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4. Research Without Copying Activities by Nancy Polette © 2001
BASIC RESEARCH REPORTING MODELS

1. Description: 
   Bird Alphabet Book by Jerry Pallotta. Charlesbridge, 1995 
   Bugs by Nancy Parker. Greenwillow 1988
2. Sequence: 
   Sir Frances Drake by Roy Gerrard. Farrar '88.
   White Bear, Ice Bear by Joanne Ryder. Morrow, 1989.
3. Compare/Contrast: 
   Christmas in the Big House, Christmas in the Quarters by Pat McKissack. 
   Scholastic, '94.
   So You Want To Be President by Judith St. George. Philomel, 2000.
4. Problem/Solution: 
   Mary on Horseback by Rosemary Wells. Dial 1998. 
   Forging Freedom by Hudson Talbot. Putnam, 2000.
   

WAR

Cello of Mr. O by Jane Cutler. Dutton, 2000

Study the time line of the Bosnian war at: 
www.xs4all.nl/~frankti/Warhistory/war_hist.html
Write a recipe for a city at war.
Large measure extreme shortages
Mix hunger and cold
Add bitter and heavy fighting
With 16 large Yugoslav army tanks
Decorate with orange flash of mortars
Sprinkle with streets littered with bricks and broken glass 
Add Muslims, Serbs and Croats 
Remove hope of escape
Place Bosnia under siege for four years
Serve with grief and tears.

The Snow Goose by Paul Gallico. Kmopf reiissue, 1992.

Research the evacuation of Dunkirk. Report using a geography riddle poem.
Pattern: Let's go to long ago places and see the Earth's changing faces. We 
will see (list 6-8 sights) But that's not all (list 6-8 more sights) Where am 
I? 

Rose Blanche by Roberto Innocenti. Harcourt 85.

Activity: Write about the holocaust using the "Just for a Day" pattern from Joanne Ryder's
White Bear, Ice Bear.
One ____ morning your room is ____ and ____. Outside your window you her_____, 
calling you, changing you until you realize that you are a ___ and live in ____. 
A ____ hangs around your neck. You are a ____ now. By day you ______ By night 
you are _____. Silently you _____ and wonder ____But wait! You hear a ____ 
approaching. Now you sense a familiar smell. You walk toward ____ and feel 
_____ changing you. You step through the _________ and run inside. Hungry and happy 
to be home again and _____________________.

See also: The Terrible Things by Eve Bunting. Harper, 1980.

GANGS/INNER CITY

Inner City Mother Goose by Eve Merriam. Simon & Schuster, 1996.

"Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the double lock will keep. May no brick 
through the window break, And no one rob me till I wake. "See Loretta Krupinski's 
New England Scrapbook Harper, 1995. Create an Inner City Scrapbook
of positive images.

DISASTERS

Yikes by Alison Lester.

Do a Fortunately/Unfortunately report about the sinking of the Titanic. In 
chronological order list both positive and negative things about the voyage.

MOMENTS IN HISTORY

Iron Horses by Verla Kay.
Activity: Follow the pattern in this book to write about another historical 
event.

TELEVISION AND MOVIES

The Wretched Stone by Chris Van Allsburg
Activity: Choose a literature classic. Present as a Mystery Report with ten 
clues.

Kat Kong by Dave Pilkey, Harcourt 1993.

Describe King Kong using this pattern:
You are changing, changing
You feel:
You are: ( two adjectives)
You are: (color)
The color of: You are ( size and shape)
And you are ( participle and prepositional phrase)
You do not walk upright anymore as you 
(Three verb phrases)
It is ( adjective) to move like this so
( one adjective and one simile)
You are: (name) 

ENVIRONMENT

The World that Jack Built by Ruth Brown. Dutton, 1991.
Activity: Read about one geographical region: ie., mountain, desert, ocean etc. 
Write a "How to Be" Report. 
HOW TO BE A DESERT
Cover 1/3 of the Earth
Go ten years without rainfall
Bloom in the spring
Avoid goats
Collect scorpions and rattlesnakes
Give up minerals to make 1000 products
Be shifty, especially your dunes

SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERIES

Snowflake Bentley by Jacquelyn Briggs. Houghton Mifflin 19 96 
The Microscope by Maxine Kumin. Harper 1985
Research and report on how snowflakes are formed using karaoke. OR Compare 
Leewenhoek and Bentley using this pattern: ____ I would _____ and I'd _____ 
and _____ but I wouldn't _____ because _______ did that.

