By Sarah Cross — Year 1/2 Teacher
Last term we had a wonderful time navigating our way around information texts, researching about common Australian animals, marine life and zoo animals. We began by discovering that an information text was not like a story, but that the author’s intention was to teach us something new through fun facts, diagrams and photographs.
After that, with our brain full of new researching strategies, we each independently chose an Australian animal that interested us. We read books, used google web pages and even watched some videos to help us collect enough information to write our own booklet on our chosen animal. We focused on looking for key-words, writing dot points to plan, and making sure our information was all facts and not just our opinion. (But…we still think koalas are cute!)
Here are some students’ thoughts on their learning this term!
“It is fun to learn new things about animals. I chose to learn all about echidnas!” – Elijah
“Information texts are fun!” – Mae
“I enjoyed learning about the animals. I also learnt that some books give us fun facts about animals!” – Jada
“I want to keep learning more about animals!” – Riley
“I liked making the information booklet on bandicoots, and I really liked making the poster about sharks. Did you know that sharks can live up to fifty years or older?” – Lara
After that we began our research on marine life, in particular all about sharks. We worked in pairs to read and write any facts that caught our eye. As a class we collated our facts into a spreadsheet to then write our own detailed facts about what sharks looked like, where they lived, their diet and any interesting facts we found. Did you know a shark has an endless supply of teeth?
Throughout last term I have seen confidence grow, and understanding deepen when navigating through an information book. I have seen students move from needing support in their writing, to researching and writing independently. It was such a great term of learning, I look forward to another fantastic term!
Sarah Cross
