animal research project 2nd grade

Writing Unit of Study: Animal Research Project

This free animal research project will provide you with a writing unit of study that will help you build excitement about writing informational text in your classroom.

You can download this free animal research project to help your writers develop their research and writing skills.

This project will be a great fit for your first, second or third grade writing workshop.

This is another free resource for teachers and homeschool families from The Curriculum Corner.

Why should I introduce my students to research through animal study?

Animal research can be a great topic for writing informational text because students tend to be curious about animals.

Nothing seems to spark interest in most kids like learning about animals in our world. Turn their enthusiasm into an engaging animal research writing project.

They can take the time to learn about different habitats and diets.

You can also encourage students to expand their vocabulary by having them create a glossary to accompany their writing.

About this animal research project

Within this post you will find over 30 pages of anchor charts, mini-lesson ideas, writing planners and graphic organizers.

The unit will help guide your students through the complete process. In the end, you will be helping to teach your students how to write their own pieces of informational text.

The intended end product for students is an animal booklet that they can staple together to share with others.

Students who are ready for more advanced work, can create a larger project with less direction.

A description of the mini-lessons

Lesson 1: introduction.

• Begin the unit by having the students brainstorm a list of animals that they might see everyday.
• Then, have them brainstorm a list of animals they see when they visit the zoo or walk in the forest. You can do this on the blank anchor chart provided or on cart paper.
• Another option is to place students in groups. They could work to create a list together.  
• You might assign each group a continent and have them find animals that live there.
• Pull the class together and have each group share what animals they found that live on their continent.

Lesson 2: Noticings

• Next you might want to get your students familiar with common characteristics about informational texts that teach about animals.
• Have them work in pairs or small groups to go through some books and record their “noticings” about the writing.
• Then come together in a community circle to discuss those noticings and create a class anchor chart.

Lesson 3: Opinion vs. Facts

• Before getting truly into this unit, you might need to conduct a lesson on opinions vs. facts.
• After a brief discussion you can use the giraffe paragraph provided in our resources to give your students some practice differentiating between the two. This paragraph contains both opinions and facts.
• With your class read through the paragraph and record facts and opinions on the T-chart.
• Discuss both sides and how they are different from each other.
• A black & white copy of this giraffe paragraph has also been provided.  You can have them work in pairs or groups to distinguish between the facts and opinions.
• If you need more resources for your students surrounding fact & opinion check out our   Fact & Opinion Sort .

Lesson 4: Choosing a Topic for the Animal Research Project

• We want to help students to narrow their topic choices by giving them some guidance.
• Gather students and begin a discussion about choosing an animal research topic.
• For this lesson we have provided two pages where students can individually brainstorm the animals they are interested in.
• You might have students work in groups or independently to make their choice. Conference with students as needed to help.
• Don’t shy away from letting more than one student research about the same animal.  This can be a great way to promote group work. It might also help out with some of your literacy center choices throughout this unit.

Lesson 5: Good Places to Find Information about an Animal

• At this age we want students to begin to understand that all they read online about animals isn’t always true. Sometimes writing might sound true without being filled with facts.
• Show students two possible places to find information online about their animal. One should be a trusted site with reliable and accurate information. Another should be a site that perhaps a child has created.  (There are many that you can find if you search.)
• Pose these questions: Is everything on the internet true? Why?  How can you tell? Why is it important for your research writing to contain accurate information?

Lesson 6: Taking Notes

• Sometimes giving students resources and a blank sheet of notebook paper can be too overwhelming for them. Some students will copy word for word. Others might feel overwhelmed.  We need to guide them to read and pull out facts & relevant information to use later in their writing.
• For this lesson we have provided four templates for note-taking that you might choose to use for your students.
• You might need to provide different organizers to students depending on their needs.
• You will want to model the organizers your students are use. Show them how to take notes as they read.
• After initial teaching, you may find that you need to pull small groups for extra practice. Others might benefit from a conference as you take a look at the notes they are taking.

