Using Pond Discovery Bags to Help Students Develop Research Skills

 

Common Core Standards
K.W.6
With guidance and support from adults, explore a variety of digital tools to produce and publish writing, including in collaboration with peers.

K.W.7                                                                                                                                             Participate in shared research and writing projects (e.g., explore a number of books by a favorite author and express opinions about them).              

K.RIT.10                                                                         
Actively engage in group reading activities with purpose and understanding. 

By this time of year my students have developed reading and writing skills that will enable them to begin research with lots of support from me. Discovery bags will help them use a variety of materials to collect information about their pond animals.

I pack each bag with a stuffed pond animal, nonfiction books, and a laminated information sheet and a word wall . Students are given a fact sheet on which to collect information. The collected information will be used to write about their pond animal.

We begin the project with a discovery bag that I will use to model with the whole class. We will unpack the discovery bag and discuss all the components of the bag. We will complete the fact sheet together and then model how to use the facts to write an informational piece about the pond animal. I also made videos about each pond animal and uploaded them last year. I want to give my students an opportunity to use technology in their research as well. Here's the link to the pond videos.

Videos

I shared information sheets and word walls last year, but I have updated them and I'm sharing the new ones below. I will share some finished products as we finish our pond unit.

 

 

Alligator Word Bank

Alligator Information Sheet

Beaver Word Bank

Beaver Information Sheet

Duck Word Bank

Duck Information Sheet

Frog Word Bank

Frog Information Sheet

Raccoon Word Bank

Raccoon Information Sheet

Turtle Word Bank

Turtle Information Sheet

 Animal Fact Sheet