Book Publishing Throwback

When I was a kid, it felt like we spent one to two ENTIRE school days just completing a writing assignment.  We'd be required to illustrate and revise/edit the entire story independently and there were a slew of materials available to complete your final book.  This definitely was in the 90s when our teachers were not being held as "accountable" as educators of today.  There were wallpaper swatches, construction paper galore, Elmer's glue bottles, beads, scissors, yarn, hole punchers and plenty of markers!

Anyway, over the years I've always tried to incorporate a cute art activity into the publishing stage of our writing assignment, but I always felt like the kids were being served an injustice if they didn't have a chance to PUBLISH a book like I used to as a kid.  Therefore, I met the demands of our state SCIENCE test, Common-Core research writing and speaking & listening standards, as well as my creative passion through the creation of the Animal Research Project!

Awww, do you know how happy I felt to see those brass brads make an appearance in my 4th grade classroom unrelated to calculating elapsed time?  It was quite the JOYFUL experience!!  All of the student books turned out absolutely darling because they took extreme ownership over this project.  Sadly, I didn't take as many pictures of the student books as I would have liked as they were quite eager to take their graded projects home!  Sneak a peek at 'em below.

Red Wolves

 Types of Wolves

All About Caribbean Flamingos

 Diagram of a Caribbean Flamingo

Since then, my students have become quite the curious lil' investigators in their abilities to research various topics online.  So, I developed this kid-friendly bibliography sheet for my kiddos to record their print and online resources as they research.  Thought I'd share it with the bloggy-sphere since it seems to be a new expectation with the Common Core standards across MANY grade levels!  Just click the image to be taken to the promised freebie!
Finally, I'd love to do a FLASH giveaway for my newest item: Animal Research Project.  Simply be the first commenter to correctly identify the black animal that my 4th grade teacher was obsessed with when I was in elementary school.  Don't forget to leave me your email address so I know where to send your winnings!

Que VIVA Los Presidentes!