Lesson 7: Word Choice in Research Writing

• To help students think about making their writing more interesting, have them brainstorm words about their animal.
• Together brainstorm words that would be appropriate for animals. They might add words about what they look like, their movement, their habitats, their life cycles, their diets, etc. You can create a class anchor chart on the page provided.  You might even think about using the real life picture of the wolf in the download. This can get the students to begin thinking of more interesting words for animals (fierce, mighty, strong, etc).
• Then, pass out the individual brainstorm pages. Students can use the anchor chart as a guide to begin their own word choice pages about their animal. This might be a good partner activity as well.

Lesson 8: Writing Sketch for the Animal Research Project

• Next, you can model the writing sketch planner for your class.
• One idea to help your students narrow down all of the information they have learned about their animals is to give them a specific number of animals facts that they can focus on.
• Each of these facts can serve as the actual text that they will put on each page of their animal research book. Or the facts could serve as a focus for each paragraph in their writing.
• You might find that this would be a good mini-lesson to do with smaller groups of children.

Lesson 9: Creating a Table of Contents

• Another idea that can be a writing planner AND a page in their animal research book is the table of contents. Pull out one of the Table of Contents pages from the resources provided and model how to fill in the blanks on each page.
• This page will then serve as their Table of Contents (with a focus discussion on what that is and the purpose it serves) and also their writing planner so they know what they will put in the pages of their booklet.

Lesson 10: Creating a Glossary

• There are two pages provided in the resources that might help your students to learn to pull out topic specific words to put into a glossary for the end of their animal research book.
• Be sure to model how you would like for your students to use these organizers (keeping in mind that you may need to copy more than one page if there are more words than the page provides for).
• If your students need a refresher on ABC order check out these links for some added practice/review: ABC Order Task Cards & Fry Word ABC Order Task Cards

Lesson 11: Writing Your Animal Research

• You will decide on the best method for your students to showcase their published animal research.
• You may want your students to use their own creativity in the texts that they write and share. If you’d like a first experience to provide a bit more guidance, we have provided two different sets of pages for booklets.
• One is more guided and the other has less structure and smaller lines for more writing.  15 pages are provided so that you or students can pick what fits their needs.
• This “lesson” may actually become a series of lessons if you choose to model how each page can be used.  (We have also included a page with simple writing lines in case students need less guidance than the booklet pages provided.)

Lesson 12: Labeling Pictures

• One final lesson idea that pairs well with writing informational text is to teach your students how to label pictures.
• Since most nonfiction writing has real photographs, students can find some pictures online to print out and label for their booklet.  Hand-drawn pictures are also great if you would rather encourage some or all of your students in that direction.
• Whatever you choose, show your class how to effectively label a picture so that it teaches the reader more.  You can use the picture of the polar bear provided to model how to add words or even short facts as labels.  (For example if the simple label “fur” wouldn’t add additional information to the book, you might teach them to label it with a short fact such as “dense fur protects the animal’s skin from the weather”.
• To make this idea more user friendly, you might want them to use the page of blank white boxes provided to write their labels for their pictures.  Then all they need to do is cut them out and glue them to a printed picture.

Lesson 13: Writing Celebration

As always, find a way to celebrate your students’ writing.  

Invite guests (younger students or special adults) to read the books with your young authors. You might simply want to pair or group them, or some students might choose to present their book to everyone.  

Provide some light snacks if possible to give it a party atmosphere and pass out the author certificates to each child for his/her hard work.

You can download this free writing unit of study here:

Writing Download

As with all of our resources, The Curriculum Corner creates these for free classroom use. Our products may not be sold. You may print and copy for your personal classroom use. These are also great for home school families!

You may not modify and resell in any form. Please let us know if you have any questions.

Christine E.

Saturday 8th of May 2021

Thank you so much for this resource and the many pages that I can use in my homeschooling. It is exactly what I've been looking for to help me get my kids to write about our animal units! You are doing a great job, keep up the amazing work you do. I appreciate the hard work you put into putting these together.

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• ELEMENTARY TEACHING , INTEGRATED CURRICULUM ACTIVITIES

Animal Research Project for Kids at the Elementary Level in 2024

Whether you are doing a simple animal study or a fully integrated science, reading, and writing unit, this animal research project for kids includes everything you need. From the graphic organizer worksheets and guided note templates to the writing stationary, printable activities, projects, and rubrics.

