By Dot Schuler

As the 1996-1997 school year began at Grafton Elementary School, located at the confluence of the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers, and second graders were talking in cooperative learning teams to get acquainted, many of the conversations were about pets.

John's mom brought the family dog, Luke, to the classroom door one morning, and explained that John wanted the class to see his pet. The new, literature-based reading series began with a variety of stories about pets. It was easy to see that a project on pets was near at hand. Our project culminated in the evening of October 28, 1996, with 73 people gathered just outside our "Pet Palace" window, anxiously awaiting the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Grand Opening of our pet store! Now, we (Dot Schuler, second grade teacher, and Eileen Borgia, Assistant Professor at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville) would like to share the story with you. (Occasionally, included in the text, are clips from Dot's e-mail "diary" that she sent daily to Eileen.) 

Phase 1

To begin the project, September 9, 1996, the class brainstormed and began to construct a web about pets. Letters were sent to parents, inviting them to visit the classroom with their pets. Children began bringing in pictures of their pets. Mrs. Schuler told a personal story about Sandy, her pet dog. The children wrote their personal stories, and illustrated them.

The pictures were displayed in the hall, and, later, put together in a class book. Open-ended questions about pets were presented. The children wrote ideas in their journals. Next, they documented their ideas on class charts. They each wrote a paragraph about pets, focusing on one of the open-ended questions. The stories were revised, proofread, and published; they were put into a class book entitled: Our Book about Pets. Beginning activities included making pet folders for storing their work, reading pet ads, measuring and weighing pet supplies, making a pet dictionary, and making a bar graph titled, "Our Favorite Pets." They wrote about pets in their daily journals, many times ending with questions which started class discussions. 

Topics of discussions included: Can a snake be a pet? Can squirrels be pets? Can a lizard be a pet? 

Phase 2

Parents began to visit our classroom, bringing pets. Clipboards were used for note taking and drawing sketches; tape measures, marked in inches and centimeters, for measuring; a stethoscope, for listening to the animals' hearts; and magnifying glasses for close examination of features. E-mail entry after a visit from two playful kittens: I asked: "So, how can we tell these two kittens apart?" I was thinking they would say that their spots were different in color, or something simple like that. However, Dusty responded, "Because Rocky is bigger. He is 19 inches, and Peanut is only 16 inches!"

As the visits from pets reached an end, we had observed 4 cats, 3 dogs, 5 rabbits, and one bird, and we had made another bar graph: "The Pets that Came to our Room." Our first expert was a local groomer, who brought her pet Shih-tzu, who did tricks for us and let the groomer muzzle her to demonstrate some of the techniques of grooming. The next expert, and parent of a former second grader, was Nick Thompson, who works in a pet store. He brought a python, a tortoise, two lizards, and two other snakes. . "Is it true that pythons have 400 sets of ribs, and two anal claws?" one child asked, as a result of his silent reading that week. Nick surprisingly answered, "Yes." 

Measuring the Burmese python required adding on with two 2-digit numbers, 60 + 51 (inches). Rubbing the tortoise shell with crayon provided a new kind of documentation to place in their pet folders. One child even discovered that the bearded dragon lizards were tame enough to place on a piece of paper and trace around. The last expert was a local veterinarian, who brought a real dog's heart infested with heartworms and various bones from animals. He explained many aspects of a veterinarian's work and answered the children's questions. 

As we studied the various pets, the children began to make suggestions for turning our room into a pet store. "What should our store have in it?" asked Mrs. Schuler. "Animals and information about the animals, and pet supplies," they answered. "If we made our wall look like a window on the inside, what would we put on it?" asked Mrs. Schuler. "Cars going by, buildings, people looking in, letters painted backward..." answered the class. "And what would we put on the outside of the window, out in the hall, to make it look like the outside of a store?" asked the teacher. "Animals!" answered the children. Each child decided upon one animal that they would most like to investigate, wrote in their learning journals about their plans, and listed the supplies that they might need. They grouped with others who wanted to study the same pet. 

Journal note: Today, we started our projects! Former second graders talked to the class about project work. Here are some of their suggestions: Do your best handwriting, because people will come in to see it. Do nice artwork, not sloppy. Make your project interesting; things that will catch your eye. Always finish what you start. If it seems hard, concentrate and try hard. Work quietly. It will be messy; you have to clean up; use newspaper. Cooperate. Be careful not to use too much tape.

As investigations in their small groups began, the children recorded their work plans and their findings in their learning journals daily. This helped them to remain focused on what they intended to accomplish. 

The children investigating dogs, began by making a papier-mâché model of a dog. All four of them worked on the form and the first layers of newspaper and liquid starch. Then, two of them began working on the cage, while the others continued to put finishing touches on the model of the dog. After completing the cage and the model, Dusty and Kyle began working on board games about dogs and cats; Melissa and Cassie began writing books about dogs, referring to their notes for information. Dusty also weighed a dog leash and added up many numbers to arrive at the weight: 167 g. 

