My students are enthusiastic, engaged learners who love to work and play in nature and wild spaces. They attend school in a small rural community. The students I work with range in age from 5 to 7 years old. As we are making a school wide shift to being a Sustainability Academy, my students enjoy opportunities to be agents of change and to take charge of their own learning.
They are developing a strong sense of place and a love for the natural world.
Each week they engage in outdoor learning opportunities that always involve discussions around a campfire at base camp, forest choice time and opportunities to deepen what they have been working on in science, math and literacy inside the classroom.
My Project
Students will be recording and classifying all living organisms found in the school yard and beyond. This will help my class to develop a strong sense of place and to begin to deeply answer the question "Who lives here?" Having the Audubon bird models with authentic calls will be an engaging way for students to work on identifying the birds that they see while doing field work.
Students will be working with experts, (biologists, fish and game personal, high school biology students, mapmakers, etc.
to create a field guide of the flora and fauna of their place.
Bird watching has shown to have many positive outcomes for students from developing a lifelong hobby to mindfulness skills, and scientific skills of observation and inquiry. Having these bird models with authentic calls will engage my students in this process.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Ms. Bonafine and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.