I like both of these projects because they are intermittent projects that would work with classes I see two or three times a week. They also integrate technology into the curriculum. Working with the classroom teacher, we would each do different parts of the project with the class.
Journey North: A Global Study of Wildlife Migration
http://www.learner.org/jnorth/ I used Sunlight and Mystery Class with a group of fourth and fifth graders this past year. I was looking at Symbolic Migration to use with Second/Third or Kindergarten/First. This could be tied to the classroom units on migration, butterflies, communities.
I would introduce this activity to the student in the fall. Using maps and google earth we would locate Hay Springs and Mexico. In the spring we could find the locations of our sent and received butterflies. We could discuss communication:
the need to translate our letter sent to Mexico,
appropriate communication on the internet,
letter writing in general (handwritten and typewritten)
We could raise our own butterflies for release in the spring. This would lead into discussion of life cycle, butterfly gardens, migration of butterflies and other species.
Activities: Younger students:
read books about butterflies, butterfly migration
write letters to parents, grandparents, friends
put pictures of butterfly life cycle in order
match Spanish and English words used in the letter and pictures
plant butterfly friendly plants around the school
Older students:
participate in Monarch Migration Tracking Project
track the path of the symbolic butterflies and how far they traveled
work together on a set of guidelines for appropriate communication on the internet
research plants for that are butterfly friendly and grow in our area and the cost of purchase
Monster Exchange
This project could be used with any of my elementary classes.
The project would be introduced and past examples shown before the students begin their work. The students would create a monster drawing. They would then write up a description of the monster in a way that another person could draw the monster. To test their descriptions the students could take their writing home and have a parent or friend draw from the description then edit their description. When ready the description would be typed for sending to a partner school.
When we received descriptions students would draw the monster they read about.
Both before and after the activity students could discuss what makes a good written description. After the activity students could locate their partner school using maps, globe, and google earth.
Further investigation and research could be done discovering the climate, geography, etc of the partner classes.