Thousands of teachers have used this 5-star resource to have students complete self-guided animal research projects to learn about any animal they choose. The best part is, the resource can be used over and over again all year long by just picking a new animal! Learn all about this animal research project for kids at the elementary level below!

What is the Animal Research Project?

The animal research project is a resource that is packed with printable and digital activities and projects to choose from. It is perfect for elementary teachers doing a simple animal study or a month-long, fully integrated unit. It’s open-ended nature allows it to be used over and over again throughout the school year. In addition, it includes tons of differentiated materials so you can continue to use it even if you change grade levels. Learn about what’s included in it below!

What is Included in the Animal Research Project

The following resources are included in the animal research project :

Teacher’s Guide

The teacher’s guide includes tips and instructions to support you with your lesson planning and delivery.

Parent Letter

The parent communication letter promotes family involvement.

Graphic Organizers

There are graphic organizers for brainstorming a topic, activating schema, taking notes, and drafting writing.

Research Report

There are research report publishing printables including a cover, writing templates, and resource pages.

There is a grading rubric so expectations are clear for students and grading is quick and easy for you.

Research Activities

The research activities include a KWL chart, can have are chart, compare and contrast venn diagram, habitat map, vocabulary pages, illustration page, and life cycle charts.

Animal Flip Book Project

There are animal flip book project printables to give an additional choice of how students can demonstrate their understanding.

Animal Flap Book Project

There is an animal flap book project printables that offers students yet another way to demonstrate their learning.

Animal Research Poster

The animal research poster serves as an additional way to demonstrate student understanding.

Poetry Activities

The resource includes poetry activities to offer students an alternative way to demonstrate their learning.

Digital Versions

There is a digital version of the resource so your students can access this resource in school or at home.

Why Teachers love the Animal Research Project

Teachers love this animal research project because of the following reasons:

• This resource guides students through the research and writing process, so they can confidently work their way through this project.
• It is a great value because it can be used over and over again throughout the school year because the pages can be used to learn about any animal.
• It offers several ways students can demonstrate their learning.
• It includes a ton of resources, so you can pick and choose which ones work best for you and your students.
• It is printable and digital so it can be used for in-class and at-home learning.

This animal research packet is great because it can be used over and over again using absolutely any animal at all. The printables in this packet are ideal to use with your entire class in school, as an at-home learning extension project or as a purposeful, open-ended, independent choice for your students who often finish early and need an enrichment activity that is so much more than “busy work.”

The Research Report Process

This animal research project packet was designed in a manner that allows you to use all of the components when studying any animal. Because the printables can be used over and over, I will often work through the entire researching and writing process with the whole class focusing on one animal together, This allows me to model the procedure and provide them with support as they “get their feet wet” as researchers. Afterwards I then have them work through the process with an animal of choice. You may find it helpful to have them select from a specific category (i.e. ocean animals, rainforest animals, etc) as this will help to streamline the resources you’ll need to obtain.

Step 1: Brainstorm a list of animals to research. Select one animal.

During this stage you may want to provide the students with a collection of books and magazines to explore and help them narrow down their choice.

Step 2: Set a purpose and activate schema.

Students share why they selected the animal and tell what they already know about it. Next, they generate a list of things they are wondering about the animal. This will help to guide their research.

Step 3: Send home the family letter.

To save you time, involve families, and communicate what is happening in the classroom, you may want to send home a copy of the family letter. It’s so helpful when they send in additional research materials for the students.

Step 4: Research and take notes.

The two-column notes template is a research-based tool that helps the kids organize their notes. I added bulleted prompts to guide the students in finding specific information within each category. This method has proven to be highly effective with all students, but is especially useful with writers who need extra support.

I have included two versions of the organizers (with and without lines). I print a copy of the organizer for each student. I also copy the lined paper back to back so it is available to students who need more space.

Step 5: Write a draft.

