Engage Your Primary Level Students in Writing Practice with Live Animal Cams!
This month’s Best Practice comes from Mrs. Toni Kubousek, Renzulli Learning Professional Development Specialist and Content Curator. Toni was a first grade teacher and administrator in Tampa, FL before joining the Renzulli Learning team in 2006!
Here’s a fun activity to use again and again when students are transitioning from a specialty class such as PE, Art, Music, Library, or lunch! When the students return to class, you might have classical music playing, a journal on each students’ desk, and a Live Animal Cam from Renzulli Learning projected onto a screen (SMART Board, etc). Have students observe what the animal is doing during their viewing time. Students will then write a sentence or draw a picture of the animal’s activity. You can focus on a particular writing skill to align with your curriculum of the moment. You could also take advantage of the Renzulli Learning Journal if you prefer electronic submissions.
At the end of the school year, students can share their journals with each other and select their favorite to “final draft” and publish into a class book!
Finding the Live Cams are easy:
- From the Teach Tab, select Search, and in the left side search field, type in Live Cam
- Your results will be listed to the right of your search.
- Click on a link and begin your animal adventure!
This can be adapted for other types of live cams as well, such as cities and other types of locations!
Click here for additional Primary Grades suggestions!
