My Research Proposal

This was all very exciting but overwhelming at the same time when beginning this project. I first started off by searching various museums and places that contain educational value for any grade level. I started by planning out what places I could go to which was about 12 then I narrowed it down to 7 due to having my 2 babies with me and a sick hubby. Might be a little difficult but definitely doable. The planning of our trip actually started when my husband mentioned to me that he has a doctor’s appointment in Houston. From there, I decided I could do some site seeing in Houston and then move it to San Antonio for some more. I made hotel reservations earlier to save money as well as it being one thing that I can check off.

I decided for my topic to be on animals. Now when I say this, it doesn’t pertain to one type living or nonliving. I want to see what’s out there physically, old or new. All children love animals because they are into the nonfiction type of books and are wanting to know more and more about these wonderful creatures. I think it be great to explore, write down my experiences, share through the wonderful photos I will be taking, as well as any souvenirs. This would be great to share with my students to not show them just through an authors view and illustrations, whom they don’t even know, but from mine, their teacher.

My goal is also to make a wonderful scrapbook of my adventures, which will include heaps of information along with wonderful pictures. I feel that this is a lot more personal and meaningful as opposed to a blog. Don’t get me wrong, I love the blog idea. I just feel like writing my own personal experiences, sharing my pictures, and decorating it with wonderful scrapbook paper and stickers will make it a lot more special. I also will love how I can have it in my classroom to show students and staff of my wonderful journey around Texas.

I hopefully plan to speak with anyone who is knowledgeable in the area I will be visiting. We sometimes think we know everything there is to know but each day we are pealing wonderful information and facts. Tomorrow I plan to make my first visit, which will be to the Sea Turtle Inc. at around 6:30 am. to watch the hatchling of the turtles. What a great experience!

I really hope to use all of my visits as lessons in my classroom. A great project would be to have the students pick one animal that I encountered and we make a chart by comparing it to other animals. Examples are it’s habitat, food, and behavior. This is definitely something that will be a total hit in any classroom.

I already have a complete list of the locations I will be visiting, which follows:

1.     Sea Turtle Inc.- South Padre Island, TX

2.     Laguna Atascosa Wildlife Refuge- Los Fresnos, TX

3.     Gladys Porter Zoo- Brownsville, TX

4.     Holocaust Museum- Houston, TX

5.     San Antonio Central Public Library- San Antonio, TX

6.     The Buckhorn Saloon and Museum- San Antonio, TX

7.     University of Texas at San Antonio- San Antonio, TX