Using the information gathered through the research process, the students next compose drafts. The draft papers were designed to guide the students through their writing by providing prompts in the form of questions. Answering these questions in complete sentences will result in strong paragraphs. It may be helpful to give them only one page at a time instead of a packet as it make the task more manageable.

Step 6: Edit the draft.

Editing can be done in many ways, but it is most effective when a qualified editor sits 1:1 with a student to provides effective feedback to them while editing.

Step 7: Publish.

Print several copies of the publishing pages. I like to have all my students start with the page that has a large space for an illustration, but then let them pick the pages they want to use in the order they prefer after that. I have them complete all the writing first and then add the illustrations.

Finally, have the children design a cover for the report. Add that to the front and add the resources citation page to the back. Use the criteria for success scoring rubric to assign a grade. The rubric was designed using a 20 point total so you can simply multiply their score by 5 to obtain a percentage grade. The end result is a beautiful product that showcases their new learning as well as documents their reading and writing skills.

In closing, we hope you found this animal research project for kids helpful! If you did, then you may also be interested in these posts:

• How to Teach Research Skills to Elementary Students
• 15 Animals in Winter Picture Books for Elementary Teachers
• How to Teach Informative Writing at the Elementary Level

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The Ultimate Life Science Unit for 2nd Grade

Stuck on how to link together all of your life science topics in a way that is engaging to students and is NOT simply talking at them? We spend about three to four weeks researching, taking notes and doing STEM activities on life science, and the kiddos absolutely love it.

Weeks 1-2 : How do habitats differ?

We begin by going over a list of habitats we have heard of, important vocabulary and with guided discovery of different habitat books. I love to check out as many books on habitats as I can from the library, and also to use Epic ‘s habitat collections to help my kiddos explore these books.

Once students are familiar with the habitats, we talk about what a non-living vs. living component would be. We then work in groups to sort out living things from similar habitats. We talk about what adaptations or traits that these living things have that makes it obvious that they are from these habitats. For example, how do we know the difference between rain forest and forest animals? Forest animals are darker to blend in, etc.

Finally, we start our big research. Students will get a packet (turned into a digital document at my school) to research 8 different habitats. We use the library books, Epic Collections (free) and videos on BrainPopJr (paid subscription) to help with our research. I let students work in groups during this time and am constantly walking around checking in with them. Typically, we do the first note catcher together to ensure that we address any misconceptions or important vocabulary.

Week 3: What structures and behaviors help organisms meet their needs within a specific environment?

After learning about all of the different habitats, we zoom in even closer and look at the life cycle of plants and animals in specific habitats. We talk about how animals grow and change, food chains and life cycles. My favorite resources to use are on Epic , PebbleGo (paid) and BrainPopJr .

Week 4: Why would some organisms have a hard time surviving in a given environment?

Finally, we start talking specifically about animals and their adaptations to survive in an environment. I have students pick one habitat and 3-4 animals from that habitat to research. We draw diagrams, talk about specific food chains, life cycles, prey, predators and other important animal facts. My favorite free website for this research is the National Geographic Kids Website .

Finally, we go through various scenarios and see if students can identify if an animal would survive in a habitat other than it’s own, and why the animal could survive or why it would not survive. There is a fun, free activity to help reinforce this skill on the PBS Kids Website .

STEM, Digital, Project, or Writing Extensions:

As an extension, students can make a digital book on MyStory (free) or Book Creator (paid) to share with other students about their animals. Not a digital school? No problem! We also love to make diagram projects of our habitats out of shoe boxes. This can be done at school or home.

Still not your jam? I allow students to build their habitats out of STEM materials in the classroom. Another great extension is to tie in our favorite writing project, What if You Had Animal Adaptations? Students research various animals and the adaptations they have to survive, then pick which ones they want to have! Kiddos absolutely love this project.

Get What You Need:

Second Grade Life Science Unit (includes everything pictured above, except for the extension activities)

What If You Had Animal Adaptations? Writing Project

Habitat Research Project

Emily - The Mountain Teacher

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Last updated by Linda Kamp on December 10, 2022 • 13 Comments

Hands-on Habitats Activities for Second Grade Scientists

When I first started teaching, habitats was a first grade focus. Now, as our science standards are shifting, habitats and the interdependence of ecosystems is a second grade unit and one my students enjoy. Read on for high-engagement teaching ideas and habitats activities for second grade. Not only are they hands-on and fun, but they are already planned for you!

