51 Wacky We-Search Reports: Face the Facts With Fun

This book is full of fun ideas of projects for kids! I immediately put one into practice, and had my 6th graders write a diary from the point of view of a water molecule. I was able to assess their understanding of the water cycle, and they enjoyed it so much! Even my struggling students loved the project. Love it!

Great resource for split classroom teachers. This book is full of creative lesson / project ideas.

I adore this Barry Lane book! I not only teach but I also do the Writing Across the Curriculum trainings for teachers in my school district. At my trainings, I meet plenty of teachers who are intimidated by the notion of requiring their students to do more writing assignments, but this book always eliminates that intimidation. Barry presents 51 creative techniques for reporting on learned facts in both easy and challenging ways. After we try some of the techniques in my teacher trainings, I tell the teachers that this book is the best "For Under $15" they can buy, and they all believe me; they've had so much fun creating original Wacky Report Cards and Wacky Wanted Posters that it's hard not to. As a teacher, I personally love the "We" in the title: "We-Search." I use Barry's 51 techniques as group research and group writing projects. I know that 1/3 of my students are interpersonal learners, which means they need to talk to each other as they learn, and this book provides 51 clever formats that get students to plan together a "report" that becomes so much better when multiple voices contribute. Barry's ideas work perfectly as group projects, and the students love working together to build them. Lastly, if you have a large number of students whose idea of report writing is to copy entire sentences from books or notes and turn it in as their own work, you need to start using this book. Here's my formula: Teach a concept. Have students work together to report on one of the concept's big ideas into a "Wacky We-Search Report" from the book. Hang the "reports" up and put the students' notes and books away. Ask students to--without looking at what they have just put away--to write a paragraph or a report about the topics now hanging on the walls, and you will be amazed at their ability to put another's ideas into their own words. I adore this book!

I really liked this book. There are tons of great ideas to use when you are looking for a "fun" way to do research. I teach 5th graders and some of it may be over their heads, but I am sure I will find ways to use some of them in my classroom.

Enhanced with Miles Bodimeade's black and white illustrations, Barry Lane's 51 Wacky We-Search Reports is a whimsical ourcebook written especially for young people and offering ideas to create humorous parodies of factual reports for fun and devising entertaining performances. Beginning with ten tested techniques for getting laughs, such as applying exaggeration, irony, proper setup and punch, double meanings and more, and then continuing with 51 great ideas ranging from making parody performances; to loopy styles of poetry; to wacky art on cards or websites; and more, 51 Wacky We-Search Reports is an excellent source for stimulating creativity, speaking skills, performance techniques, and just plain fun.