Oviparous Animal Reports

Hi everyone! I'm back with even more activities we did for the egg unit!
A few weeks ago, I shared my oviparous animal report template, which was really just a simple concept map for kids to fill out. Last week, we used them. I wrote up one-page information sheets on ten different oviparous animals, including fun facts and photos on the pages. Each student had to pick their favorite oviparous animal, and use the information sheet to fill out the animal report template. We hung these on the wall in the hallway to share what we'd learned. The  kids really liked doing this, which was surprising to me because they complain about writing assignments a lot. Some of them (especially Kite) actually asked if they could do more!

Here is how our reports turned out. 


Here is Starling's. I actually helped her with a lot of it, because she came in late and missed a lot of the lesson, and because, well, she is Starling. I differentiated it for her and some other kids by including small pictures on the information sheet that they could glue onto the correct spots in the concept web, and I helped her find fun facts to include. 

Duckbilled Platypus
Lives: In Australia, near rivers
Eats: Snails and shrimp
Egg size: Smaller than your thumbnail
Number of legs: 4
Fun facts: Is one of only 2 mammals that lays eggs.
               Swims with its eyes closed.
               Is smaller than a house cat. 


Next is Kite's.

Sea Horse

Lives: On the bottom of the ocean
Eats: Loves to eat shrimp
Egg size: Very tiny
Number of legs: 0
Fun facts: They suck up shrimp through their snouts like a vacuum.
               Baby sea horses are on their own after they hatch. 
               They like to change colors to blend (into the) background. 





Oriole enjoyed doing his, although you can see the difficulties he has with writing. He puts all the words there, but not necessarily in any particular order.

Mallard Duck

Lives: North America and Europe
Eats: Fish and tadpoles
Egg size: A little bigger than a chicken egg
Number of legs: 2
Fun facts: A mallard duck will lay 300 eggs in a year. 
               If you hear a mallard duck quacking it is probably a female. Male ducks only make a raspy       coughing noise. 
               A mallard duck can fly up to 70 feet per second!



Here is Towhee's...

Adelie Penguin

Lives: Antartica
Eats: Fish 
Egg size: 2-4 inches tall
Number of legs: 2
Fun facts: Adelie penguins eat snow.
               Adelie penguins build their nests out of stones.
               Thee penguins are seen in the movie Madagascar. 


Next comes Martin's. He picked the wolf spider, but then he got sort of freaked out because he's a little afraid of spiders, and he didn't even like looking at the picture of one! He conquered his fear enough to finish this, luckily. 

Wolf Spider

Lives: Forests, meadows and gardens
Eats: Mosquitoes
Egg size: Tiny
Number of legs:8
Fun facts: The mom carries her babies.
                Lives on the ground.
                They have 8 eyes. 




Those are all the reports I have, since Rosella, Jay and Triller were out of the room and didn't get to do it. I was really proud of their projects! It seemed like they put more effort into these, and were able to learn more and use more of their drawing talents and thinking skills, than in other writing projects. I'm going to have to remember this for the future!


There are still a few more things I have to show you, so stay tuned!

How THe Bunny Writing Prompt Turned Out

Hi everyone! Today was my first day back from spring break. It was a great day! The local special rec organization took us on a field trip to play Wallyball. Talk about hilarious! Most of the kids could not hit the ball or serve it over the net for the life of them. But they didn't care... they were all having fun anyways! We played with big rubber balls... the really colorful, air-filled ones that are sold in stores this time of year... so even if they smacked someone right in the face, it wouldn't hurt much. 


Today was also my first day of being in charge of "unit," which is really just a time to do any type of activity that is based on the theme of the week. Today I did the bunny writing prompt with the kids. I shared it in another post, if anyone is interested in picking it up! 


I took pictures of a few of the kids' papers, to show you how they came out, and the level of work the kids are doing. Want to see? This first one was done by Oriole. He used the regular version because, as you can see, he is more or less able to write sentences. 