Hands-On Habitats Activities for Second Grade

In second grade, students build on their understanding that plants and animals get what they need to survive from their habitats. They identify where plants and animals live on land and in water, and explore ecosystems within these habitats. Students compare the diversity of a variety of habitats, and focus on the interdependence of living things.

Here are a few of my favorite lessons, labs, and projects for teaching about habitats and ecosystems in second grade science.

Discover Micro-Habitats Around Your School

Scientists learn by observing and collecting data. You would probably be surprised by the number of micro-habitats that exist in your schoolyard. Micro-habitats are smaller environment like the ones found near a bush, in a grassy area, a school garden, or under a pile of rocks.

Source: Habitats 2nd Grade Science Activities

Take your class outside to discover the micro-habitats in their schoolyard. While outside, collect samples to observe. Students can collect data by counting and recording the number of living things they observe in the micro-habitats they find.

Design a Habitat on a Plate Diorama

In this variation on a diorama, students design a land or water habitat on a plate and include specific plants and animals that live there. Ask students to make a drawing for the back and show the diversity of the habitat by including more or fewer plants and animals in their scene.

Add a writing element by having students explain the type of habitat, its location and climate, and the reasons for its diversity or lack of.

Make Your Lessons Come Alive with Videos

There are some wonderful videos about all of Earth’s habitats on You Tube. These are some I like to use to give students a closer look at what they are learning. These videos also help students understand what an ecosystem is and show an example of a micro-habitat.

Life Under a Log   (8:42)

This short video is a good one for giving students a closer look at a micro-habitat.

Exploring for Tide Pool Creatures   (1:32)

Exploring for Tide Pool Creatures features a small ecosystem that is part of an ocean.

Get a FREE Clickable Video Guide with 30 classroom videos for teaching about habitats and ecosystems.

Make Models of  Water Plants & Adaptations

Just as animals adapt to their habitats, plants adapt as well. Gather materials for students to make simple plant models. Easy to find supplies like foam craft sheets, pipe cleaners, and yarn can be used to show how plants have adapted to live in water.

To do this, students start by drawing a diagram of their model and labeling the adaptations they wish to show.

For example, students can make models with extra long roots anchored beneath the water, long stems that extend above the waterline, and floating leaves as examples of water plant adaptations.

Once they are finished, students can test their models to see if they work as intended by placing them in a sink or bin of water. Students then compare their models with a classmate and identify common features. (NGSS SEP.2)

Demonstrate Animal Adaptations

As a fun demonstration, try making blubber while students learning about arctic habitats and the adaptations needed to survive. Steve Spangler has a fun blubber glove science experiment to demonstrate how animals stay warm in freezing arctic temperatures.

Make Student Science Journals

Keeping a journal give students a place to respond and write about what they are learning in science. Journals can be used for responding to lessons, collecting key vocabulary, drawing designs and diagrams, and planning investigations. They are a must have for all of your habitats activities.

Practice Reading Skills Using Science Content

During your reading block, give students comprehension and close reading practice while reinforcing science content. These leveled for 2nd grade science readers include close reading passages in both article and book format. The comprehension question pages target 8 key informational reading standards.

Source: Habitats Close Reading Passages & Leveled Readers Print + Digital 

Ideal for small groups, whole group close reading lessons, and classrooms short on science time.

CLICK HERE for the habitats activities, experiments, and PowerPoint lessons featured in this post. Click HERE for the digital version. Save on the Print + Digital Bundle . 

Click here for more second grade science units.

I hope you’ll try some of these habitats activities for second grade scientists. Be sure to bookmark or pin this post so you have it when you plan!

Find more science activities & teaching ideas in these posts:

Properties of Matter Activities for 2nd Grade  

Scientists, Tools & Safety Rules for Back to School

Plant Life Cycle Activities & Science Experiments

Butterfly Life Cycle Activities & Free Printables

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Reader Interactions

13 comments.

