Curiosity

So, I've been noticeably vacant on the blog.  I haven't written on it since April!  Yikes!  I didn't think it had been that long.  You know, sometimes the demands of daily life just tie you up and something has to give.  This was my something.  BUT...school is out, I'm working on some really good writing with my friend and colleague Holly, and I'm ready to give this blog thing a whirl again.

Since most of us have celebrated the last day of school by now, we can step back and take some time to reflect on the things we did this year.  One of my students' favorite literacy contracts this year was based around the theme topic of CURIOSITY.  Students picked books from our school book room that they were curious to read and paired up with other kids in the class to form small book groups.  They also identified five things about which they wanted to learn more.  They did a little research on each of those five things, then narrowed their focus to the one thing they wanted to research more in-depth to learn more about.  They had a menu of options to choose from for how to present their findings.  I used to do menus all the time in my room, but I started to shy away from them because they can be hard to grade.  There are so many different projects to consider and each one requires a different rubric.  The task of grading became daunting.  However, I felt my kids this year needed to experience one menu and I rethought how to grade the projects.  Instead of me grading everything, students presented their findings to a small group of peers and the peers filled out a project evaluation form for each member in their small group.  It worked like a charm.  I got to facilitate and experience presentations, but peers got to evaluate.  Take a look at menu below:

March Nonfiction Menu--CURIOSITY

You will complete ONE of the following projects (your choice) after you have read and conducted research about a person or topic of interest.

While conducting your research, keep illustrated notes about what you are learning.  Illustrated notes are notes that help reflect your learning by drawing pictures, writing in various colors, etc.  Here is a picture of illustrated notes: Illustrated notes help to deepen your comprehension of topic and allow you to doodle at the same time!  How cool is that?	Create a comic strip that allows readers that know little or nothing about the person or topic you researched to learn more.  Think of this almost as a graphic novel, just not quite as long.  The reader of your comic should come away with a better understanding of the significance of the person or topic about which your read.	Create a PowerPoint or Prezi (www.prezi.com) presentation about the person or topic you further researched.  You will present your work to a small group of your classmates.  Be sure to include the significance of the person or topic about which your read.  Have fun with this.  Make it an exciting presentation!  You could play with inserting pictures and video clips and even music to make your work come alive for the audience.
Develop a YouTube video about the topic or person you researched.  This does not mean you have to post it to YouTube.  It simply means it could be something that would pop up on YouTube if someone were to search about your topic.  The video should be informational and easy to understand.  Use your creativity.  We’ve watched several different styles of videos in class.  You have creative license as long as your video makes sense to the viewer!	Create a blog post that includes pictures and extensive information about the person or topic you researched.  Blog posts tend to be a little more personal, so make sure you insert a lot of your thoughts and feelings into your writing.  Let the readers know why you care about this person or topic.	Develop an infographic about the person or topic you researched.  There should be enough information on the infographic that someone who knew little or nothing about your person or topic can come away learning a significant amount.  Think about the infographics on the back of our Storyworks magazines.  They have a claim at the top (so should yours) and the evidence in the infographic supports that claim.  You must include illustrations or pictures to make the infographic eye-appealing.

And check out what these kids did!  They put together some amazing projects and learned so much while doing so!

ILLUSTRATED NOTES

 Notes on the decline of Grey Wolves

Notes on Medieval Times

Notes on Endangered Plants

PREZI PRESENTATIONS

Prezi on LeBron James

Prezi on Violins and Composers

INFOGRAPHICS

Infographic on Why Penguins Can't Fly (what a cool topic!)

Infographic on JFK

By far, Prezi presentations were the most popular menu item.  It was a fun, new way to make a type of slideshow presentation.  If you're unfamiliar with Prezi, check out their website at www.prezi.com.  It's easy, free, and fun!

Curiosity is certainly a theme topic I will use again next year.  It was one of the best things we did this past year and kids should have the option to pick some of their own learning.  By doing so they were fully vested in researching and creating meaningful projects and...gasp!....learning!  What a great combo!