Thursday, May 31, 2012

Rainforest Animal Research Report FREEBIES!

Happy almost Friday, Peeps!! Kerri here...
I know, I know! This is WAY too late for many of you who are soaking up the rays of summer (although TECHNICALLY it is not ACTUALLY summer yet according to the seasons, but that's just me, feeling bitter that y'all are out sooo much earlier than me!), but I FINALLY have my act together and am posting my Rainforest Animal Research Report goodies, that you may use, or file away, or do absolutely nothing with! I leave it up to you! :)


Step 1: I send home a letter and worksheet and the kids look up research about a rainforest animal of their choosing for homework. Obviously, you can do this for ANY animal groups that you are studying...The kidlets research at home with mom and dad and return the paper after a week. 


Step 2: We use the information that they gathered to fill out the FANTABULOUS animal graphic organizers that the girls over at Made for First Grade shared last year-click here to go to their blog post about them. These are RAD, and work perfectly!


Step 3: In my Writing Center, the kids write their research report using their graphic organizer that they have already filled out. I DO NOT do this whole group. I would probably SHOOT myself if I attempted that one. 6 kids + me is all I can handle when writing these reports out!


Step 4: I print out pictures of their animal off the internet that they can use to refer to when drawing their animal. I have them draw it with pencil, sharpie (my other best friend besides Mod Podge) over the pencil lines, and then color WITH THEIR BEST COLORING (Can you envision my gnarly furrowed brow as I threaten them within an inch of their little lives to do their best because this is for Open House, and do you want your parents to see you scribble scrabble, blah blah blah...You get the picture!)


Step 5: Using these oh-so-cool folders that were donated to my school last year (YES, I did HOARD a whole bunch of them. I have a problem...) in colorful colors, I staple their picture and the internet photo to the left, and all 3 of their writing process papers (research, graphic organizer, and final draft) to the right, slap on a snazzy cover and TADA!! They are FINISHED!! 


The kids feel SOOOO GROWN-UP after finishing these monsters, and are SUPER EXCITED to earn a Magic School Bus Goes to the Rainforest movie as a reward, while teacher collapses in a heap in her corner! (That, by the way, MOST DEFINITELY did not happen today! Nope!)


Photo time...
Covers and fun folders

 leaf-cutter ant drawing and final copy of report




 internet photo and graphic organizer


 Research homework

Isn't his little "ant-tastick" line so cute!! LOVE!

 Red-Eyed Tree Frog




I just had to show you this one. First of all, who ON EARTH names a bird "Cock of the Rock". REALLY?? Cool looking bird, HORRIBLE name. This little sweetie FORGOT 3 very important words- "of the rock".  AWKWARD!! Guess who wrote it in for her? YUP, me, whilst trying to keep a straight face as I reminded her of those 3 VERY important words that she forgot to write. 
(Note to self...maybe next year this particular bird is not a choice?? Hmmm...)


Click on the picture below to download copies of all of the above papers for the Rainforest Animal Research Reports!



I'd love to know if you find these useful! Let me know by leaving a wee little comment!!
Happy almost weekend, friends!



20 comments:

Michelle Griffo said...

Wow! These look beautiful...I like the sentence with "ant-tastic" in it...so cute!

Michelle
Apples and ABC's

Storie said...

These are great! I love the red-eyed tree frog art and the ant-tastic comment shows a lot of personality. If you ever decide to make more sets for different habitats, please let me know.
Storie
Stories by Storie

Ms.Trinh said...

Wow, these really look amazing! Thank you so much for sharing and showing us how you implement the reports!

The Teacher Tattles

Deborah said...

I have just started trying to do little animal units lately - so this will help me with some ideas. Thank you. :o)

meadowt said...

Fantastic resource,thanks for sharing.
Barbara
happyteachingfirst.blogspot.com

Heather's Heart said...

That is too funny....and it is a weirdo name! =)

These are great. Thank you so much!


Heather
Heather's Heart

Amber O. said...

This is amazing! I attempted research reports this year, but they kinda flopped:) I think this, and the incredible link back to Made For First, will help immensely!!! Also, have you seen the research sticky notes organizer from Sarah Cooley? I bought those during Teacher Apprec week & I think they're going to be helpful as well next year. Thanks for the great stuff again, Kerri! BTW, LOVED the Cock OF THE ROCK story! Too funny:) Honestly, how did you keep a straight face? :D

  said...

Wow, this is great! I'll have to use it next year with my Rain Forest unit. Thanks a bunch!

Cara
The Teacher's Backpack

Lisa R. said...

These came out amazing!! I am definitely filing this away for next year. Thanks for sharing!! :)

Lisa
Learning Is Something to Treasure

Unknown said...

Awesome writing unit! Definitely laughed out loud while reading the Cock of the rock story!! haha I do have one question tho, how long did your final draft writing center last? What were the other students doing? Sorry, that was two questions. This was my first year in first grade, and I had trouble finding time to fit everything in, so I was just curious as to how you do it so that I can improve for next year. Thanks :)

Veronica said...

I love this! I haven't taught my Rain Forest unit in a while...mostly because there isn't time. But, this would be great for our end-of-the-year animal research project. Glad I have that planning done for next year. Thanks.

Cynthia said...

This is wonderful and I am using it NEXT week, as we are in school until mid-June! Thank you SO much! I love all of your things! P.S. Your students' work looks fantastic! P.P.S. Cock of the rock story-HAHAHAHAHA!!!

Mrs. S said...

Very cute!!! Thanks for sharing.

liz said...

I'm going to use this for summer school....thanks! : )

EmBellish said...

I love these rainforest animal reports! They remind me so much of something I did when I was in elementary! So cute! Thanks for sharing!

Emily
Tangled with Teaching

Bethany McClure said...

Very cute! Thanks for sharing!

❀Bethany❀
Learning is a Journey
Polka Dot Parlor

Lauren Gold said...

amazing resource thank you so much! I'll be using these next week :)

Unknown said...

I love this package, but I had to laugh at the bird with the unfortunate name. I let one of my students (a boy) choose the mammal we would talk about today and he chose the sperm whale. Really? Out of all the mammals on earth, that's what you pick? Too funny!

Edmond Hill said...

This is been pretty important surely there is lot needed to be done and made in this regard and hopefully these will further prove to be much better. clinical observership

isorberHIS306 said...

This is exactly what I was looking for! Wonderful outline, thank you.

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