• compare and cross-reference information from fiction and nonfiction texts about animals.
• create “facts charts” in whole group formats.
• use an Internet search engine to find Web sites with additional factual information about animals in stories read to them.
• record factual information.

• Chart paper and markers
• Animal Study Recording Sheet
• Animal Inquiry Graphic Organizer
• (optional)Interactive to structure Web page exploration:
  
  
  • Internet Quest: Ants!
  • Internet Quest: Black Bears!
  • Internet Quest: Fish!
  • Internet Quest: Frogs and Toads!
  • Internet Quest: Penguins!
  • Internet Quest: Polar Bears!
    
    
• Parent or other adult helpers
• A set of books including both fiction and nonfiction texts featuring the same animal. The specific animal and books chosen will depend on availability and should reflect student interests. Examples of text sets are available in an attachment. As presented, the lesson uses the following three books:

  Two Bad Ants by Chris Van Allsburg (fiction)
  One Hundred Hungry Ants by Bonnie MacKain (fiction)
  Armies of Ants by Walter Retan (nonfiction)

  Alternately, students can create the text sets by doing a book sorting activity (see Book Sorting: Using Observation and Comprehension to Categorize Books) and one animal can be chosen for whole class study.

• Gather the fiction and nonfiction books for the project. See the booklist for suggested titles.
• Prepare two charts, one headed with “What We Think About Ants” and the other “What We Know About Ants” (or customized for the animal that you’ve chosen.
• Test the Animal Inquiry Graphic Organizer and the Internet Quest: Ants! interactive on your computers to familiarize yourself with the tools and ensure that you have the Flash plug-in installed. You can download the plug-in from the technical support page.
• Arrange for adult helpers (or older students) to help your students explore the Internet sites. If you choose to use the Internet Quest: Ants! interactive, demonstrate the tool to your helpers before they use it with students.

1. Post the “What We Think About Ants” chart where students can see it.
2. Gather students together for a story. Explain that you are going to read a story about ants that is fiction (define the word if necessary) but that together you are going to see if you can learn anything about ants by reading the story.
3. Read Two Bad Ants aloud. Take time to discuss the actions of the ants as you read.
4. When the story is over, ask some key questions about ants that will lead to factual information. Some examples of questions might be:
   
   
   • What did these ants want to eat?
   • How hard did the ants have to work to get what they wanted?
   • Can you tell anything about where the ants live from this story?
   • What do ants look like?
     
     
5. As a follow-up question, ask, “From listening to this story, what do you think might be true about ants?”
6. Chart students’ responses. Because the goal is to have students building information from fiction to fact, it’s important that all responses be traced back to the story in some way. If a student suggests information that is not related in any way to the events of the story, it can be acknowledged another way—perhaps by jotting it down on a sticky note for later reference or by starting another chart with additional questions.
7. Tell students they will be adding more information to the chart after listening to another story about ants.
8. Read One Hundred Hungry Ants aloud. Take time to point out any relevant information about the ants that might be related to factual information.
9. When the story is finished, ask some key questions to elicit possible factual information. Some examples of questions might be:
   
   
   • Did this book give you any additional information about ants?
   • What can you tell me about how these ants traveled?
   • What did these ants want to eat?
   • What else do you think might be true about ants that is in this story?
     
     
10. Chart additional information as students make guesses about real behavior of ants. Keep the chart posted for reference in Session 2.

1. Post the “What We Know About Ants” chart next to the chart from the previous session.
2. Gather students together. Review the chart from the previous session.
3. Explain that you are going to read a nonfiction book about ants (define the word if necessary), and that they will be able to find out whether the things they thought about ants are really true. Let them know that you will make a new list of things that they learn about ants from this book.
4. Read Armies of Ants aloud. Stop whenever appropriate to point out factual information that matches any guessed information listed on the first chart. Note that information from the first chart with a star so that it will be easy to locate later on.
5. When you have finished the book, ask students to tell you what they know about ants from this story. Write responses on the chart.
6. If a student suggests information that isn’t accurate, reread short sections of the book for reference, clarification, and to help the student adjust his or her response.

Option One: Using the Internet Quest: Ants!

1. Explain the class activity: students will explore Web sites, using the Internet Quest: Ants! interactive, looking for information that answers questions from their “What We Think About Ants” and “What We Know About Ants” charts. Depending upon your computer access and students’ computer skills, students can work independently, in small groups, in groups with an adult helper, or as a whole class (with the interactive projected using an LCD Projector).
2. If students will be working on their own or in groups, demonstrate the Internet Quest: Ants! interactive, showing students how to view the related Web pages as well as how to print and save their work:
   
