Ocean Animals- second grade

This is the first time second graders are doing a real research project.  It starts out with encyclopedia skills and this is the second year I felt the students did not really need it.  Thanks to technology, students do not need to use the index to figure out which encyclopedia volume they need, they have a library automation system to search for topics.  If lucky enough, which my district is, students have a subscription to an online encyclopedia which requires an entire new set of skills.  My final decision is to teach students how to use the online encyclopedia first and look for books on their topic to support their research after.

This year though my students used the encyclopedias.  They each researched a different ocean animal to match the science unit in their classroom. Students completed the worksheet below and met a couple of of the common core standards:

After students opened Word and first time typed two paragraphs.  They learned about the tab key and how to import an image they drew.  It is one of my favorite projects because they learn so much.

Common Core
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.2.2 Identify the main topic of a multiparagraph text as well as the focus of specific paragraphs within the text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.2.5 Know and use various text features (e.g., captions, bold print, subheadings, glossaries, indexes, electronic menus, icons) to locate key facts or information in a text efficiently
 CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.2.2 Write informative/explanatory texts in which they introduce a topic, use facts and definitions to develop points, and provide a concluding statement or section.