lars and the bat house

 LARS FINISHED HIS PAPER!!  no, it is not perfect and i have no idea what is supposed to be "on par" with grade level, but wow....so excited to show off how much he has improved!  over the course of two weeks  we discussed theme mapping techniques (to organize his thoughts), sentence length, appropriate phrases, grammar, possessive vs. plural nouns, leading phrases, writing to inform, sentence structure, paragraph structure.... and then he learned how to use the word tabs and tools such as formatting, thesaurus, headers, footers, titles, and proper theme formats.  wow.  he went from 85 words in his first draft to 350 words in his final draft.  keeping his self esteem intact, we have not addressed second/third person writing yet, nor have i taught him proper source documentation.  that will come with time.  but i wanted to show this off because he has come such a long way in the past few weeks.  These are copied and pasted; no corrections made from his drafts.

 

1st DRAFT

     "Building a bat house can help both bats and humans by three ways, the first being human health, the next is saving money, and the last one is bat protection.  These three ways are all needed to keep the bats their and the mosquitoes away.

     Human health is seen when you can tell that there are less Mosquitos.  Mosquitoes just happen to spread west Nile virus, meaning they have a possibly deadly disease but less mosquito's means less west NV.

     Saving money is the simplest of all the three things that are stated in these paragraphs.  Since bats eat lots of mosquitoes, that mean that you don't need to waste your money on repellant bug spray and other bug killing sprays.  Then the outdoors will be ours once again.

     The bats protection will be the most important seeing as the bats can still die from other predators.  Also they will leave if the home you made is not warm.  Since the bats have a fungal infection they are at risk of dying so that's another reason to make the house toasty warn.

     The conclusion is that over all building a bat house is a good idea!  Because of these three ways bats stay to devourer the insects making humans healthier and using less money."

 

 

FINAL DRAFT

    How many mosquitoes do you think bats eat in one night? The facts say bats eat around 1500 mosquitoes every night. Building a bat house can help both bats and humans in three ways. The first way bats help is that bats eat hundreds of mosquitoes every nigh making us less likely to be bitten by mosquitoes. Bats replace all of the expensive bug repellents.The bat houses provide protection for the bats so they don’t get hurt. Bat houses are able to help 10 different species of bats in Maryland. 

    Human health is improved when you can tell that there are fewer Mosquitos. Mosquitoes spread the disease West Nile virus. They spread the West Nile Virus by biting infected birds. Then the mosquitoes they are the transmitters to the humans and other animals. So the bats are eating the mosquitoes, making the outdoors safer.

    Saving money is the simple thing that is the bats help us with. Since the bats eat about 1500 mosquitoes every night, you don’t need to waste your money on repellent bug spray, citronella plants, candles, or tiki torches. In addition, you won’t need to pay as many doctor fees for the West Nile virus. Then the outdoors will be ours once again.

    The bats’ protection is important for many reasons. The first reason is to keep the bat house away from predators on the ground. The next reason is that big brown bats are vulnerable to extinction because they are waking up during the winter and spring due to a fungal infection. The bats wake up and starve because the bugs have not come out yet. Painting the bat house dark colors will help make the house warm so the bats keep hibernating until the bugs come out. 

    Overall, building a bat house is a good idea! Because of these three ways the bats stay to devourer the insects making humans healthier and using less money. By building a bat house it won’t only affect you it will affect the community as well. Helping everyone in the community stay healthier, save money, and preserve the bats so they can live on.

 

 

 

lars drew the bat design on card stock, cut it with a swivel knife, and stenciled the outside of his bat house with exterior spray paint. it needs to dry..... and then we place the shingles.... the support frame is ready for it to hang one I get a spotter!