We use books and the iPad minis to gather important information about a topic.
We have discovered how useful non-fiction text features can be. The table of contents or the index are the best places to look for specific things you want to know. "If you look there, they you don't have to look through the whole book for the information you want to know...it tells you what page to go to and you can find it right away".
We will continue our research in June as many students have expressed an interest in learning about another endangered animal and/or another country.
This research has specifically helped us in the achievement of the following Grade 2 Ministry Curriculum Expectations:
Social Studies:
*demonstrate the ability to extract information on the location and climate of a region from photographs and print, digital, and/or interactive maps
*identify basic human needs (e.g., for food,
water, clothing, transportation, shelter), and
describe some ways in which people in
communities around the world meet these
needs (e.g., food: hunting, farming,
shopping at grocery stores; transportation:: on foot, using animals, using motorized vehicles,
by water)
*describe selected communities around the world, with reference to their major physical features, wildlife, and some aspects of their culture (e.g., physical features such as mountains, lakes, rivers; native animals; cultural practices related to food, clothing, recreation, the arts)
*describe similarities and differences between their community and a community in a different region in the world (e.g., with respect to food, clothing, housing, beliefs, climate, ora and fauna, recreation, agricultural practice
Science:
*identify positive and negative impacts that different kinds of human activity have on animals and where they live
*describe selected communities around the world, with reference to their major physical features, wildlife, and some aspects of their culture (e.g., physical features such as mountains, lakes, rivers; native animals; cultural practices related to food, clothing, recreation, the arts)
*describe similarities and differences between their community and a community in a different region in the world (e.g., with respect to food, clothing, housing, beliefs, climate, ora and fauna, recreation, agricultural practice
Science:
*identify positive and negative impacts that different kinds of human activity have on animals and where they live
*use scientific inquiry/research skills, and knowledge acquired from
previous investigations, to investigate the
basic needs, characteristics, behaviour, and
adaptations of an animal of their choice