   
   1. On the first screen, read the instructions to students.
   2. Click Next to move to the first question.
   3. Show students where to locate the related link for each question.
   4. Demonstrate how to move between the interactive and the Web page.
   5. Type a sample answer to the question in order to demonstrate that writing is not limited to the size of the box shown on screen. Answers will scroll.
   6. If desired, show students that how to copy a sentence from the Web page and paste it into the appropriate row and column on the chart.
   7. Click the Next button to move to the next question.
   8. Click the Next button again, to demonstrate that students must answer each question before moving on to a new question.
   9. Explain that you cannot move back to change an answer. If desired, explain that students can open the text later (see Step m, below).
   10. Click Finish at the top of the screen.
   11. Type your name in the space provided.
   12. Click the Print button beneath your name. Your answers will be displayed in a Web browser window.
   13. To print answers, choose the Print command from the File menu. To save your answers, choose the Save As... command from the File menu. Students can open the file later in a Web editor or a word processor that imports HTML (such as Microsoft Word or AppleWorks).
   14. Show students that the instructions for using the tool are available by clicking Help at the top of the screen.
       
       
3. Once students understand the activity, they can begin exploring the sites using the Internet Quest: Ants! interactive.
4. Monitor students as they browse the Web sites, answering any questions. Remind students to save and/or print their answers.
5. Once students have explored the sites, invite them to share their findings, adding new information to the chart headed “What We Know About Ants.”
6. When Internet exploration is complete, review information on both charts, making comparisons as appropriate. Write “Yes” or “No” next to each guess on the first chart. Add correct information, elicited from student responses, to any items marked with “No.”

Option Two: Searching with a Web Browser

1. Load the following Web sites onto computers:
   
   
   • Stranger Than Fiction
   • Ant, from Enchanted Learning
   • Ask Jeeves for Kids or Ask Jeeves
     
2. Do a whole group demonstration showing some navigational tips on each Web site. Note: Web site exploration can be done by the teacher with the whole group if computers are limited, or with adult helpers working with small groups.
3. Have students explore the Web sites Stranger Than Fiction and Ant to find more information about ants or to confirm information which is already charted.
4. Other students can use Ask Jeeves for Kids or Ask Jeeves to find additional information or to check charted information. (Note that additional sites are also listed below in the Web Resources.)
5. Add new information to the chart headed “What We Know About Ants” as students find it online.
6. When Internet exploration is complete, review information on both charts, making comparisons as appropriate. Write “Yes” or “No” next to each guess on the first chart. Add correct information, elicited from student responses, to any items marked with “No.”

1. Start with an opening question: “What are some things that you learned about ants?”
2. After students have responded, explain to students that they are going to record what they know.
3. Have students work in groups with parent helpers to record their information on the Animal Inquiry Graphic Organizer.
4. Print out the information for students. Alternately, have students record their information on the Animal Study Recording Sheet.

1. Gather students together for a discussion.
2. Have students share what they’ve learned, not only about animals, but about the information-gathering process itself. Keep this conversation informal, but be sure to address what worked well and what was easiest about the process, and what didn’t work or what might have worked better.
3. Chart any information that might be useful for another time.

• Instead of creating sets of books before starting the lesson, have students sort books from the classroom library to create the sets. See Book Sorting: Using Observation and Comprehension to Categorize Books.
  
  
• Group students according to interest in certain animals and have each group investigate an animal of its choice, starting with selecting their own books to read, and ending with whole group sharing.
  
  
• Have students use the information they gather to write reports using the ReadWriteThink lesson Writing Reports in Kindergarten? Yes!
  
  
• Have students write what they learned about the animal in their journals.
  
  
• Have students write picture books about the animal using the guidelines in the ReadWriteThink lesson Draw a Story: Stepping From Pictures to Writing.
  
  
• For fun, students can create fictional bugs with the Monster Bug interactive from the Magic Schoolbus site.
  
  
• Older students can extend the animal study to mathematics with Bridging Literature and Mathematics by Visualizing Mathematical Concepts, which uses picture books to talk about size and ratio.

• The Ant Colony Cycle, from the American Museum of Natural History
• Ants, from the Canadian Nature Museum (the page in French)
• Ants, from the World Almanac for Kids Online
• Ant Cam
  

• Animal Planet (includes advertisements)
• ALA’s Great Web Sites for Kids: Animals
• World Wildlife Foundation
• The CyberZoo
• The National Zoo

• participation in discussion
• detailed journal entries
• engagement in the research process (searching for and recording facts about the animal)
• facts and observations included on the Animal Study Recording Sheets
  

NCTE/IRA Standards

1 - Students read a wide range of print and nonprint texts to build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world; to acquire new information; to respond to the needs and demands of society and the workplace; and for personal fulfillment. Among these texts are fiction and nonfiction, classic and contemporary works.

3 - Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics).

6 - Students apply knowledge of language structure, language conventions (e.g., spelling and punctuation), media techniques, figurative language, and genre to create, critique, and discuss print and nonprint texts.

7 - Students conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and questions, and by posing problems. They gather, evaluate, and synthesize data from a variety of sources (e.g., print and nonprint texts, artifacts, people) to communicate their discoveries in ways that suit their purpose and audience.

8 - Students use a variety of technological and information resources (e.g., libraries, databases, computer networks, video) to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge.