Over the last few months, students in the fourth grade Compass program have been researching, writing, illustrating and publishing their conservation books at John Street, Polk Street and Washington Street schools. Every student was given an animal at random to research, and they dove into information about their animals ranging from diet to physical characteristics to habitat loss to conservation efforts. Students illustrated their animals and then chose three other ways to express their concerns for their animal’s conservation status. Writing submissions included letters to their prey, courtroom transcripts, fun facts and quizzes. Illustrations included habitat diagrams, food webs, wanted posters and cartoons. Students enjoyed having the opportunity to choose their expression and becoming published authors! The fourth graders in all three schools are getting together on June 8 to celebrate their animals and their publication experiences.
To top it off, each student was given a bracelet from the company “Fahlo,” which allows students to scan a QR code and track their animal in the wild. The bracelets were generously donated by Christina Koslowski, her daughter Nicole and their family. Ms. Koslowski was playing Boggle and kept getting ads for Fahlo, loved the idea, and remembered how inspired Nicole had been when she was in Ms. Tittler’s class working on their quail conservation project. She hoped this project might help to inspire this year’s fourth grade students to share a similar inspiration for years to come.