We have been studying color in art. Here were experimented with cool colors while doing some Inukshuk art! See Kid World Citizen for original lesson plan.
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The ProblemGlobal Citizenship is the theme of Alberta's Grade 3 Social Studies. While it specifically focuses in on Ukraine, Tunisia, India and Peru, the goal is for students to see themselves as part of a world community. However, students in grade 3, especially ones who have never traveled more than five hours from home by car, have little idea of other countries. How could I possible make it interesting and relevant? The IdeaRecently I found a blog I LOVE to follow - Tunstall's Teaching Tidbits. One of my favorite lessons I found from her was regarding a Classroom Pet... you can read about it here: Class Pet Writing Journal I also had a Pastor when I was a child who used to occasionally start her Children's Church messages with postcards from an imaginary lizard that traveled the world. Introducing Mr. Mahkesis!I bought this stuffed fox from Ikea, and felt it went well with my Woodland Animals semi-theme from my classroom. He is going to be named Mr. Mahkesis (Cree word for Fox), and he is going to travel the world for me! He has a lovely suitcase and "Pawsport" from Build-A-Bear so he is ready for his travels. He also has a Happy Birthday t-shirt from Build-A-Bear so the children can take a photograph with him on their birthday! The ProjectThroughout the year Mr. Mahkesis will send us postcards from different places. I have collected postcards from around the world thanks to my friends, family, and a hobby I have called "Postcrossing". After introducing Mr. Mahkesis (in the same style as Ms. Tunstall did!), I plan on reading Meerkat Mail. This is about a Meerkat who travels around the world and send postcards home about the places he visits. My students will be able to write him letters and postcards while he is travelling as well. We will post the postcards he sends us on our World Map. The Outcome?I will keep you posted on how the students respond to the idea. They are in grade 3, so writing to a stuffed animal might be a bit below them, but I think it will be a fun addition to our Social Studies!
I was so fortunate to have spent the last three days at the Outdoor Classroom Institute created and presented by the Evergreen charity. It was a free (thank you to Edmonton Community Foundation, the City of Edmonton Community Services, Edmonton Public Schools, Edmonton Catholic Schools, and the Council scolaire Centre-Nord for that!) which is always a bonus, but sometimes free conferences end up being a few days of self-promotion for whatever groups are putting it on. Not the case here, every session at this conference had something useful! Highlights of the ConferenceTouring Belgravia School GroundsBelgravia is a small, family oriented school near University of Alberta. In 1994 they started a school garden which has blossomed into one of the best Outdoor Learning Centers at a school in Edmonton, Alberta. Supported by parents, teachers, and of course the students themselves, the garden grows natural wildflowers, vegetables and many other plants. My dream would be to build a similar space at the school I currently work at. What an inspiring yet calming place to be for students and teachers alike! Outdoor Inquiry One of the major "Aha!" moments I had at this conference was how natural inquiry learning was when we were outside. The provocations were pre-provided by our Creator! We all know how shadows move throughout the day, but did you realize how quickly? Look at the photograph above.. the first chalk line was created at 2:00 pm, the second at 2:03 pm, and my photograph was taken at 2:04.... the shadow had already moved! Amazing! Even later on we were discussing "weeds" as a group and I learned that dandelions were invasive... about half the group thought it was common knowledge and the other half of us had our minds completely blown! One of the inquiry questions we had created after leanring that was, "What did Alberta's landscape look like 150-200 years ago?". What a great way to integrate social studies and science all at once! Journaling ActiviesI was introduced to Nature Journaling a couple of years ago when I attended Zoo School (a week long field trip to the Zoo) and later extended it at Green School (Same thing except to the Devonian Botanical Gardens outside our city). At the conference Antonella Bell provided us with more information regarding the practice and the benefits for our students. We also had time to practice a bit ourselves! Antonella emphasized the great things children will come up with (both in their writing and their sketching) when they are allowed to sit and experience nature. I myself have seen this, as I will discuss later on in my post on Green School. One of the things Antonella encouraged us to do was to stay in one place during each journaling session. With my self-diagnosed (thank you WebMD ;-) ) ADHD, this isn't always easy. However, I began to notice so much more about the world around me! I began to observe everything at a much deep level than I had before... and discovered so much life! Outdoor ArtAnyone who knows me also knows that art is just not my thing. I appreciate it, I love it, but I cannot seem to DO it. My students would regularly fix my whiteboard drawings so that I would be embarrassed if another teacher walked in my room (which means yes, my elementary students kick my butt in artistic ability!). As a result I wasn't really looking forward to the art session of the conference. I figured it would be all sketching and maybe some watercolors... blech. The first activity we did was flower-pounding. I wish I had a photograph to share with you... but I was too busy pounding the bejeebus out of my plants. It was fantastic. It was amazing. It was completely shocking to find out how much color you could get out of a leaf or piece of grass! Don't we all have students who would love to play around with hammers? Don't we all want to hit something just once in awhile? We also tried out some land art. Ever heard of the artist Andy Goldsworthy? He is one of my favourites, so this activity was right up my alley. Plus it could be done from Pre-K (arranging stones, weaving grass through fence) to high school. Every part of this conference was amazing... as always, I wish I took more photos but alas, I don't always think of those things until later!
If you have any opportunity to participate in an Evergreen Outdoor Classroom Institute take the chance! |