April 14 at 3:02 am

You are awesome! Thank you for sharing your materials and ideas with us “old” teachers.

August 18 at 4:14 am

When will your new units come out! Lol I’m Impatiently waiting ???

August 25 at 10:01 am

Oh boy! Like everyone else, I had to take a great big detour for distance learning. I’m hoping to have the next one out in October. Fingers crossed! Thanks so much for asking!

May 31 at 3:48 am

It is the end of the year but I can wait to teach my second graders these exciting activities!!!!!!

April 21 at 6:54 am

Love these Activities!

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I’m Linda Kamp, a 20 year primary grade teacher with a passion for creating educational materials that excite students and make learning fun! I'm so glad you're here!

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The Colorful Apple

Animal Research Projects

The students then put their information into a paragraph, each paragraph covering one topic.  We practiced this quite a bit together as a class.  We also discussed proper paragraph format, using an opening and closing sentence.

As students were researching, I noticed that they find quite a bit of information that didn’t quite fit into their 3 topics.  The students wanted to include these interesting facts, but weren’t sure where to put them.  So we created a “Fun Facts” page!

The students also created diagrams of their animal, labeling its parts.

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Animal Research Project

Ms. amato's class 2020-2021.

About this project...

Welcome to the 2nd grade animal research projects. the children worked very hard to bring you this information. in the process they learned a little bit about how to research using internet sources, how to write informative text, and how to organize a presentation. this was a true collaboration between a community of learners- both teachers and students. we hope you enjoy learning a little bit from these amazing children..

~Ms. Amato, Mrs. Massotto & the children of 2A

Voula Anastasopoulos

Ethan Garbo

Annika Ngotianco

Kaylee Blanco

Omar Halalo

Kaavya Patel

Morgan Cassidy

Antonio Ilardi

Jake Pijuan

Anthony DeSordi

Vienna Maffucci

Avery Salen

Bella DiGiacinto

Matteo Monaco

Samantha Sandomenico

Kenny Tzavlakis

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How I Use Research Tools with My Second Graders

It’s all about age-appropriateness.

PebbleGo is a curricular content hub specifically designed for K-3 students. Your students will love exploring PebbleGo time and time again. Get your free preview!

Research skills are super important, but when you teach second grade hybrid like I do, they can be quite a challenge to teach. It’s difficult to find age-appropriate digital research materials when doing a random search. Most of the available material is far above my students’ reading level and isn’t necessarily kid-friendly. Fortunately, I found a great resource. Check out how I made these animal reports happen using age-appropriate research tools with my second graders:

Setting the Stage

My students are obsessed with animals, so I decided to do in-class animal research projects using PebbleGo, a research tool specifically designed for K-3 students. For our first introduction, I displayed PebbleGo on my interactive whiteboard and modeled how to navigate through the program.

My demonstration included how to: go through each tab of information per topic, utilize the read-aloud audio, enlarge photographs, watch videos, listen to the corresponding animal sounds, and view the range map to see where animals are found in the wild.  Each animal page (except for common pets) has the following information tabs: body, habitat, food, life cycle, and fun facts.

After my mini-lesson, I gave the students 20 minutes to explore the entire animals’ section independently. Their enthusiasm was infectious! Each student had exciting animal facts to share with me every other second.

This student is learning about jellyfish on PebbleGo.

Working Together

The next day, I picked one animal to explore in-depth together. I chose the cardinal since we have seen some lately on campus and around the community. After going through each section together, each student found the cardinal page on their laptop.

All of the content has a read-aloud audio feature, which is especially helpful for my struggling readers . Additionally, all of the text and audio can be translated into Spanish. I have a new student who just arrived from Colombia and does not speak any English, so this has been a wonderful tool to assist her.

The students worked independently to complete the two activity sheets, which I also got from PebbleGo! I love how the “Share What You Know” sheet correlates with the five information tabs on each specific animal. Once my class was finished, we went over both sheets together through the document camera.

This student is researching and reporting on cardinals using PebbleGo.

