Salmon Tolman Fam: Raptor Reports & Reading Rewards

As a teacher, I quite enjoy PBL: Project-Based Learning. It requires more work, more study, and extra effort on my part (because I steer from curriculum for it, and create my own lessons), but I feel that the students benefit so much from it, and they remember what they learned more vividly, and that the extra time and effort I commit to it are worth it as a result.

I like to teach expository writing in units, and usually do one unit a quarter because they take so much more time than narrative or opinion writing. I break down the expository, or information, writing into topics, such as: person (biographies), place (for example states or National Parks--which is what we did in the fall), and thing (for example: events, inventions, or animals). I currently teach the same grade levels I did last year (3rd and 4th), and I'm hoping if I teach the same grade levels for enough years, that all my extra work that goes into each PBL (such as creating informational outline templates, purchasing books on the topics, downloading or creating supplemental lessons that support the teaching of the topic, etc.) will pay off and I can just start rotating through the expository subjects I've previously taught. Last year, for the animal reports, I decided to have the students study bears and wild cats ("Lions, and Tigers, and Bears, oh my!"). Although I had all new students this year, I didn't want to repeat last year's studies--I wanted to broaden my own mind and learn something new! One of my students loved the Peregrine Falcon, and talked about it so much that I decided to have the students research raptors for their animal report this year.

I don't know much about raptors (also known as "birds of prey"), so I researched them for months leading up to the expository unit. I read online about them, ordered books to share with the class, and decided how to narrow down the large list of raptors that exist in the world to a smaller category that the students would learn more about. I chose diurnal (awake during the day) birds of prey that live in Idaho, which only included 17 species. I thought that was perfect, because I only had 14 students, plus I do a report myself (to model the process), which would fit within that number: each student would be able to learn about a specific raptor, but they would all have something in common with each other's.

I found a great PDF pamphlet available online on the Idaho Fish and Game website that would serve as the foundation for the students' research, and I created an informational outline for them to use to gather the necessary information before they could write their animal reports. For any information the online document didn't provide, they could find in the books I'd ordered for the class. Once their reports were written and typed (which they did themselves!), we started working on creating a presentation board with all the information they gathered. It was a 3-week project that included cross-curricular learning: we also read fictional chapter books about birds, and the students used mathematical skills to measure how long each bird's wingspan was and made a model to represent their bird's weight. For social studies, they mapped where their bird lives. In art, they colored images of their bird with similar likeness and painted outlines of feathers with actual feathers. We did a lot with science: watched videos of how each of the birds move and where they live, classified the raptors into familial groups to know whose were related, and learned about what and how they eat and extended this knowledge by doing a science lab experiment about bird beak adaptations. A lady from the Fish and Game joined us one morning and brought feathers and skulls and furthered the student's learning, and they were so excited by her knowledge of raptors and she, in turn, was impressed by how much they already knew, too! She said she's never presented to a class before who knew more than ours did! We presented our reports at the all-school Science Fair at the beginning of April, and students measured their bird's wingspan with that the of the people they presented to, which went over really well. I was so proud of them! The students enjoyed learning and were so excited to share their newfound knowledge with others! I'm so pleased with how the expository unit went; when I invest so much into a project, it delights me to know it when it all works out like I hope and envision.

Bird Beak Adaptation Lab

Painting with feathers

Creating birds with wikki stix

Wikki Stix Raptors

Wikki Stix Birds of Prey creations

The presenter from the Idaho Fish & Game brought hands-on items.

She did a demonstration how an owl's feathers are so much quieter
than an eagles feathers, and students got to feel them all.

Each student made a presentation board of their raptor.

Presenting at the Science Fair

Another passion of mine is directing Dr. Seuss week which is at the beginning of March; the National Read Across America Day honors Dr. Seuss' birthday on March 2. I love encouraging students to read and giving them motivations to excite them about reading. I was so happy to bring my passion of Dr. Seuss week with the students in Leadore, after directing such events at Terreton Elementary for the past 3 years. I chose a theme I've used in the past (but never with the Leadore students) called "A Great Day for UP" (based on the book by Dr. Seuss). Although I've used this theme before, I added so much to what I'd done before, and worked on the concept since January leading up to the event. The whole elementary joined in the week's festivities. I chose dress-up days every day based on the theme and other Dr. Seuss books: "Heads UP" (crazy hat/hair day to promote the book Cat in the Hat), "When I Grow UP" (dress like future job to promote the book Maybe You Should Fly a Jet), "Don't Want to Get UP" (dress in pajamas to honor the book I Am NOT Going to Get Up Today), and "Dress UP in Green" (Wear green for St. Patrick's Day to honor the book Green Eggs and Ham).

I also issued reading challenges to all the students at a kick-off assembly, where I introduced the week's theme to all the students and showed them a video of the book "A Great Day for Up" being read aloud so they would all be familiarized with it. I gave them an individual challenge and a group challenge: The individual challenge was if they were to read 4 books and write 4 mini book reports within the 4 schooldays that week, they would earn 4 prizes. They were to read 2 Dr. Seuss books, 1 nonfiction book about an animal that goes UP (birds, butterflies, giraffes, dinosaurs, etc.), and 1 nonfiction book about a thing that goes UP (airplanes, kites, clouds, hot air balloons, balls, etc). I created the pamphlet of book reports, based on what I made last year's Dr. Seuss week, and every student got one. I also put together boxes for each elementary classroom full of Dr. Seuss books and leveled nonfiction books in the two nonfiction UP Categories. I wanted to make sure every student had access to books to fulfill the requirements, so I worked in advance by checking out books from the Leadore School Library, the Leadore Community Library, the Salmon Public Library, and my own personal class library and then divided them between all the classes. If a student read the books and filled out the book reports, they were awarded with Dr. Seuss/UP prizes, such as 7UP, a fruit roll-UP, a Dr. Seuss bookmark, and a Dr. Seuss medal.

The group challenge was for any student who read a certain number of books overall that week, any book of their choosing (6 for Kindergarten, 8 for 1st/2nd graders, 10 for 3rd/4th graders, 12 for 5th/6th graders); they needed to fill out the differentiated reading log with an UP arrow on the backside, and when it was complete, their arrow would go on the hall wall (making a large UP arrow), and the student would be invited to come to an entire elementary UP party. We held the party a few weeks later in the school gym, after ISIP and ISAT testing ended. At the party, we did all things UP: there were 5 stations that students rotated between in groups of 8-10. There was a stilts station, paper airplane making and distance flying competition, balloon game, and beach ball volleyball with partners holding towels. It was a fun party with prizes! Overall, the week went very well, and the students were excited to read and get prizes for their efforts.

I dressed like a teacher for the
"When I Grow UP" day.

Heads UP crazy hat/hair day

I ordered a new shirt for this year's
Dr. Seuss week. I liked it because it
had an UP arrow & a Dr. Seuss quote.

I Dressed UP in Green for St. Patrick's Day!

Older Students reading Dr. Seuss books to Kindergarteners.

1st, 2nd, 3rd, & 4th graders had a readathon
in the multipurpose room on pajama day.

The students could check in with me every afternoon at a
certain time, and if they successfully completed the individual
reading challenge pamphlet, they got to pick their 4 prizes.