The Desert

Creating a bulletin board was the culminating activity for our unit on the American Southwestern Desert in third grade. Students wrote descriptive paragraphs about the desert after listening to fiction and non-fiction books. Poetry (or authors like Byrd Baylor) was especially helpful with descriptive language.

Many of my students thought that the desert was dry and lifeless. I decided to assign them to work in cooperative groups and write a collaborative research paper about desert life. Each group was chosen carefully so at least one strong reader and strong writer was in each group, and every group was assigned a particular living thing (Saguaro Cactus, Coyote, Kangaroo Rat, Great Horned Owl, Scorpion, Western Diamondback). After writing, the students illustrated all forms of desert life and landscape to be placed on the bulletin board.

Suggested Book List:

• Cactus Hotel (Brenda Z. Guiberson)
• Creatures of the Desert World (National Geographic Society)
• Desert Giant: The World of the Saguaro Cactus (Barbara Bash)
• Deserts (Gail Gibbons)
• Desert Voices (Byrd Baylor)
• The Desert is Theirs (Byrd Baylor)