All+About+Oysters+by+Kindergartners

Most kindergarteners know all about many animals - penguins, cats, dogs, fish, spiders...Even lions, tigers and bears, oh my! But what do kindergartners know about oysters? And why is it important for kindergarteners, and Rhode Islanders of all ages, to know about oysters? Review our collaborative effort with Roger Williams University oyster gardener and educator Steve Patterson to find out.

Kindergarteners used the Super 3 (1. Plan, 2. Do, and 3. Review) research model, which is the early childhood education version of the Big 6. 1. Plan To plan, we discussed: Q: What are we supposed to do? A: We will listen, read, think and discuss facts about oysters, take notes, and write and illustrate our own sentences based on the facts that we learned.

Q: How will we will know if we are doing a good job? A: We will participate, help each other and learn from each other by being good listeners, partners and thoughtful thinkers.

Q: Which sources will we need to find facts about oysters? A: We will practice use nonfiction books from Guiteras School library and the public library system and text from World Book Online. We will also interview oyster gardener Steve Patterson.

2. Do The students brainstormed a list of information they knew about oysters. They noticed that they did not know much about oysters. Many students did not know that oysters were living creatures. Here's what they and what they wanted to know: After our discussion it was clear we should start at the very beginning to make sure all students understood what an oyster is. To begin our research, the students learned how to access World Book Online. We used the "Kids" version and clicked on "Hear Text Read Aloud" to listen to the first paragraph.



After listening and thinking about our basic question: What is an oyster? The class decided that should be the first fact we should record by taking notes. The SmartBoard does not have a "bullet" symbol so we used the star (*) symbol instead. Here is our first note. .