for them) to print off a picture of their owl. I gave each of them a "research folder" where they have been storing all of their findings.

Anyway, the second graders have been doing all of this research the past two weeks and they have just been given their next task which is to use their findings to write a poem about their owl. The poems are informational and the students must incorporate what their owl looks like, what their owl eats (prey), and where their owl lives (habitat and/or location). They have been doing excellent work so far. Many have decided to do Acrostic poems, some have written poems that rhyme, and others have attempted less traditional forms of poetry. So, currently, there is a diverse array of poetry that is a work in progress. After the students do a peer revision, a teacher conference, and complete their final drafts, their medley of pieces will be hung in the hallway for others to enjoy (I'll share some on here, too.) I'm so excited to see all of their completed projects.