Curriculum and Community-Based Learning Analysis
I envision this units beginning with a reading of The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. This story is powerful! A boy makes friends with a tree and continues to visit the tree throughout his life. The tree gives and the boy receives. The tree is happy, but the boy keeps asking for more and is quite unhappy. By utilizing a double bubble map (compare/contrast tool) a discussion can be had about what trees gives us and what we give trees. Possibly even more important, what we give each other: love and a place to live. The big question is what would life be like without trees? But the biggest question is, would there be life? If we give the trees love (helping them thrive and stay alive) they give us love (filtering the air we breathe). The bubble map can be displayed in the classroom and revisited before, after or during each lesson. A direct instruction lesson is necessary to teach the facts about trees. What else do trees provide us? Trees produce oxygen, clean the soil, control noise pollution, slow storm water runoff, absorbs and locks away carbon dioxide, cleans the air, provides shade, fight soil erosion and increases property value!
Next, the students will read the book The Wanigan: A Life on the River a fictional story about an eleven-year old from Michigan in 1878. This book can be used as a tool for learning about the history of logging. Students will gain a historical perspective of the how people valued trees, fulfilling the following GLCE: 3 – E1.0.3 Analyze how Michigan’s location and natural resources influenced its economic development (e.g., how waterways and other natural resources have influenced economic activities such as mining, lumbering, automobile manufacturing, and furniture making). The historical investigation gives a state-wide perspective.
After the students have gained a historical perspective they will investigate the perspective of their own community. This lesson is highlighted below: What a Dream. The lesson includes whole class, small group and independent work. Students begin to ask the question, how does my community depend on the natural environment? What is the problem? How do we know there is a problem? What is being done to conserve our natural environment and what can be done? The idea is that this conversation will lead to planting a classroom tree. The school community will be responsible for taking care of the planted tree. Mature trees on the school grounds’ will be recorded and observed.
Before the students can start the plan for their new tree or even observing what is around existing trees, they must understand how living things affect one another. Although trees are important they are not central to the system. A community must be strong in all areas to uphold the entire network. I adapted a lesson found on the Creative Change website to teach this concept of community. Web of Life is highlighted as another lesson in this unit.
At this point in the unit, students are becoming activists. They have an understanding of trees and their history in Michigan. The students will begin work on a culminating project to inform the public the importance of trees. As part of a writer’s workshop project students will investigate different types of text: expository and fiction. We would read sections of the Tree Planting and Tree Care Guide provided by the National Wildlife Federation.
We would research the dangers of the Emerald Ash Borer—first found in the U.S. in Detroit, Michigan, in 2002. It likely arrived via wood in cargo bays on ships from Russia, China, Japan or Korea. This non-native pest has been destroying ash canopies throughout the Midwest and Canada and continues to spread. This four minute video produced by the United States Department of Agriculture describes the Life Cycle of the Emerald Ash Borer and what to do to prevent the spread of the larva. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKmqnLoJZYA This video has a lot of facts about the Emerald Ash Borer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ASgjeVs8Kc
We would invite community members into our classroom to talk about what is being done in our area to prevent the devastation. Specifically members associated with the South Michigan’s Reclaimed Wood Marketplace. “Did you know that Southeast Michigan's dead urban trees could produce over seventy-three million board feet of lumber each year? Unfortunately, trees removed from our cities are usually fated for the chipper. Instead, by saving and recycling the best logs, our partners create a wide variety of remarkable green products.” This investigation would fulfill the following GLCEs: 3 – G5.0.2 Describe how people adapt to, use, and modify the natural resources of Michigan. 3 – G5.0.1 Locate natural resources in Michigan and explain the consequences of their use. 3 – P3.1.1 Identify public issues in Michigan that influence the daily lives of its citizens. 3 – P3.1.2 Use graphic data and other sources to analyze information about a public issue in Michigan and evaluate alternative resolutions.
With the students full blown activists who care about the health and vitality of their community, we/they will explore exactly how many trees are in the local area. The Planting Trees (Community Mapping) lesson highlighted below has the children make a map and model of the school and adjacent neighborhood. The students will be responsible for using the model to show the positive progress that can be obtained by planting trees. Students can use the models to show the before and after. The models will also be used to determine the appropriate areas for planting a tree. There is a section in the Tree Planting and Tree Care Guide that describes the best areas and conditions for planning trees. The students will create flyers to advertise their own dream community!
Planting a tree and caring for all trees is a yearlong commitment! I would use the calendar in the Tree Planting and Tree Care Guide as a reminder. Watering, inspections, pulling weeds and adding mulch are all responsibilities of planting a tree.
Other resources include Window by Jeannie Baker a wordless book that shows the view from a boy’s window. Slowly, trees begin to disappear. A writing mini-lesson on the importance of detail can be taught. How can your writing paint a picture? Whisper from the Woods by Victoria Wirth and Who Will Plant a Tree by Jerry Pallotta are both wonderful resources for studying seed dispersal.
