Endangered Species

What do panda bears, bats, penguins, and butterflies all have in common? As third grade scientists can tell you, each species is endangered due to habitat loss, poaching, pollution, or climate change. This term, third graders have been learning about ecosystems and habitats in Cecilia Owens' science class, and the culmination of the unit is a research project on a specific endangered animal, with the students compiling their findings into a book. This year, their books have a cross-curricular twist, with students including author pages and facts about their chosen animal written in English and the language they are studying, French or Spanish.

Students started the unit by learning about ecosystems, habitats, and biomes, examining the interdependency of living things within an ecosystem and the food chains and webs that sustain diverse environments. Classes investigated specific species, including bald eagles and owls, to deepen their understanding. The Eyes on Owls live owl program visited Fay in January, allowing students to learn about and observe the habits of owls up close. Students continued their study of owls by dissecting dissecting owl pellets in the classroom.

For their research project, each student selected an animal to investigate and collected data covering key details such as its physical description, habitat, diet, natural predators, and potential changes that could improve its chances of thriving. Students gathered information from nonfiction texts, organizing their findings on brainstorming sheets. These sheets served as the foundation for their papers, with an emphasis on paraphrasing and presenting the information in their own words. Students brought their books to life with colorful cover pages and illustrations throughout, a glossary of essential terms, and an author page.

In language class, students translated the glossary of key terms and author pages from their book into French or Spanish. By incorporating their world language studies, students had the opportunity to explore the connections between language learning and scientific discovery, demonstrating that their education doesn't have to be divided into separate subjects. "It's exciting for the third graders to see how everything connects and to apply what they're learning in each class to the same project," says Cecilia. some of what they're learning in each class to the same project." When spring break, students will return to create papier-mâché masks of their endangered animals in art class.