Students in Mrs. Tortorici and Ms. Lovett’s first grade class at Northwest Elementary School in Amityville recently conducted research on arctic animals.
As part of the MyView Savvas curriculum, students studied polar bears, arctic foxes, penguins, snowy owls and caribou. Through their research, students created nonfiction writing pieces. First graders also took part in the week six project-based inquiry activity. The students used their nonfiction writing pieces to create persuasive zookeeper letters. The students’ objective was to persuade the zoo to include some of their arctic animals in the animal exhibits at the zoo. Mrs. Tortorici and Ms. Lovett sent the letters to Zookeeper Brent Atkinson at the Bronx Zoo.
Much to the students’ surprise, Mr. Atkinson took the time to respond to each of the students personally. Mr. Atkinson created a video for the students praising their hard work and wonderful writing. He also sent each child a thank-you card, a picture of the animal each student wrote about, as well as a small figure of the arctic animal, which was packaged in a personalized gift box. The students were so excited to receive surprise mail and they were thrilled to see the small gifts.
Through this activity, students learned a life lesson: when one works hard, their diligence and efforts are noticed and rewarded.
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Date Added: 3/13/2023