I recently was working with a second grade class on creating non-fiction informational presentations. The class was organized into six groups where they chose a topic of interest. Volcanoes, Dinosaurs, Planets, Football, Lizards, and Dolphins were the main ideas. They then had to write six questions to guide their research. Using non-fiction texts, they wrote facts on post-it notes which were then added to poster paper, sectioned off into themes. I demonstrated my research using Polar Bears. My questions were:
- What do they eat?
- How old do they get?
- Why are they white?
- How fast can they run?
- Where do they live?
- How many teeth do they have?
I had a sheet of 52 post-it notes which needed to be selected to four facts.
The students assisted with that. We talked about relevant and interesting facts. They each received two stickers to place on facts which they felt should be presented. I ended up with these facts:
The students assisted with that. We talked about relevant and interesting facts. They each received two stickers to place on facts which they felt should be presented. I ended up with these facts:
- Polar Bears weigh on average 992 lbs. or 540 kg (Males)
- Polar Bears will wait hours to as many as 3 days for a seal to pop up for air from the ice
- Polar Bears can survive temperatures as low as -30°F
- Polar Bears do NOT hibernate
The students met in their groups and using a colored marker they selected their important facts. We then started to construct a PowerPoint. The classroom teacher wanted to keep with the aspects of non-fiction texts; so our presentations were eight slides long, started with a title slide, table of contents, four facts slides, a glossary, and finally a conclusion. When we discussed adding images to our slides thats when I had a glimpse into the creativity of students. I had a group approach me and say, “Mr. G. we want a picture but don’t know how to get it.” I followed with, “Okay, what’s the picture you’re looking for?” And I kid you not, this was their response, “We want a picture of us inside a volcano!” WOW! Well that can be done. They preceded to explain, this was a must-have for their final slide. Using an iPad, a green screen, and a couple of apps we accomplished what they were looking for:
Of course, Monkey See, Monkey Do! I had three other groups wanting a special photo after they saw what the Volcano group did. I made one simple rule: Just like the volcano group, their group needed to come to me with an idea already designed. So here is what they came up with:
The space group wanted to be floating around the solar system.
The lizard group wanted to be in the Amazon holding a Glass Snake Lizard
The Football group wanted to be lining up on the Oregon Ducks’s Football Field