Organism Mania

Objectives:
-The student will ask questions that can be answered by investigating.
-The student will plan and develop the ability to communicate, critique, analyze his/her own investigations.
-The student will observe organisms and compare and contrast different structural characteristics.
-The student will use multimedia (Windows Movie Maker, Podcasts, and Digital Storytelling) to present and summarize their conclusions.
-The student will be able to use data to find mean, median, mode, and range.
-The students will use photographs to create organism books.


There are a variety of living organisms in my third grade classroom (bearded dragon, turtle, beta fish, hermit crabs, frog, ants, worms). The students will study about all of the different living organisms in the classroom and become an expert on one of them.

The students will work in groups to plan and conduct an investigation. They will build inquiry by proposing questions that they would like to answer in their investigation. The students will use each step of the scientific process to help answer their question. The students will film their investigation and will create a digital story summarizing their findings on Windows Movies Maker.

The students will create podcasts where they will write from the viewpoint of their organism. This will enhance their description and voice in their writing.

The students will also take pictures of their organisms. They will collaborate to create books of all the different organisms. They will create a digital story on dvd that goes along with each page of their book so that each book can be both read and listened to. The books will be sent to soldiers so that they can give them to kids in poverty countries. Books also will be sent to Ethiopia for children to have in their libraries.