This is what we teach in our primary school everyday, and every class (3-12)
participates in at least one large project in our district - although we
call it "place based", which is teaching students about where they're from.
It is definately one of my passions! You can read about our school @
http://www.ruraledu.org/praitxt2a.html - our school is about 1/2 way down
"Flint Hills" and begins with our science teacher John Donner. Anyways, for
a hands on activity put students into small groups and give them a sheet of
paper. Have them put a river on the bottom 3" of their paper. They can then
develop their land any way they want. They can have mountains, rivers,
buildings, theme parks, lakes, etc etc. Then you place them altogether. Make
1 or 2 with big ugly dumps or factories. The river ties them altogether. Now
you must put roads in, decide who has to be next to the dump or factory, and
discuss how you have to work together to exist in harmony and does each
section really have the right to do whatever they want with their land.
Another fun one is to put students in groups and assign one person from each
group to create a beak, one a body, one wings, one feet, etc. Naturally each
person will make all of their "parts" work together. Then scramble them up
and have them put their bird parts together. Discuss habitats and have each
new group decide what habitat their bird would live in - food, geographical
area, nesting habits...
I have alot of insect lessons on my site, which was our school theme last
year. The year before was wildflowers, so at the bottom of my elementary
lessons chart there is a link to our wildflower quilt and from there our
coloring books. E-mail me with specifics and I'll see if I can help. :-)
K-12 Art Teacher
> Hi everyone-- I have been a member for a few months now but have
> never had anything to post. Here's the story...
> I am doing an internship at a place that teaches water conservation,
> wildlife stewardship, environmental responsibility, etc. (I am
> starting a graduate program this summer to get my certification in
> Visual Arts, so I am a little out of my comfort zone with all the
> science-based learning here at my internship). We are trying to come
> up with some activities to provide for ages 3-12 here at our
> festivals (Earth Day, Sturgeon Festival) and I would like to have
> some arts-and-crafts activities. Any ideas about anything that might
> (a) be relevant to our nature-oriented approach and (b) be plain old
> good crafts that produce fun results?
> Any ideas would be appreciated. From what I have read of the
> messages this group posts you are a very knowledgeable and creative
> group with lots of great ideas and resources.