I apologize for the long gap between my blog posts. I have been working hard developing projects that meet the expectations of the new Common Core standards as well as are appropriate for GATE. As you can imagine, this takes some time! Thank you for your understanding. Here is one of the projects that I recently developed, which also happens to be the work that I submitted to the OCDE showcase.
These science projects were completed in collaborative groups of 3 or 4 scholars. I assigned each group a different ecosystem: arctic, coral reef, rain forest, forest (deciduous), mountains, tropical grasslands, and wetlands. Some ecosystems, such as the desert, were not addressed so feel free to give that to your child as a summer project! :)
Their first task was to determine what physical features could help an animal to survive in that environment. For example, an animal in the ocean may use gills, while an animal in the grasslands could use long legs, and an animal in the arctic would need a warm fur coat.
Second, I gave the groups a photograph of an animal from their ecosystem. They identified which features the selected animal had that helped them to survive in their environment. They labeled these on the photographs.
Next came the students' favorite part of the project: creating their own fantasy animal with a body that was appropriate for their environment. They were given free design of their animal with the stipulation that all group members agreed on the design of the animal and participated in the work. From there, the creativity flowed! The groups discussed, drafted, and drew final drafts of their fantasy animals. They also labeled the body parts to explain why they chose those features and how they would help the animals in their habitats.
Finally, the scholars named their animal and explained why they had chosen the name. They also determined where the animal would fit into the order of the food web (remember, order is our universal theme this year!) by naming the animal's predators and prey.
I know the students were very proud of their work and they may have mentioned it to you at home. Although it's hard to see all of the details in these photos I wanted to give you a sneak peek before Open House on May 29!
