Welcome to the Zoo!
                                                                By:  Lisa Kuieck

Project at a Glance :

This project introduces 2nd Graders to opinion writing while exploring animals that should be added to the John Ball Zoo. This is a 3-4 week project.
       
Driving Question:

​What animal should the John Ball Zoo add to encourage more families to visit the zoo?            

Standards:

• Elementary ELA Stds:  W.2.1., W.2.5., W.2.6.,  W.2.7., & SL.2.1.

Team / Culture Building:

• Students will complete a form regarding likes/interests in team work.  Using the results and general knowledge of students, teams will be made.​

Entry Event:

• Invite guest/s from John Ball Zoo to visit our classroom with a few animals. Possibly a  field trip to the zoo?  Or a virtual visit, if available?​

Stakeholders:​

• John Ball Zoo staff
• Hudsonville Community families

Empathy Building:

• Create an Empathy Map for what the community would love to see and experience in a zoo.
• Create an Empathy Map for JBZ and what people would like to see, experience, visit, and explore.

Inquiry / Need to Knows:

• Students will create open ended questions regarding what they would love to see at JBZ for an animal exhibit.   Questions pertaining to type/group of animals,  interactive experiences, what they already enjoy about the zoo, etc. Followed by interviews (in person or virtual) with JBZ staff members.
• Groups/trends would be created together via poster boards.  Children will take individual results and add to the appropriate poster board.  These would be posted in the classroom for students to access throughout the project.

Incubation:

• Think Pair Share
• What if . . . tried to solve this problem?
• Use Sentence Stems to generate ideas
• Chalkboards Splashes
• Create Ideas Boards
• Collect pictures of other zoos and their animals posted for inspiration. LINK
• Create a Looks like/feels like/sounds like/smells like chart for JBZ
• Gallery Walk highlighting research findings
• What if you had money to spend on interacting with an animal, what would you want to do? LINK
• Sketch of an empty zoo….  fill with drawings/magazine clippings of animals. Maybe even on poster board or large paper/Google Slides for kids to add images of animals. LINK​

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Solution Building:

• Students will create Mini Pitches to determine plausibility of solution ideas to the driving question.
• Have narrowing questions available to students to determine if the solution is viable.  Such as:   Could this animal survive Michigan weather?, Would there be space at the JBZ for this animal? , Would the animal have an environment that replicates their natural habitat? 
• Create an A - Z Book:  PROS and CONS of ZOOS
• Use the NUF Test protocol
• Dot Voting strategy during the  Gallery Walk

Critique and Revision: 

• Glow and Grow
• Tell it to a Toddler​
• Teach the power of feedback using  Austin’s Butterfly ​video.
• THINK before you speak poster ( LINK ) 
• Glow and Grow Peer Feedback ( LINK) ​

Authentic Audience:

• John Ball Zoo employees and volunteers.
• Hudsonville Community members​

Final Presentation:

• Students will build their final solution by creating a google site that explains why the JBZ should add their animal (through an advertisement) .  Students can choose to share out by creating the habitat for the animal using art supplies,  become a zoologist and give an “animal talk”, creating a commercial or using role playing the animal.

Click here for teacher's full plan.

​Reflection and Feedback:

• Opinion Writing Rubric ( reflects standards and structure of writing/presentation)
• Self Reflection either through Google survey or video reflection of things that were difficult,  some “ah has” or something they enjoyed about the project.

Meet the Educator:
Lisa Kuieck teaches 2nd grade for Hudsonville Public Schools.  

     "PBL provides the power of engagement to our students. It gives them a voice and opportunity to work collaboratively."​