"One day I woke up, and noticed I'd turned into a bunny! I will hop. I ate carrots. I could jump. I will hop in the woods. I felt happy that it was only a dream."

- Oriole.

This next one is by Rosella. She did the adapted version. I was very excited because Rosella, who can be very distractable and who also often refuses to work, did a really good job on this. I gave her a smiley face and a star when I graded her paper!

"One day I woke up, and saw that i'd turned into a bunny! I felt happy. I said, "I have bunny ears." The first thing I did was eat a carrot. Then I went to jump rope. I saw more bunnies. I ate with them. When I turned back into a kid, I felt happy."

- Rosella. 

The next one was written by Martin. Martin has autism and sometimes has trouble with creative writing, so I think he copied a little off of the adapted version, at first. He also tends to write about the same thing no matter what. For instance, since we went on a field trip today, Martin would have written about a field trip no matter what the writing prompt is. But it's still great work!

"One day I woke up, and noticed I'd turned into a bunny! I felt happy. I am a happy bunny. Happy bunnies are good. I said I want to eat a carrot. I went on a field trip."

- Martin.

Finally, we have the work of Starling. She's such a cool kid! She also has the most severe cognitive impairment in the class, and cannot read or write at all. I read her the text, and she dictated what she wanted filled into the blanks. I wrote her words in marker, and she somewhat tried to trace over them. You can see the trouble she has... but her ideas are great! 

"One day I woke up, and saw that i'd turned into a bunny! I felt happy. I said, "I have a tail!" The first thing I did was go find my dog. Then I went to camp. I saw a wolf. I ate a muffin. When I turned back into a kid, I felt happy."

- Starling

I'm going to try to include a writing prompt in each unit! But one thing I've learned is that it might be a good idea to include some sort of graphic organizer or brainstorming tool. Some of the kids who did the regular version had such a hard time coming up with ideas, it was like pulling teeth to get them to write! Does anyone have any experience or advice about things like that?

In other news, tomorrow Mrs. Eagle is going to be out for the day. There will be a substitute teacher, but for the most part I will be in charge for the whole day. I am so nervous! Even though by now I plan and run all of the lessons, I've never been completely in charge of a whole day before! It will be like a test for me. 

Thanks for reading, everyone! I'll write more soon! 

Free Oviparous Animal "Report" Template

Hi everyone! Still on a roll doing my lesson plans! I now have another thing to share if you're interested. This is for kids to do a small "report" on oviparous animals. Its really a blank concept map. They fill in the bubbles with the information about the animal they choose, including drawing a picture of the animal and its' egg. This can be good as a complete assignment for students who don't have strong writing skills, since they only have to write a few words or a sentence in each bubble. It can also work as a graphic organizer for information that students can later turn into a short report.
If you want, pick it up through Google docs!
Okay. Now back to the old drawing board for me! 

Free Bunny Writing Promt

Hi everyone! Still working on my lesson plans! Today I wanted to share a bunny writing prompt. It begins with, "One day I woke up, and noticed I'd turned into a bunny!" Students then write a short story about what happened. Once they've finished writing, there is also a bunny picture for them to color, making this assignment worthy of hanging on the wall or including in a portfolio! 

I've also included a "cloze" version, which you may choose to use with younger students or students with cognitive impairments. I'm going to use it with Starling, Triller, and possibly Rosella. The cloze version has a short story already written, but includes blank spaces for students to personalize the story. It reads, "One day I woke up an saw that I'd turned into a bunny! I felt _________. I said, '______________.' The first thing I did was ____________. Then I went to ________. I saw _________. I ate __________. When I turned back into a kid, I felt ________." It also includes the bunny picture for them to color.


I've uploaded it at 4shared.com. I used a special font that allows you to make your own lined paper. I embedded the font, so it should reach you the way I intended it to. If not, you may have to fix some things so that it looks right with your own fonts. 


I hope you like it! Later in the week, I'm sure I'll add some more freebies!