The Lorax by Dr. Seuss helps children learn the importance of protecting our natural resources. “You're in charge of the last of the truffula seeds. And truffula trees are what everyone needs! Plant a new truffula. Treat it with care. Give it clean water, and feed it fresh air. Grow a forest. Protect it from axes that hack. Then the Lorax, and all of his friends may... come back...” Talk about the history of the book, it was banned across the country in the 1970’s because of the message of deforestation. Try to find similarities between this book and the book, Just a Dream by Chris Van Allsburg used in the highlighted lesson, Just a Dream.
Next, the students will read the book The Wanigan: A Life on the River a fictional story about an eleven-year old from Michigan in 1878. This book can be used as a tool for learning about the history of logging. Students will gain a historical perspective of the how people valued trees, fulfilling the following GLCE: 3 – E1.0.3 Analyze how Michigan’s location and natural resources influenced its economic development (e.g., how waterways and other natural resources have influenced economic activities such as mining, lumbering, automobile manufacturing, and furniture making). The historical investigation gives a state-wide perspective.
After the students have gained a historical perspective they will investigate the perspective of their own community. This lesson is highlighted below: What a Dream. The lesson includes whole class, small group and independent work. Students begin to ask the question, how does my community depend on the natural environment? What is the problem? How do we know there is a problem? What is being done to conserve our natural environment and what can be done? The idea is that this conversation will lead to planting a classroom tree. The school community will be responsible for taking care of the planted tree. Mature trees on the school grounds’ will be recorded and observed.
Before the students can start the plan for their new tree or even observing what is around existing trees, they must understand how living things affect one another. Although trees are important they are not central to the system. A community must be strong in all areas to uphold the entire network. I adapted a lesson found on the Creative Change website to teach this concept of community. Web of Life is highlighted as another lesson in this unit.
At this point in the unit, students are becoming activists. They have an understanding of trees and their history in Michigan. The students will begin work on a culminating project to inform the public the importance of trees. As part of a writer’s workshop project students will investigate different types of text: expository and fiction. We would read sections of the Tree Planting and Tree Care Guide provided by the National Wildlife Federation.
We would research the dangers of the Emerald Ash Borer—first found in the U.S. in Detroit, Michigan, in 2002. It likely arrived via wood in cargo bays on ships from Russia, China, Japan or Korea. This non-native pest has been destroying ash canopies throughout the Midwest and Canada and continues to spread. This four minute video produced by the United States Department of Agriculture describes the Life Cycle of the Emerald Ash Borer and what to do to prevent the spread of the larva. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKmqnLoJZYA This video has a lot of facts about the Emerald Ash Borer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ASgjeVs8Kc
We would invite community members into our classroom to talk about what is being done in our area to prevent the devastation. Specifically members associated with the South Michigan’s Reclaimed Wood Marketplace. “Did you know that Southeast Michigan's dead urban trees could produce over seventy-three million board feet of lumber each year? Unfortunately, trees removed from our cities are usually fated for the chipper. Instead, by saving and recycling the best logs, our partners create a wide variety of remarkable green products.” This investigation would fulfill the following GLCEs: 3 – G5.0.2 Describe how people adapt to, use, and modify the natural resources of Michigan. 3 – G5.0.1 Locate natural resources in Michigan and explain the consequences of their use. 3 – P3.1.1 Identify public issues in Michigan that influence the daily lives of its citizens. 3 – P3.1.2 Use graphic data and other sources to analyze information about a public issue in Michigan and evaluate alternative resolutions.
With the students full blown activists who care about the health and vitality of their community, we/they will explore exactly how many trees are in the local area. The Planting Trees (Community Mapping) lesson highlighted below has the children make a map and model of the school and adjacent neighborhood. The students will be responsible for using the model to show the positive progress that can be obtained by planting trees. Students can use the models to show the before and after. The models will also be used to determine the appropriate areas for planting a tree. There is a section in the Tree Planting and Tree Care Guide that describes the best areas and conditions for planning trees. The students will create flyers to advertise their own dream community!
Planting a tree and caring for all trees is a yearlong commitment! I would use the calendar in the Tree Planting and Tree Care Guide as a reminder. Watering, inspections, pulling weeds and adding mulch are all responsibilities of planting a tree.
Other resources include Window by Jeannie Baker a wordless book that shows the view from a boy’s window. Slowly, trees begin to disappear. A writing mini-lesson on the importance of detail can be taught. How can your writing paint a picture? Whisper from the Woods by Victoria Wirth and Who Will Plant a Tree by Jerry Pallotta are both wonderful resources for studying seed dispersal.
The Lorax by Dr. Seuss helps children learn the importance of protecting our natural resources. “You're in charge of the last of the truffula seeds. And truffula trees are what everyone needs! Plant a new truffula. Treat it with care. Give it clean water, and feed it fresh air. Grow a forest. Protect it from axes that hack. Then the Lorax, and all of his friends may... come back...” Talk about the history of the book, it was banned across the country in the 1970’s because of the message of deforestation. Try to find similarities between this book and the book, Just a Dream by Chris Van Allsburg used in the highlighted lesson, Just a Dream.