Recipe for Research!

Spring is just around the corner, and that means the beginning of the research semester where multiple grade levels will begin some form of research project. I always enjoyed this process in the classroom with 22 students and LOTS of parent helpers.  It’s not quite as manageable in the library without my library aide (Oh, how I miss those days!) or parent volunteers, but everything always gets done somehow! 🙂

Our district supports students using the Big 6 Research Model, which I had also used in the classroom with my third graders.  While I think the steps are valid, their terminology often makes teaching the steps very difficult, especially with the younger kids.  So this year, I decided to do something a little different.

For one of my beginning of the year activities, I dress up in a chef’s hat and apron to teach the students the “Ingredients to a Good Story”.   This activity usually follows the cute story “Aunt Isabel Tells a Good One” by Kate Duke.  In the book, Aunt Isabel makes up a story with Penelope’s help, while at the same time teaching Penelope what “ingredients” need to be in the story to make it exciting (things like characters, setting, problem, etc.)

Recipe for ResearchRecipe for Research
Since my 1st and 2nd graders will have seen my “chef’s” outfit before, I thought I could bring it back to teach them the “Recipe for Research”!   I used it today with 1st & 2nd grade, and the kids seemed to really like it.  Plus, the reworded steps made sense to them.  
Recipe for ResearchRecipe for ResearchRecipe for ResearchRecipe for ResearchRecipe for ResearchRecipe for Research
I also created icons to use in discussing the steps. I related it to the ingredients you would need to make apple pie/cake. 
1.  Eggs = Ideas/Questions about your topic
2.  Milk = Resources you can use to answer the questions (non-fiction books, encyclopedias, databases)
3.  Vanilla = Location of resources (library, classroom, home, etc.)
4.  Tart Apples = Finding answers to your questions. (If you only do this step, your teacher will look like he/she ate sour apples).
5.  Sugar = Organizing your answers/notes to make sense. (Making your sentences sound sweet!)
6.  Flour = (The ingredient that pulls everything together.)  Evaluate on how you did, check if you have answered all your questions, check for quality, and reflect on your research journey.
 
*I put the icons back to back and laminated them together.  I put them into my mixing bowl as we talked about each ingredient/step in the recipe, and then hung the poster on our white board as we went into more detail. 
Recipe for Research
Next week, we will focus more on the Works Cited aspect of research, so I went ahead and created a practice sheet for the students. 
Recipe for ResearchRecipe for Research

Updated on 2/8/16:
So today, while I was doing this lesson with 1st grade, I noticed how the posters were blending into the white of my whiteboard.  The more I looked at them, the more I realized each poster looked too much like the others, and I could see that the students may not see them as 6 separate steps. So I went back to the drawing board, and added in some color.  I put the steps in Rainbow order to help the kids remember the order of the steps as well. I’m so excited in how they turned out and can’t wait to use these tomorrow!  Here’s what they look like now:

Recipe for ResearchRecipe for ResearchRecipe for Research
Recipe for ResearchRecipe for Research  Recipe for Research

 

Recipe for ResearchRecipe for ResearchRecipe for Research
If you’d like these posters, including these new updated ones,
feel free to go to my website here  to  my TPT store store.


What do you think of the changes?  I’d love to hear your feedback!
Sandy

4 Responses to “Recipe for Research!”

  1. Debbie Klein

    Do you have the recipe cards that are in the picture above for characters, setting, ect???
    I think that is a great idea!

    Reply

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