Connecting Students with Nature
​By:  Kara Green 

Project at a Glance :

This project engages preschool students to the genre of memoir with the purpose of conservation. Our students are connecting and exploring how they can connect their own story to our nature-based environment and share it with others. (Early Childhood -  3-4 weeks)  
       
Driving Question:

How can we be helpful to nature in our area?            

Standards:

• Construct knowledge of life science through questioning and observation.
• Comprehend and respond to interactive read-alouds of literary and informational text.
• Communicate effectively in a variety of situations with different audiences, purposes, and formats.
• Use words acquired through conversations and shared reading experiences.

Culture Building:

• ​​Students were immersed in nature, similar to the main character Valenica from the book Galapagos Girl.

Entry Event:

• POSTCARD protocol - to introduce project.

Stakeholders:

•  Big Read / Little Read Committee 
•  Outdoor Discovery Schools (Seedlings, specifically) 
• Seedlings families

Empathy Building:

• Step into the shoes of Valencia (character from the book)
• Step into the shoes of the Galapagos Animals 
• Step into the shoes of Michigan’s wild animals?  
•  Empathy map for the author….then later into the project and Empathy map for the Naturalist. We can take these maps  to develop questions for interviewing our experts.
• Empathy Maps for my stakeholders

Inquiry / Need to Knows:

• While reading Galapagos Girl  the teacher will express I wonder questions and encourage students to do the same. 
•  During pretend play teacher will model playing the main character and exploring my home. Asking questions such as, “I wonder what Valencia would find if she was  lived here and went to Seedlings?” 
• Students will take a deep dive about conservation in the Galapagos Islands and wonder if  there are things we need to care about in nature here in Michigan.​​

Incubation:

• Artifact Analysis 
• Students will go on several exploratory hikes to observe nature at Centennial Park and Window on the Waterfront Park.​​​

• Gallery Walk​

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Solution Building:​​

• Idea Quota - students generated ideas and shared with them with their classmates.

• Saturate and Group

Authentic Audience:

• Big Read representatives
• Outdoor Discovery Schools 
• Seedlings families​​

Final Presentation:

• Students created posters, including drawings and transcribed words.

Click here for teacher's full plan.

​Reflection and Feedback:

Click here for the teacher's Journey through PBL on Padlet . . .

Meet the Educator:
Kara Green is a preschool teacher at Seedlings Discovery Preschool in Holland Michigan.

     "PBL allows for the construction, investment, and application of learning for students and their teachers. It's a root system for deeper learning."​