Bats, Spiders and Owls

When deciding what to teach the week of Halloween, I allowed my students to vote: bats, spiders or owls.  The vote in our room was close, and I struggled to not allow students to learn about the things they wanted to learn about.  I decided to allow each student to be in a group and learn about the animal of their choice.

2 groups learned about spiders and one group for each bats and owls.

Students started off filling in a graphic organizer using some easy readers and PebbleGo.  I also found a book about spiders on Reading A-Z.  Each group chose a note-taker and got to work.

After completing their research, students worked with me to create a book using the app Book Creator. They learned to find images on Google Images and crop them if necessary.  Students were able to type their own text and add the pictures chosen to the page.  After the book was completed, it was sent to Apple to be published in the iBookstore.  Our technology department also converted the book into a PDF file and a YouTube file.

Sharing the PDF version of their book with the class.

You check out our books using the links below.

Spider Book 1
You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRvoBViQmbU
PDF: HERE
Apple Bookstore: id935354828

Spider Book 2 
You Tube: HERE
PDF: HERE
Apple Bookstore: id935729503

Bat BookYou Tube: http://youtu.be/Ps-cKy-PtZE
PDF: HERE
Apple Bookstore: id934901206

Owl Book
You Tube: http://youtu.be/ZsCEzRtGz3E
PDF: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B95ti8YS2xP_R2txdEk0ZXFzbzg/view?usp=sharing
Apple Bookstore: id935364253

My students were SO excited to see their work published.  This was a fun project, and students learned a lot!

I'll be back soon to share our next project on healthy eating.  We are well on our way, but that project is not finished yet.