Friday, July 18, 2014

What Is Your Favorite Place in Nature? Global Share Invitation

My brother-in-law, David Gorrill, took this picture of one of my
favorite places, The Cape Cod National Seashore, Massachusetts, USA.
As a global community, it is important that we teach students about the natural environment. One inroad to that study is to pay attention to the places in nature that students enjoy--their favorite places in nature. With this in mind, I invite the global community to take part in this simple, introductory life science activity, an activity that will introduce students to each other, environmental study language and mindsets, and the awareness that we are part of a greater global community.

The project starts with an emphasis on students' favorite places in nature. At the start of the year, students will create models, illustrations, paintings, or photo collages of their favorite places in nature. Then they will write descriptions of those places and make a 30 seconds to one-minute video describing their special place and showing their model. The project will give students a chance to work together in a friendly way, practice using the life science unit vocabulary, and get to know each other through the share of their favorite places.

To give this a global dimension, I invite other classrooms to join our project.

To join, simply follow these steps:
  1. Engage students in the "Favorite Place in Nature" activity.
  2. Have students create models, write scripts, and create short films of their favorite places, then combine the films into one class film. 
  3. Send the YouTube link to your class film to me at maureenprattdevlin@gmail.com and I'll post the films on the Favorite Places in Nature website
This is a simple way to develop global connections for your classroom. Let me know if you have questions. I look forward to your share. 

Note:
Unit vocabulary and Massachusetts science standards are located on this page if interested.