Saturday, October 27, 2012

Bats: Creatures of the Night

Hi Everyone!

The kids and I had a wonderful time last week "going batty."  I must say, it is one of my favorite units to teach because all of the kids LOVE learning about bats!

We started our unit by reading "Bats Creatures of the Night" and other non-fiction books on bats.   Here is my collection of bat books incase you would like to expand your own collection!

During and after reading, the kids recorded new bat facts on stars.  Also, during the week we added to our bat as they learned new things.

 
Once they learned lots of new facts, they used their stars to create their own
"Can, Have, Are" graphic organizer on bats.  They look adorable hanging
from the ceiling!

 
 
 
Once we read lots of non-fiction books on bats, we read "Stellaluna"
and compared bats to birds with a venn diagram and cut and past worksheet. 
 
 
They also wrote incredible bat reports and published them.
 
 
 
All of these activities can be found on my TpT "Bats - Creatures of the Night"
The unit aligns with the common core exemplar "Creatures of the Night" by Joyce Milton.
 
Next we read "There was an old lady who swallowed a bat"
I fed my "big" old lady, while the kids each had smaller ones that they made. 
The kids loved feeding their old ladies, but I think they liked feeding mine more! :)
 
 
 
Also available on my TPT  "Swallowed a Bat"
 
 We also did a few things found on Pinterest and TpT that the kids really loved!
 
During our study we learned that bats can eat 600 mosquitoes in 1 hour. 
To visually demonstrate just how many that is, we used an idea I found
on Jodi Southard's  "Fun in First Grade" blog! 
 
While we watched the Magic School bus on bats, the kids
glued 600 tiny mosquitoes to plates.  They loved it!
 
 
Finally, we wrapped up our bat week by writing "bat diaries."
To begin with we read "The Diary of a Spider" and watched
the Scholastic video "Diary of a Worm," then it was their turn to
write "The Diary of a Bat."  It was great seeing them use everything
they learned to explain what a day in the life of a bat might be like!
          
 

 
 
What a busy and batty week it has been!  Next week---we tackle pumpkins!  :)
 
 
 
 
 

 

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