be scientists that are headed across the world in search of data regarding the top speeds of animals. to begin i place them into groups of two and three. they then move to their group to play pretend. i ask them to play a game of pretend, where they are scientists out to study the speed of animals. they will be collecting data as if they were true scientists in order to report to others the tops speeds at which some animals have been found to run. although, pretend might sound silly, they do enjoy the change of pace the lesson sounds like it will bring and my classroom is 