Overview- Before beginning a study of owls do a class survey to see what children already know.
Objective- The student will use prior knowledge and prediction to compare information about owls.
Resources- Chalkboard or overhead projector, prepared questions on paper, owl books.
Activities and Procedures- After reading an imaginary owl story to the class, tell the children that they have a chance to participate in an owl survey. Hand out slips of paper on which simple true-false statements are written, eg. Owls sleep at night? True False Then collect all the papers. With the whole class, have the children guess which answer will have the most responses and write down the guesses, eg. Owls sleep at night Guess True Guess False Actual True Actual False. Then tally the results of the papers and write those in the Actual columns. Compare the guesses with the actual results. Then have the children check the answers by looking in the owl books. By this time they will be really motivated to read for information in the books.
Tying it All Together- This procedure could be done with any subject that you are studying. It is a very good motivator for factual reading.