RESEARCH WITHOUT COPYING: A Workshop Session with Nancy Polette. 
© 2001

Research without copying demands use of all four quadrants of the brain. 

UPPER LEFT: Logical, fact-based (content) analytical; 

LOWER LEFT: Sequential, organized, detailed; 

LOWER RIGHT: Feeling based (literature/music), interpersonal (group work) kinesthetic; 

UPPER RIGHT: Holistic, integrating, synthesizing.

EXAMPLE: LEARNING OCEAN TRAVEL AND IMMIGRATION  

1. Introduce BEYOND THE WESTERN SEA by Avi (Orchard 1997)
An Irish family faces hardship on their journey to America.

Pick A Project
Verb	Topic	Product
Compare	Titanic disaster	song
Create	London at night	poem
Describe	Kilonny village	interview
Judge	Famous person connected with the sea	Mystery Report

A Fact and Fiction Book. Make a statement about a topic on one page. On the next page support or deny the statement with evidence.

The Bio Poem: Headings for each line are: Name, Four traits, Related to, Who needs, Who fears, Who gives, Who would like to see, Resident of...........

Report using poetry. Try an acrostic poem or use Maxine Kumin's MICROSCOPE as a model.

The Five Senses Report: _______is the color of_______
It looks like, Tastes like, Sounds like, Smells like, Makes me feel like__________________.

The Fortunately Report: Listing the plus and minus things that happen in 
the life of a famous person.

The Scrapbook Report: See A New England Scrapbook by Loretta Krupinski. 
Harper, 1997.

The Geography Riddle Report. Let's go to (long ago/far away places and see the Earth's changing faces. (List 6-8 sights). But that's not all. (List 6-8 more sights) Where am I?

Write a "To Test the Truth Show" script. Three people claim to be a famous person. Only one tells the truth. The class votes on the real person.

HOSTESS: LORETTA BORE Welcome everyone to our show. Only one eyewitness is telling the complete truth. It is up to you to guess which it is. Now let's meet our guests. 

EYEWITNESS #1: My name is Molly Brown and I was an eyewitness to the sinking of the Titanic. I was reading in my stateroom when I felt a terrible jolt. We had hit an iceberg. 

EYEWITNESS #2: My name is Molly Brown I was traveling with my husband, James when there was this terrible crash. James pushed people aside so I could get into a boat. 

EYEWITNESS #3: My name is Mrs. James J Brown and I was a passenger on the Titanic when it began to sink. I made it to a lifeboat manned by a drunken sailor. 

BORE: What else can you tell us? 

EYEWITNESS #1: There was such panic and since I had never learned to read, I could not read the instructions given us as to what to do in an emergency. I was so frightened. 

EYEWITNESS #2: I had no one to depend on but myself so I grabbed my mink coat and made it to a lifeboat before the Titanic went under 

EYEWITNESS THREE: The sailor in our boat did nothing to help the frightened people so I took charge. I got them to rowing and singing to keep their spirits up. BORE: Now it is time to decide who is the real eyewitness to the sinking of the Titanic. 

 

We will vote by a show of hands. 

Is it #1? (Wait for show of hands) 

Is it #2? (Wait for show of hands) 

Is it #3? (Wait for show of hands). 

 

Now for the moment you have all been waiting for. Will the real Molly Brown step forward. 

Mystery Report. 10 clues. One must be a give away clue.

Interview Report. The student answers questions about the person he/she is pretending to be. Using notes, the student (in character) answers questions from classmates who try to find out as much about the person as they can.

Compare/Contrast Pattern: If I had the _____ of a ______, I would _______ and I'd ____________________ But I wouldn't ____________ because ______________________ (does/did) that.

 

 

The Associative Letter Report:  How many Bs can you connect with pirate? How many Cs with the Middle Ages?

 

The Important Book by Margaret Wise Brown. 

The important thing about _____ is_______ Add 4-8 details. 

Repeat first sentence. 

 

Challenging Literal Fact: Put WHY in front of a fact - require a one half page report. Example: Why was George Washington the first president of the United States? 

 

The Data Bank: 

Data Bank: Alligators
Eats	Has	Lives
fish	thick body	South East US
snakes	sharp teeth	China
dogs	powerful tail	South America
turtles		Central America
frogs
DOES	LOOKS LIKE
lays 50 eggs	nest of grass
lives 50-60 years	18 ft long
	450-550 pounds
	dull gray

 

Use the information in the data bank in patterns or take your favorite karaoke tape and write an alligator song to sing with it.