Standards and Benchmarks

"Our district curriculum is tied to the Idaho state standards, so that is part of the considerations when I am planning a unit. It is not usually too difficult because a lot of subskills and standards get covered when you are doing a project." — Char Soucy

Reading

In this project students read to find information from reference sources including: magazines, books, Web pages and encyclopedias (in traditional and electronic forms).

Benchmarks

• Use a variety of reading materials including books, magazines, electronic media, etc.
• Read non-fiction text to gather information.

For some, applying reading strategies and phonics to decode and comprehend the text is a benchmark target of this project as well.

Writing

Students follow a structured writing process to complete a simple report. They publish their information in a six page flip book, and also present it as a PowerPoint slide show. Although not a first grade benchmark, students are exposed to the practice of citing resources used in their reports.

Benchmarks

• Write to present information to a reader.
• Write a complete sentence with a capital letter at the beginning and correct ending punctuation.
• Form letters correctly with uniform size and spacing.
• Use phonetic spelling and spell all "word wall words" (high frequency and key words) correctly.

Technology

Students learn and practice many of the basic operations standards in order to do this project:

Benchmarks - including but not limited to:

• Open and close a program.
• Save a file to a given location.
• Use pre-set Web sites as sources of information.
• Use a drawing program such as MS Paint.
• Use a keyboard with a basic understanding that right and left hands use different keys.
• Use shift key to capitalize a letter.
• Proper use/care of computers.
• Ethical issues regarding plagiarism and fair use.
• Import a picture to a file.
• Use a template to complete a project.

Social Studies

Students use maps to find the range of the animal they are studying. They identify the continent on which it is located to the teacher.

Benchmarks

Locate the 7 major continents on a map.

Science Concepts

The main conceptual goal for this project is "Form follows function." Students identify where an animal lives, what its characteristics are, and what it eats. Class discussions draw the relationships between these facts.

 

                             

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