Ohio Animals

A WebQuest for 2nd Grade Life Sciences


Introduction \| Task \| Process \| Resources \| Evaluation \| Conclusion

Introduction

How much do you really know about the animals you see every day? Become a backyard detective to learn about Ohio animals and be a special guest Ohio animal expert on Kratts’ Creatures on PBS.

Goal: Become an Ohio animal expert to appear on Kratts’ Creatures!

The Task

Your job will be observing local animals to become an expert.

You will create a real or pretend backyard habitat you would see in Youngstown.

You will create a picture of this habitat on the Internet.

With your Science journal, you will make daily observations of animals in the schoolyard habitat.

You will use real photos, pictures from the Internet and pictures you draw to illustrate these Ohio animals.

With a group, you will choose one Ohio animal and research this animal with classroom books and the Internet creating a web about your animal research.

With your research, your group will write about how your animal survives during two different seasons in Ohio and create a Venn diagram.

With your information, the group will be the special guest on Kratts’ Creatures to tell kids about your animal.

Goal:   You create the Ohio habitat, chose an Ohio animal, research and create a web and Venn diagram about the animal.

The Process

INDIVIDUAL WORK

1.      Chose a local habitat to explore. You can chose your own backyard, the schoolyard, a park or create a pretend backyard.

2.      Draw a picture of this habitat.

3.      Then go to http://www.backyardjungle.org/.

ü      Become a member of Backyard Jungle.

ü      Create a new Backyard and draw the backyard map.

ü      Add animals you discover in your habitat to your Backyard Jungle map daily. You can also choose to add Ohio animals that you did not see.

ü      You can draw or scan pictures of these animals as you add them.

4.      Over one week, write a daily journal entry about what you observe when we take schoolyard habitat observations.

5.      Make sure you are following the Ohio Animals project checklist every day. http://pblchecklist.4teachers.org/view.php3?id=73176

GROUP WORK

1.      Chose an Ohio animal from your observations or from the classroom web of Ohio animals.

2.      You will use classroom books, Ranger Rick magazine and these websites to research your animal.

3.      Websites:

ü      http://www.nhptv.org/natureworks/nw4.htm

ü      http://www.cws-scf.ec.gc.ca/hww-fap/index_e.cfm

ü      http://www.wildwnc.org/af/index.html

4.      As your research, create a web about your animal. Organize your information with a web in these categories:

ü      Reproduction

ü      Food

ü      Habitat

ü      Body Characteristics

5.      You will choose two Ohio seasons and describe how the animal survives and adapts during these seasons, creating a Venn diagram to compare and contrast these changes.

6.      At the end, we will film special episodes of Kratts’ Creatures, Miss Poole’s classroom edition for PBS about each groups’ animal.

Goal: You will complete your research about your animal using the Backyard Jungle, Internet and book research and create a web and Venn diagram about your information. We will film Kratts’ Creatures at the end!

Resources

1.      You will use the Internet sites above, classroom and library books, and Ranger Rick to research your Ohio animal.

2.      Here is a list of fun places about animals you can also visit on the Internet.

ü      http://www.pbs.org/kratts/crazy/index.html

ü      http://www.krattbrothers.com/

ü      http://www.nwf.org/kidzone/kzPage.cfm?siteId=2&departmentId=160

3.      You will also need web and Venn diagram sheets for your research.

4.      You might not need to visit each website or use all the information from the website you chose. Just use the information you need!

Evaluation

·         Individually, you will be evaluated on cooperation with groups, and how well you concentrate on your work.

·         As a group, you will be evaluated on how neatly you complete the web and Venn diagram, as well as if you included all of the information needed.

·         Your Backyard Jungle is worth 10 points and your journal entries are worth 3 points each.

·         You will need to complete the Project Checklist daily to make sure you worked and researched well.

·         Here is a link to the evaluation guidelines: http://rubistar.4teachers.org/view_rubric.php3?id=856628

Goal: You will complete your research and then get to film your episode of Kratts’ Creatures.

Conclusion

·         You have created your Backyard Jungle, written journal entries, drawn and taken pictures of Ohio animals, researched your animal and created a web and a Venn diagram about your animal.

·         Now that you are an expert about your Ohio animal, you will be a guest on Kratts’ Creatures, Miss Poole’s classroom edition and share your expertise with everyone.

·         Are there more Ohio animals you are curious to learn about? Now you know where to look for cool facts and fun games! Check out more North American animals, too.

·         What were the most interesting facts you learned about your animal and the animals the other groups researched?