Build Your Own Zoo: An Inspiration Project to Introduce Presentations

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Inspiration is a software program that helps people organize their thoughts and make simple presentations. In this project, you'll introduce kids to the basic features of Inspiration and have them create a web map to present ideas for their own zoo.

Recommended Time: 

Two hours total, or can be staged in parts over several days

Goals: 
    • To teach kids about the importance of planning
    • To learn more about webbing and graphic organizers
    • To learn how to use Inspiration software
    • To build vocabulary and work on sentence writing skills.
Materials and Equipment: 
Oversized pad of paper, approximately 2' x 3' (preferable), or a blackboard
Computers
Inspiration Software
Preparation (Before You Begin): 

    • You and your kids should already have had experience using graphic organizers on paper, as described in Webbing.

    • Sometime during the day, before starting this project, read aloud from an age-appropriate picture book about real or imaginary animals. Because we're designing a zoo, If I Ran the Zoo by Dr. Seuss might be a good pick, if it's the right age for your kids and if you want to encourage their imagination rather than stick to real animals.

Activity Steps: 

Part 1: A Web Map on Paper

Step 1: Start by doing a pair-share activity to get the kids warmed up. During the pair/share exercise, have kids suggest things they see in a zoo.
Step 2: Start the paper web map by writing "My zoo" in the center of a sheet of the oversized pad or on the blackboard. Have your pair-share partner circle it. Now ask the class for something that would be in their zoo. Write it on the map, then have your partner circle it and draw the connecting line. Ask for another idea from the class and repeat the process. Since we're just modeling the process right now, repeat it until you have four or five animals. Be sure to leave plenty of room between them because you'll be writing tags around each name to form another level of the map.
Step 3: Have the kids work in pairs to create their own maps on the same theme for three to five minutes. Tell them to write things that would be in their zoo, but don't specifically say that they have to be animals. If someone asks, simply repeat the instruction.
Step 4: Call the class back to attention, and ask a different pair-share partner to come up front. Point to one of the animals on the map (e.g., a gorilla), and ask the class, "If you had a zoo with a gorilla, what would you feed it?" Take two or three suggestions, and add the words around the name in the usual webbing process. Do the same with one or two more animals; again, you're modeling, so you only need to do enough for the kids to get the idea. It's up to you whether you want to limit the kids to things that the animals actually eat or let their imaginations run.
Step 5: Have the kids work in pairs on their maps again to add the new level. Let them work for about five minutes.

Part 2: Pattern Writing (Optional)

A pattern for your web map-derived sentence could be: "If I had a zoo, I would have a _____ that eats ______." Do some pattern writing permutations using your map and words suggested from the children's individual maps.

Part 3: Introducing Inspiration

Using your web map as a template, introduce Inspiration software by modeling the basic tools using techniques from the guidelines for teaching about technology. Because you should only introduce a few tools at a time, you may want to cover this part in several steps over several days, particularly if this project is one of the first times that your kids have been exposed to the computer. If that is the case, you will have to cover and repeat preliminary skills, like opening and saving files.

Below are the tools and features you'll want to demonstrate in order to do this project, some of which you may have already covered in other applications or projects. Spend as much time as you like letting the kids discover additional tools. Refer to your software manuals and HELP for details on using these Inspiration tools.

Tool, Feature or Process Notes
Opening a file  
Saving and naming a file Inspiration files use the file extension ".ins".
Naming the main idea Have the kids use their own names, such as "Bob Smith's Zoo."
Simple text formatting At minimum, teach how to change the font, type size and text color. Let kids discover the rest on their own.
Creating, moving and deleting text boxes The text boxes are the "bubbles" in your web map, so have the kids call out the names to enter in those boxes, as you would with any mapping activity. Encourage the kids to make the map look like the map of a zoo and to think about where they want the different animals to be.
Linking text boxes These are analogous to the lines in your paper web map. Also show the kids how to change the format of the lines.
Creating secondary text boxes Although the process is largely the same, show them specifically how to create the food boxes that are linked to the animals rather than to the main idea.
Outlining, clip art, additional text formatting, additional drawing functions Demonstrate the tools as an additional step, let the kids discover them for themselves or add them in a follow-up project.

After you've demonstrated the tools for that day's lesson, have a pair of students demonstrate them again in front of the class. After the kids demonstration for each set of tools, have the kids work in pairs on their own maps. When finished, don't forget to do a group share so that the kids can share their zoos with each other.

Part 4: More Pattern Writing

Have the kids write on a separate sheet of paper several pattern sentences that catalog their zoos, such as:

In my zoo I have an elephant that eats peanuts.
In my zoo I have an elephant that eats bananas.
In my zoo I have an monkey that eats apples.

Or alter the pattern a bit to introduce more sophisticated concepts, such as:

In my zoo I have an elephant that eats peanuts and bananas and hay.
In my zoo I have an elephant named Dumbo that eats peanuts.
In my zoo I have a big elephant that eats peanuts.

Variations: 
    • Instruct the kids to add a text box for each of the animals, naming them or listing characteristics of each animal.
    • Follow this up with a paper activity to draw a lion or other animal.
    • Follow up with computer-based drawing or image-editing activities to capture pictures of different animals and import them into the kids' Inspiration zoo files.