If You Could Be An Animal.....

.... What would YOU be?

That was the question my Juniors class was asked.  We brainstormed as a class on:
- where we would live
- what we would eat
- what our daily activities would be
- who our friends would be
- who our predators/enemies would be
- who would take care of us
- what we would look like

The students came up with great ideas!  Here are just two great examples of kids imagining what life would be like as an animal.

Dolphins and Friends
By Shefali (4th grade)
(Notice how much scientific knowledge Shefali incorporates into this essay.  She also breaks her paragraphs up nicely into specific characteristics, so her essay is easy to follow!)

     If I were an animal, I would be a dolphin because dolphin friends are always there for each other.  For example, when a dolphin can't swim, two other dolphins bring the dolphin up and down so it can breathe until it can swim again.  Dolphins are very smart!

     But, I would also have predators.  One of the big predators for dolphins are sharks.  I would send two big and strong male dolphins to fight those huge, mean, and nasty sharks.  The sharks wouldn't get anything to eat in our pod!

     I'd have to eat, too.  I would use something called echo-location.  I would send a sound and it would bounce off a fish and come back to me.  If it would come back quickly, then I would go in that direction and eat a tasty treat!

Raya (4th grade) organized her thoughts beautifully before she started writing.  With the Juniors group, I presented "pre-outlining" ideas that will help them organize their thoughts and get them ready for the concept of formal outlining they will be ready for as they get older.

     If I were an animal, I would be a lizard.  I would live in the rainforest.  While staying away from snakes and certain birds, I would climb trees.  I would climb down to eat weeds when my predators had gone away.  Because I would be a mild animal, I wouldn't kill any animals.

     I would be one of a kind when it comes to my appearance.  If my predators saw me, they might be scared and run away.  I would look scary and big.  I would have spikes on top of my head along with scales.  Because I could camouflage with the surroundings, I would look brownish-green.  I would like to be a lizard, but I'm glad I'm a person.

Both girls used the lessons they learned in varying sentence starters/patterns.  Well done!!