Jarrod and Sylvia were interested in cats, and started by making a first draft of a book about cats, using the information that they had recorded in their learning journals, as well as notes they had taken when various cats visited. After publishing the book, they made a papier-mâché model of a cat, as well as a cage to keep it in. 

Keli and Katie made a poster about fish and fish equipment. They also followed written instructions to clean our fish tank with salt and water. The wife of our principal, and owner of a pet store, donated fish, fish food, and several resource books. After finishing their poster, they wrote their own books about fish. John and Anna, interviewed people in the school, to find out the worst problem with pets. They graphed the results. Next, they began making a model of a parrot to put inside the bird cage in our room. They also wrote a book about birds. Upon weighing a large turkey feather that Anna had brought to our room, they were impressed to discover that it only weighed 1 gram!

Two children, after making a poster to show the parts of a turtle, interviewed people in the school about the best kind of turtle for a pet. They recorded the results of the interview on a pictograph. Then, they began constructing a model of a turtle, and they built a cage. 

Josh and Garrett started with a pamphlet about lizards. Next, they made a lizard model. For the cage, they tore up construction paper scraps to make the aspen wood floor covering, so that it would resemble the one the expert had brought. 

Three children made a Venn diagram to compare and contrast lop-eared and straight eared bunnies, discovering that there were many similarities, but not many differences. Then, they constructed a model of a blue-haired rabbit, which they kept in a pet taxi. Finally, they made a pamphlet to tell about rabbits. 

Another group constructed a large snake out of paper towel tubes, which they covered with papier-mâché. After painting the snake, they created a movie about snakes.

Throughout the course of the project, children continued writing stories about pets in their daily journals. They frequently turned them in to our Title I teacher, who typed them on the computer. The children then illustrated the stories and entered them into our book titled: Daily Journal Entries about Pets. A name for the pet store became a frequent topic of conversation. Children began making suggestions for the name in their daily journals, and we held a classroom vote. When children began finishing up their investigations, they would make objects to be placed in the inside or outside "windows" of the store. 

Two parents frequently came in to help; they added the finishing touches to our windows by covering them with the left-over laminating film that was being discarded, adding a very realistic touch! Deciding what could and could not be a pet continued to be the topic of many discussions. As a result, the class finally decided upon a definition of a pet: "A pet is something that you're able to take care of, that's not too dangerous, just the right size for you, and is tame (or if it's not tame, you keep it in a cage), and gets shots every year."

Throughout the project, children were encouraged to ask each other for help or supplies before asking the teacher. They were also encouraged to give each other helpful advice and suggestions for their work. Getting ready for work, and cleaning up afterwards, became a very focused, organized, cooperative time for all. Each afternoon, before going home, children eagerly shared their work, learning from each other all the while, as well as developing a sense of appreciation for each person's talents, skills, and ideas.

Teacher's journal entry: Today, at sharing time in the afternoon, which the kids look forward to greatly, John and Anna were reading us their bird book with no pictures, but a long table of contents, and pages filled with information. When they read the part about birds having hollow bones (which John discovered on his own, by the way, as I was surprised to see it in there!), many of the kids were really interested. John explained that we can't fly because our bones aren't hollow, so they are too heavy, but birds' bones are light. It's "like taking a milk jug full of water and emptying it out," John explained. Finally, on the day of culmination, the children began selecting various work samples for the display: 

Journal entry: After selecting work, we had a class discussion about how I should grade their project work. Here is their list:

1. cooperation 
2. how hard you worked 
3. attitude
4. good ideas
5. sketches
6. notes
7. listening
8. display 

The Grand Opening for our pet store was in the evening of Oct. 28, 1996, and was attended by 73 people who circulated the "store", looking at the animals, books, pamphlets, artifacts, graphs, notes, sketches, paintings, diagrams, posters, and graphs, while the video of the entire project was playing on the TV screen in the front of the room. Below are some of the comments heard: 

• Garrett (second grade student): I really enjoyed this learning stuff. 
• Jeff Allen (another teacher's son): Mom, that's such a neat way to learn things. 
• Sixth grader about Adam (second grade student who had shown him around the "store"): He told me a lot of stuff. 
• Jamie Allen (teacher): Adam (second grade student) has remembered so much stuff.
• Second grader's mom: This project work is wonderful! This year, it is not a struggle to get John to go to school in the morning. 

The photo album full of pictures from the beginning to the end of the pet project remains in our reading center where all can still enjoy reflecting back, and many children still read often from our pet books. We have even added two more books to our "library" as a result of the project. One is entitled, What We Learned About Pets, and it contains a paragraph from each child; the other is called, Instructions for Project Work. Each student published instructions on how to make things for project work; we plan to share this book with the other classrooms in our school who are also "engaging children's' minds!"

To select another project click here