Join us as we discover Janell Cannon's Stellaluna and learn more about bats living throughout the world. We will compare them to birds and determine whether it was easy or hard for Stellaluna to follow Mother Bird's house rules! Word Wall Words | Introductory Activities | Student Research Activity | Additional Student Web Sites echolocation, roost, mammals, birds, megabat, microbat, nocturnal endangered, insects, wingspan, camouflage, nursery hibernate, migrate, predator, warm-blooded Return to the top of the page.
Place a toy bat inside a paper sack to use at the beginning of the class period. Explain to the students they are allowed to ask twenty questions to decide what is inside the sack. If someone guesses what the object is, that guess will count as one of the twenty questions. Record the number of questions asked by placing tally marks on a chalkboard or whiteboard. It also increases the students' critical thinking skills if a 2-column chart with the labels "YES" and "NO" is drawn on the board. Keywords can be recorded as students ask their questions. When all twenty questions have been asked, record responses children have to the question, "What do you think is in my sack?" As a group, compare their knowledge of each response to the recorded data collected earlier. Hopefully, by the process of elimination, the children will have selected the correct item. If not, follow-up with a discussion of what questions would have given them more helpful information.
Using the data collected during the Twenty Questions activity, start filling out a K-W-L chart. First ask students what they already know about bats as you record their responses. Then ask students to volunteer questions they have about bats. Record these responses under the "What We Want To Know" column. As your study of bats evolves continue to add to the chart including the things that have been learned about bats.
Ask students to join you for a reading of a favorite book, Stellaluna. After reading the book discuss the problems Stellaluna faced and the reasons these situations were problems for her. Elicit from students how Stellaluna solved her problems and whether they feel she made good choices. As follow-up writing activities include a letter Stellaluna might have written to Mrs. Bird and a skit with Stellaluna and the three birds discussing their situation. Start developing a Venn diagram making a visual comparison of bats and birds. Students will enjoy researching bats and creating a class word web. The Venn diagram and word web will provide information for further writing of poems, reports, and fictional stories.
This fantastic webquest has been developed for students to discover more about Stellaluna in order to locate her family. Students will increase their knowledge of the different types of bats, how mother bats care for their babies, the importance of echolation to some bat species, characteristics of this unique mammal, and the importance of bats why bats in our world.
Books Used Successfully In a Second Grade Classroom:
Videos Used Successfully In a Second Grade Classroom:
The Bats Conservation International has developed educational materials for teachers to purchase for use in their classrooms. Their web site features sample activities teachers can use in their classrooms to help children better understand bats. Return to the top of the page. Bats are amazing creatures! They belong to the same animal group that we do, but they are different from us in many ways. Print out A Bat Treasure Hunt On the Internet worksheet and see if you can find the missing words as you research websites and books.
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This is a website created by second grade teacher, Susan Silverman, in the spring of 1998. Look for the collages our West Ridge students collaboratively created in art class and the reports and poems each student wrote to share about bats. To find the site you need to click on "former websites". Then scroll down the page and click on Stellaluna's Friends. Enjoy! The diagram on this web page helps you to quickly identify the bat's fingers, thumb, and arm bones. This page also contains some basic facts about the only flying mammal in the world.
How many bats live together in a colony? Where do bats sleep during the daytime? What position is their body in when they sleep? Read this short web page to discover these answers. Return to the top of the page.
Copyright © 1999, 2002 Judy M.
Christiansen |
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