Park Avenue students share animal research projects with museum walk

Penguins… Horses… Megalodons… Arctic Foxes… Cobras… Pugs… Octopuses… Cheetahs…  

First grade students in Ms. Theologis and Ms. Berghahn’s classes set up a museum walk in the Park Avenue cafeteria on Thursday. The students displayed the animal research projects they’ve been working on and invited other first grade classes and faculty members to come by and see their work.

Each project included a model of their animal and a diorama of their animal’s habitat, along with a nonfiction book about their animal — which they authored themselves!

“As part of our readers and writer’s workshop, we study nonfiction text, and the students are exposed to the special elements of that genre,” said Ms. Berghahn.

Each student chose an animal that would be new to them, and researched it using both online and book resources. With their new knowledge (of both non-fiction writing and their animals) each student penned and illustrated a nonfiction book, complete with a cover, dedication page, table of contents, various topic pages, maps, labeled diagrams, fun facts, and a glossary.

“The museum walk gave the them the chance to share their knowledge with others, and to show that they had become experts on their animals,” Ms. Berghahn added.

Enjoy this slide show from the museum walk!