Session 1 for Service Project

I was thrilled to be able to conduct this service project with my stepdaughter, niece and nephew.  They are all in the second grade so the information we would be covering would be help reinforce the material learned in their classrooms.  The first thing I did was give a letter to the parents of Madison, Andrea, and Jose to ensure permission to have the children' s voices and images open to the public, on their blog.  This blog will allow the students to share their experience with how they used technology to research the activity we will be conducting on the insect life cycle.  The activity was started using a KWL chart.  After filling in what the students already know about insects(life cycle), I began with some inquiry-based learning techniques to fill in what they wanted to know. It was helpful to connect to the students interest in order to promote the "want" to know because the activity was broad.  The students are learning about not only the insects themselves, but also their life cycle.  Using the Internet search engines to research the questions the students imposed was another opportunity to expose them to helpful ways to use the Internet.  No matter what there interest, when they are faced with a question, they don't have to stop there or rely on someone to help them.  If they have access to the Internet, which most do, they can search independently.