Investigating Animals: Using Nonfiction for Inquiry-based Research

Lesson Plans

Student Interactives

Calendar Activities

Strategy Guides

Professional Library

Podcast Episodes

 

LESSON PLANS

Grades   4 – 5  |  Lesson Plan  |  Unit

Multiple Perspectives: Building Critical Thinking Skills

Students use critical literacy skills to understand the concept of perspective and to then create a diary for an animal they research with a partner.

 

Grades   K – 2  |  Lesson Plan  |  Minilesson

Inspire Healthful Reading Using Unconventional Texts

This minilesson encourages children to seek out and appropriately react to nutrition labels and to make healthy food choices, integrating science, math, health, and literacy.

 

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STUDENT INTERACTIVES

Grades   3 – 6  |  Student Interactive  |  Inquiry & Analysis

Animal Inquiry

Supporting inquiry-based research projects, the Animal Inquiry interactive invites elementary students to explore animal facts and habitats using writing prompts to guide and record their findings.

 

Grades   K – 12  |  Student Interactive  |  Organizing & Summarizing

Venn Diagram

This interactive tool allows students to create Venn diagrams that contain two or three overlapping circles, enabling them to organize their information logically.

 

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CALENDAR ACTIVITIES

Grades   1 – 6  |  Calendar Activity  |  July 1

The first U.S. zoo opened in Philadelphia in 1874.

Students consider how zoos have changed over the past century and design their own zoo of the future using drawings, posters, dioramas, or other displays.

 

Grades   K – 6  |  Calendar Activity  |  August 21

Monarch butterflies begin their migration in the fall.

After exploring the ways that monarch butterflies react to seasons, students complete an inquiry study to examine how other things change because of the seasons and create a class anthology.

 

Grades   1 – 5  |  Calendar Activity  |  November 3

Stellaluna author Janell Cannon was born in 1957.

After reading Stellaluna, students discuss themes in the story and do a unit on bats or a creative writing activity based on the book.

 

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STRATEGY GUIDES

Grades   3 – 12  |  Strategy Guide

Inquiry Charts (I-Charts)

This guide introduces I-Charts, a strategy that enables students to generate meaningful questions about a topic and organize their writing.

 

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PROFESSIONAL LIBRARY

Grades   K – 6  |  Professional Library  |  Book

Planning for Inquiry: It's Not an Oxymoron!

Planning for Inquiry shows you how to get an inquiry-based curriculum started, how to keep it going, and how to do so while remaining accountable to mandated curricula, standards, and programs.

 

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PODCAST EPISODES

Grades   K – 5  |  Podcast Episode

World of Animals

Explore the world of animals through Caroline Arnold’s nonfiction picture books for children.

 

Grades   K – 5  |  Podcast Episode

Animal Perspectives

Discover books that allow you to look at the world through the eyes of an animal!

 

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