Thursday 7 March 2013

What's a quoll?

We did an editing exercise this week that was about a quoll. I'd never heard of it so I went and looked it up and discovered that it's a cute little carnivorous marsupial living in Australia, New Guinea and Tasmania. :)

The peculiar name sparked my curiosity so I went cyber surfing and found  a website with a l-o-o-ng list of weirdly named animals - quite fascinating actually. Who makes up all these animal names?!! - and decided on the spur of the moment that this would be my class blog homework post assignment this weekend.

I chose these animals for my kiddies to research this weekend.

aardwolf

axolotl

falanouc

dibatag

gymnure

iiwii

zokor

tsessebe

And that's just a sample of what's out there! (I have heard of the axolotl before but I'll bet none of my kids have!) Their task is to choose one animal to research, classify it (!) tell me where it lives, what it eats and one more interesting fact about it - oh, and post a picture of it. Easy peasy, right? We'll see what they make of it.

Look up a quoll - it is the cutest thing! It's only about the size of a house cat. I'd love one as a class pet :)

Anybody out there have a class blog? What sorts of posts do you do? I'm always looking for new ideas. :)






6 comments:

  1. Adorable!! When I student taught in South America my 3rd graders were researching Australian animals & this one didn't come up. I wish I would've known about this little cutie!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know! I never thought an editing sheet could be so useful :) It's an A to Z set and every sheet is about a different animal. Very interesting - I think it's Education World but I'll double check that today.
      Lynn

      Delete
  2. Hi Lynn! So in addition to this blog, you have another for your students? I never thought to do that. I have a website for my students but it is boring! I love the strange animal names! What a fun HW assignment!!
    ✿Sue✿
    Science for Kids Blog

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kidblog.org. It's wonderful!! I have it set to private so a password is required to view the entries AND I moderate every post to avoid any problems (I've already had to have mini conferences to explain why I can't post what some children have written - using names and photos of people they have written about in a slightly uncomplimentary way!) It's a great way for the kids to learn about cyber etiquette and I'm finding it's very motivating for some of them - they love to do online writing. It's a free website - check it out :) (I posted about it somewhere on here too)
      Lynn

      Delete
  3. I have never heard of these animals! How fun! I use kidblog as well but have never assigned it as homework. I guess I have just been afraid that someone would not have internet access (even though they could go to the library!). I think I will have to think about that. I should give an assignment over our two week spring break! I am glad I came across your blog and am your newest follower:)
    ~Holly
    Fourth Grade Flipper

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh it's a great homework tool - it's probably the only homework my class actually likes :) I've used it for persuasive writing, research, reports, personal narrative - anything I can come up with. Everyone has internet access though and if they have problems- for whatever reason - their parents just let me know and it's ok. They all love seeing each other's posts and commenting though so it's very seldom that the homework isn't done :)

    Lynn

    ReplyDelete