Bats! A Bat Research Project!

I wanted to share our Bats Research Project with you and share the fun and learning we had during our 2 weeks of bats!   The ‘staches were so engaged and excited learning about bats and learn they did!

Bats Schema Map

We kick off bats with a schema map.  Like we always do with our research projects!  We use Post It Notes so we can move our thoughts around as we organize our learning!  As we go through our bat research unit we add learning and move any misconceptions!  This is a very visual way for students to organize their learning and it’s very engaging!   My ‘staches know that our schema is what we already know about something.  Using the big vocabulary is so necessary!

We use read alouds and graphic organizers to conduct our research!   As we read, we complete our tree charts, labeling, Venn Diagrams, and true-false sorts!

As we are completing our graphic organizers and class charts, the students are also completing their own pages in their research journals!

The students then use their new bat knowledge to write about bats!

We also incorporate some math and graphing into our bat research project!

Read It Up:  Stellaluna

As part of our bat theme, Stellaluna is a MUST!  This is a great book about bats and birds but also about accepting people who are different than us.

Read It UP:  There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Bat

Bats Snack

We made bat snacks using Oreos, Doritos, M&Ms, Twizzlers, and candy corn!

Bat Art

And lots of art projects because I believe no classroom is complete without artwork.  MAKE ALL THE ART!   And bats are less creepy if it’s cute kid art….just sayin…

Bat hat!

Paper plate bats!   Paint two plates black.  Cut one plate in half to make the wings!

Cylinder Bats!   Make a cylinder out of black construction paper.  Cut out wings and glue on.  Add eyes and fangs.  Finally, add purple and black streamers to the bottom of the bat!   They are very easy to make and look amazing hanging from the ceiling!

Handprint and footprint bats!

Bat directed drawings!

Bat Books

Bats Centers

Of course there are bats in our math and literacy centers!

And to conclude our bat unit, we turned our hallway into a bat cave as a surprise for the kids!  I just cut out white bats and added some black lights!  And BAM!  A bat cave!  This took me 30 minutes to do.  And the kids loved it.  White bats, lights and you’ve created a memory and an experience.  Because not everything has to be huge and over the top!

Bat Freebies

     

And of course, you can check out our Halloween and Fall resources in our classroom!  These will be getting a lot of use in our classroom all October long!

For more fall and Halloween fun, check out these posts: