Our story in our reader last week was "Mr. Bones, Dinosaur Hunter" by Jane Kurtz. I usually to a study on rocks along with this story. Here is a picture of our research and writing center:
I used to call this the "discovery center" but have recently changed it to the "Research and Writing Center". We always talk about how Scientists are constantly researching and observing things and then they write down their findings and keep journals. Last year I started adding recording sheets (sometimes cutesy and sometimes just lined paper) so they can record their observations. My firsties seem to enjoy writing about what they see and this just adds to our writing during the day - it's a win-win!
Later that week I asked for the students to bring a small rock to school. I glued googly eyes on them and we wrote about their rocks. We also "adopted" them as pet rocks. I don't know about you, but these rocks seem to come to life when you add eyes - lol! My firsties always love this activity and they take their job as a "parent" very seriously!!!
