The students will choose an animal to do a research paper on and a plant or animal to research for the ABC Ocean Book. The students will help formulate the rubrics. The students will be immersed in ocean learning. Using the Internet to build basic knowledge of the ocean and research an ocean animal of their choice will keep them engaged and promote ownership. The creation of the ABC Ocean Book with collaboration from younger students will give them a purpose for doing their best.
Children seem to have a keen interest in the ocean.
It is a topic they see a lot of in the media. They need to have a basic knowledge of Microsoft Word, searching the Internet for information, and how to use e-mail. These will not be the first research papers of the year, so the students will have a foundation for writing their paper. Since we do live so far from the ocean, it might be hard for some students to imagine what the ocean and the plants and animals look like. To help with this, I plan on showing videos, reading picture books, and visiting sites on the Internet that have live cameras and ocean encounters.