How Have PNA Third Graders Become Animal Experts?
They are Nonfiction Writers
As nonfiction writers, students must use and evaluate sources to create credible and accurate texts. The students’ first attempt at using these 21st Century Skills this year is through the creation of an online book about an Alaskan animal. Researching the animal of their choice required using appropriate online resources, as well as print texts. Knowing what makes a source is a tool students will need to be able to use for the rest of their school career and beyond.
Media literacy is the ability to access, critically evaluate, and create or manipulate media. Media can consist of print and digital resources.
Information literacy is the ability to recognize when information is needed and locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information.
Technology Literacy is the ability of an individual, working independently and with others, to responsibly, appropriately, and effectively use technology tools to access, manage, integrate, evaluate, create and communicate information.
BookCreator is an online writing website that allows students to type their rough draft into a final form. With access to photographs, diagrams, charts, and maps, students can enhance their writing. They can also upload their own illustrations, use a drawing tool, and use different shapes to add life to their book. At the end of the unit, they will “publish” their books online. We will celebrate with a trip to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center where they will share their Alaskan animal illustrations and get to see some of the animals they chose in action!
They’ve Made Their Own Animal Adaptations
3-LS4-2. Use evidence to construct an explanation for how the variations in characteristics among individuals of the same species provide advantages in surviving, finding mates, and reproducing may provide advantages in surviving, finding mates, and reproducing.
3-LS4-3. Construct an argument with evidence that in a particular habitat some organisms can survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all.
Lizards have a physical adaptation that allows them to hide from predators! The third graders created their own camouflaged lizards for different spots around our classroom.
Can you spot the lizard?
Why do different animals have different types of teeth? Animals have certain physical traits that allow them to survive, reproduce, and thrive in their environment. Carnivores and herbivores have different types of teeth to suit the type of food they eat. Other animals, such as the beaver, use their teeth to build and carry out tasks essential to their survival. After reading, What If You Had Animal Teeth, students were asked to choose the type of animal teeth they would like to have for themselves and why.
The Connection Between Literacy and Science
The use of literacy skills while learning science content extends and expands their scientific reasoning. Language allows students to clarify their ideas, make claims, present arguments, and record and present findings.
