Connecting Science with Read Alouds....

Somehow I find the time to connect science into every part of my day....I guess it's my passion and it overflows into all areas!

Right now we are reading Owl in the Shower  by Jean Craighead George.  It is an excellent story about the fate of an owl after a logging company has clear cut the land in the Northwest.  It is told covering the points of view of the owl (sort of), the logger (Leon) and the tree huggers (the teacher! ha ha). My students and I are familiar with owls living in Virginia, but not with the controversy surrounding the spotted owl out west.  The book is full of great vocabulary, interesting points of view, funny owl stories and lots of true facts. We have loved every minute of it!

As I have been reading it, I started a vocabulary chart to post in the room.  I ask the kids to remember three interesting words from the day's read aloud that we may need to discuss and add to our wall.  We have also added picture of the barred owl (Bardy in the story) as well as the spotted owl.  This is a great visual for discussion as well!

Recently, I decided to have the students do a Quick write to share what they had learned about owls from the book. We were fortunate to have the ibooks visiting in our classroom for the day and so they pleaded with me to let them type the quick writes out. No argument here!

Here are a few samples.  I always find it interesting to see how each child personalizes their typing with fonts - some choose very linear and traditional fonts while others choose more "fun" fonts!