Research and Collaboration - Kindergarten Style

Our team has tried very hard to learn as much as we can about the Common Core. It has been a learning curve but also a great way for us to bond as a team.

So, when we decided to visit Sea World, we knew that we wanted our students to research the sea animals that they would see at the theme park.  That lead to us think, "Why not have the students research and present their findings to each class?"

Simple.

Right?

Well....kind of.

First, we read about our sea animals and wrote about them in our Sea Animal Research Journals.  To guide our writing, we used Thinking Maps; mostly Tree and Circle Maps to help us.

Later, I assigned and worked with each group to create their presentation board.  In this case, I had my reading groups work together because they all had approximately the same needs.  This helped me to know how much guidance they would need.

Students and I enjoyed this extra time together.  Everyone worked together to cut, type, and prepare the presentation board.  They rehearsed their presentations during Independent Reading, with each other and to the class.

It was a lot of work.  But, well worth it!



Common Core Standards Addressed:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.K.2 Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose informative/explanatory texts in which they name what they are writing about and supply some information about the topic.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.K.2 With prompting and support, identify the main topic and retell key details of a text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.K.10 Actively engage in group reading activities with purpose and understanding.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.K.1 Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about     kindergarten topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.K.4 Describe familiar people, places, things, and events and, with prompting and support, provide additional detail.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.K.5 Add drawings or other visual displays to descriptions as desired to provide additional detail.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.K.6 Speak audibly and express thoughts, feelings, and ideas clearly.