YouR WiLD SeLF

Sponge

 
Picture of Cecilia Smith
Sponge
by Cecilia Smith - Monday, 12 April 2010, 7:33 AM
 
I am a wild sponge soaking up everything in my path. I live in school buildings and feed off discarded knowledge. My antennas help me smell and retrieve delicious bits of information. My fossa ears help me hunt knowledgeable treats I've never had before My bird of paradise wings help me soar through computer hard drives soaking up megabytes of information. I use my brightly colored tail feather to attract smart people who will help me with my quest to submit the perfect journal entry.
I would only survive in any one place for a short while. Once I have soaked up all the information that pertains to that place, I would need to move on.
I could use this activity with my children in the classroom in many ways. they could develop creature, much like mine, and use them to go on hunts to gather information. In the case or kindergartners it could be a letter hunt or soghtword hunt.
Picture of Martha Simpson
Re: Sponge
by Martha Simpson - Monday, 12 April 2010, 7:36 PM
 
Cecelia,

I like your idea of soaking and gathering up new things. I can see your kindergartners carrying their creature pictures and having the courage to accomplish all kinds of goals.
Picture of Jean McGuigan
Re: Sponge
by Jean McGuigan - Tuesday, 13 April 2010, 8:16 PM
 
Cecilia, I liked your description of yoursef. I like the way you can hunt for knowledgeable treats and can soak up megabytes of information. Wouldn't it be nice if you could also implant that info into other needy creatures. How awesome that would be. Nice Job!  Jean
Bob
Re: Sponge
by Robert Jordan - Wednesday, 14 April 2010, 2:45 PM
 
Hi Celia,
I liked your description of how you would use this activity with your kindergartners. I like your approach of modeling the creation of a figure and then having your students create their own creature that they would use for a specific purpose. The students follow your lead, but not exactly, giving them the freedom to experiment with different features. Furthermore, the purpose (gathering information) provides a modest constraint on their experimentation that requires them to be thoughtful in their selection of features and possibly providing a natural transition to a different language based activity.