Submitted by: Elizabeth Gaglio
School: Chamberlayne Elementary
Summary
These third grade students have been studying animal adaptations, and this activity encourages them to apply their knowledge to a new situation. The students are introduced to a military challenge: The military is looking for a “new breed” of soldier. They are enlisting the help of the students to create a soldier that can best defend, hide and adapt him/herself to any situation. The mission comes with special guidelines such as including an aquatic feature and a feature that helps you defend yourself. The complete guidelines are listed in the document “Military Challenge” (PDF). Students work with a partner and log into buildyourwildself.com to design their specialized soldier. They record the features they chose on the document and explain why they are helpful. When the task is complete, students write a persuasive letter to the military explaining why their solider has the best adaptations. Students’ pictures will be posted to the class blog for classmates to comment on, and they will evaluate their work using a rubric.
TIPC Ratings
Target – students had a choice of websites and books to research, they generated their own questions, and they evaluated the authority and accuracy of their sources
This lesson is in the Target range because communication occurred in groups and beyond the classroom via the bog, and students evaluated themselves using a rubric (teacher created).
This lesson is in the Target range because students solved solved problems to complete an authentic task. They concluded the activity by reflecting on the process.
This lesson was in the Approaching range because students created new original products within the assignment parameters using teacher-selected tools. At the end, they evaluated their own and each others’ innovative products.
Student Artifact
Download Files
3rdGaglioAdaptations
Contents:
- Summary of lesson (pages)
- Summary of lesson (pdf)
- Student sheet (pages)
- Student sheet (pdf)