Independent Practice

Now it was time for my students to do their own research and mini-reports. To shake things up, we had a drawing to determine what animal each student would research. Each student picked one slip out of a hat (after a round of handwashing, of course!), and things took off from there.

This student is filling in his Share What You Know fact sheet about lions.

Each student completed a hard copy of the two activity sheets correlating to his or her assigned animal. Next, I introduced the students to the Read More eBooks section connected to each animal, which caused another wave of excitement! There were tons of books corresponding to the animal project topics.

This student is researching the red panda and reporting her findings on her fact sheet.

Celebrating Success

Everyone shared their findings with the class in recognition of our success. The students were so proud of their reports, which of course had me kvelling.

These are work samples from two different students.

Two more student work samples from the PebbleGo animal report project.

The Takeaway

Our first research project using PebbleGo was a huge success. Even my students who I struggle with daily to complete assignments were highly motivated. This won’t be our last project. Next up: biographies and weather!

Want to try animal reports or another research project with your K-3 students?

Learn More About PebbleGo

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Sunday, April 28, 2013

Animal diorama-rama and a freebie.

14 comments:

Hi Samantha! I just got your comment on my blog! I want to email you the scientist for a day unit but not sure about your email address. I am so glad you left me a comment! I am your newest follower and absolutely love the animal report. Thanks for sharing that with your blogger friends! I am now your newest follower! Don't forget to send m your email address!

Hi Amy! Oops - can't believe I forgot that one. Just went back and left it in another comment! Thanks so much! :) Samantha

Love the diorama idea, I'm packing that away for next year. I'm your newest follower!

Thanks so much! I'm loving all these great ideas I'm seeing on everyone's blogs! So many creative teachers out there! :) Samantha

Hi Samantha! I am your newest follower, I found your blog through the Teaching Special Thinkers giveaway! I love your animal research pack. I teach third grade and we always used to do the dioramas for animal habitats. The past two years my big project has been soda bottle biography models instead. Your post made me miss the dioramas, but I love my famous people soda bottles too! :o) Great blog! Tara TeachingwithTWitte

Thanks so much for your comment! I will have to check out your soda bottle model! Sounds really cool! Thanks so much for stopping by!

Hi Samantha - I found your blog on the TPT thread. Such great ideas! I love the animal diorama idea. My second graders have done animal research posters for the last couple of years. I have wanted to change things up and I think this will be the perfect idea! I'm your newest follower. ~ Lisa

Thanks so much, Lisa! I hope you grabbed the Animal Research Report Poster freebie! My students are working on their projects at home, but I can't wait to see what they bring in! They are so excited about their animals!

I am so happy I found your blog through the Teaching Special Thinker giveaway we both joined! I get so excited when I find other California bloggers, especially ones in second grade. Your blog is adorable. Thanks for the wonderful freebie. I am happy to be your newest follower. -Jaime Bright Concepts 4 Teachers

Thanks so much! I hope you can use the freebie in your own class! My students are loving it!

Hey!! I found you throught the tpt forum and I am soooo glad! Your blog has so many great ideas-my head is spinning (in a good way)! We just finished animal groups and began non-fiction. I am going to use your animal research sheet! Thanks for sharing your freebies! I am your newest follower! Thanks, Melissa http://grellamonsterrs.blogspot.com/

Haha! I'm happy I could make your head spin! LOL! I hope your kiddos will have fun learning about their animals while filling out their research report page! My students are having a blast with this project. Thanks so much for stopping by! :)

Thanks for sharing. A great project!

Thank you for sharing this awesome project idea!

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5 Animal Research Websites for Students

• stayingcoolinthelibrary
• February 24, 2019
• Lesson Plans , Research

Ready to do some animal research? Finding trustworthy and appropriate animal websites for students to use can be a challenge. Below are my go-to websites that you can feel confident having your students go to. Most of these sites also have videos, games and other educational activities as well.

National Geographic for Kids

DK Find Out

San Diego Zoo Kids

These websites below do have some advertisements on them.

Animal Fact Guide

Ready to research and use these animal websites for students?

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animal research for 2nd grade

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Animal research for 2nd grade

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