Classroom and Sit-Spot Activities
This unit is planned for the fall of 2023. It could technically be any time of the year but the fall in Pittsburgh seems to be a great combination of hospitable weather along with noticeable and spectacularly colorful changes in our natural environment.
The planned time frame is 10 to 14 classes over a six to eight-week span. The unit should take up the better part of our first nine week grading period.
Phase One: Student Introduction to Journaling
After my yearly review of routines, which usually takes one or two class periods, I would like to introduce my fourth and fifth grade classes to the concept of nature journaling. I will have examples of my own journals and I will also be regularly referencing concepts and techniques from How to Teach Nature Journaling by John Laws and Emilie Lygren. If everything goes as planned, we should be outside and in the garden on the third or fourth time that every group comes to art class.
It is important (and I say this to myself as much as anyone else) to ask the students what they feel should be included in the journal. Although I will guide them into the general vicinity of the outcomes I desire, it’s very useful to get and respond to their thoughts and ideas. I mean, kids have good ideas and will always feel more involved and connected if they’re part of the planning process.14 With many of my projects, we have, on countless occasions, ended up leaning more towards an aesthetic that more closely aligns with the curiosities of the students than my original aesthetic. As long as the students are engaged and my general concept and learning goals stay intact, does it really matter whether or not we are rigidly married to the original specifications? The plan is to keep on driving but let the students help choose which paths we take to get to our goal. I give the frame and parameters but it is always more meaningful when the learner decides what exactly to put into that frame.
The only required part at this level is that the students ascribe to a somewhat standardized form of documentation. Consistent documentation and labeling supports making it easy to reference ideas and thoughts. The routine would consist of always dating journal entries, adding any pertinent numerical details such as size or proportion, drawing their observation, and following the daily writing prompt.15 Documenting the date of a drawing has always been part of my regular classroom routine but I appreciate the addition of using actual measurable data to the process.16 Honestly, the addition of measurement will help support my later lessons on perspective and depth. Once again, cross-curricular learning is the secret underlying glue.
Depending on the class choices and how our introductory discussions go, prompts and activities might include:
- writing about an object without naming it
- How can you describe an object, plant, or animal without using the specific known word? A simple example might be: I saw this furry creature with longer ears hopping around in the corner of the garden. It was cute but I might not want to get too close.
- executing a detailed drawing of an object that they can see from their spot.
- These would preferably be objects that the students can observe up close, like a leaf or a twig, etc…
- It should always be something that the student can observe at that moment. We are drawing what we see, not what we think we see and not what we remember.
- writing a poem about the object
- How can you describe the object in deeper way?
- How could you personify the object or animal?
- If that leaf could communicate, what would it be thinking? How does that rabbit or mouse feel about us humans being in their space?
- measuring the object and/or comparing it to other objects. Using scale, proportion, and quantity to describe the object or animal.17
- How tall are the trees?
- How big is that flower?
- How does the size of the tree compare to the size of the flower?
- How many trees are there in relation to how many flowers?
- How can we describe the object or animal with numerical data?
- discussing, on paper, how we feel as individuals in this environment
- What is your mood?
- Does your mood change when you are outside?
- Does nature calm you? Does it make you anxious? Or maybe, do you feel indifferent? If so, can you please explain why?
- How does what we observe change? How does it stay the same?
- Are leaves the same color as last time we observed them?
- Did the sunflowers grow more?
- Are the sunflowers dying?
- What processes do you observe?
- Some writing prompts might include:
- What if this was the last time or the first time you saw this? Rachel Carson asks a similar question. How does that make you feel? How would you explain what you’re seeing?
- What if you didn’t have the actual word to describe the object or concept but instead had to explain it only using its attributions like color, shape, line, texture, etc…?
As stated previously, every journal entry should include some element of drawing, writing, and numerical data.
Phase Two: The Journal
Every student will get their own sketch book or journal (depending on what I am able to acquire through the district). The first day will consist of labeling and personalizing this journal. We will also be discussing the three components that we will be including in our nature journaling (drawing, writing, and numerical data). Since this is a cross-curricular unit, I want to emphasize the equity of writing and drawing along with constant documentation and data. This is as much a humble reminder to myself as it will be for the students. As stated above, the aim is to have every journal entry include detailed drawing, descriptive writing, and measurable numerical data.
Each class will consist of a visit to the school’s garden. I anticipate this being a longer process at the beginning until the students get into the routine. It will possibly take up the entire class period at the beginning. However, I also realize that it could very well end up being a longer process once the students become engaged in the drawing and writing. This would be a good problem to have! Since I’ve never done a formal lesson or unit around using our outdoor spaces, this will be a learning process for me as well as my students.
Every visit to the garden will begin with some form of reflection to center the students before beginning the actual process. This is where I would like to employ a briefer version of Young’s ‘Sit Spot’ at the beginning of every garden experience. This would be three to five minutes of silent reflection with no drawing or writing until I give the prompt. The silence will give everyone involved a chance to listen and observe and/or just have a moment of quiet reflection. When I have used silent reflection in the past, I have a strict rule of no talking or moving unless it is an emergency situation. I find that giving these strict boundaries, especially at the beginning, helps the students work on and improve their self-reflection and concentration skills. I will also be modeling the same desired behavior as I circulate through the group.
Upon completion of our moment of reflection, we would start into the chosen daily prompt and exercises. These will most definitely vary slightly depending on the choices of each individual class during our introductory and planning discussions.
Phase Three: Reflection
If a student has a well-documented account to look back upon, it’s easier to visually show growth with their writing and visual artwork. We can use this in much the same way an artist would look back through their portfolio to show growth or a musician can listen back through recordings of their past performances, and also how an author or poet would look back on their notes and writing sketches.
Both the process and the product of journal creation complements my continued emphasis on planning and revision that starts with my youngest students. Art takes time. Writing takes time. Habits take time. Refinement takes time. Reflection takes time. The goal is for every student to have a sequential set of entries to look back upon.
If time allows, I would like for the students to have the opportunity to present their journals and the journey they took creating them. At our school, these presentations usually take place during our morning meeting for the entire school to observe and enjoy. The goal would be for students to discuss the process, what they learned, what they liked or did not like, and how they might be able to use these skills in other classes and other areas of life. I do not plan on having every student present their journey but I would like to have at least a couple representatives from each fourth and fifth grade class be able to talk and share their work with all of our students.
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