Collaboration was a key component in the successful completion of a variety of elements of this unit. Classroom teachers collaborated with each other as well as with special area teachers in library, art, drama and music. Students formed research groups and collaborated during inquiry sessions, which allowed them to gather information on their chosen bear. There was also collaboration among first grades and kindergarten and second grade as those classes participated in our culminating experience and provided written feedback to the first grade presenters. In selecting the Talking Zoo as a focal point in our unit on living things, we considered its value in terms of goals in first grade.
Children learn best when they have real purposes and make connections to real life.
Making reading and writing connections across the curriculum facilitates meaning. Literacy is developed within the personal, social, and intellectual context of the individual learner. First graders researched physical characteristics, habitats, diet, enemies, and other interesting facts and then made decisions on how best to present their information to other children in our school. Teachers were cognizant of a variety of learning styles when planning and facilitating activities. The sampling of ideas that follows reflects our attempts to allow children construct their understanding of the bears based upon their active participation.