Reprinted from Connect
Vol.23 No.1, September/October, 2009
Focus on: Developing a Sense of Place
Grade Level: 3-5
Grade Level: 6-8
Grade Level: K-2
Grade Level: K-8

Resource Reviews 9/2009

by Connect Staff

Nature's Playground by Fiona Danks and Jo Schofield, is a thrilling collection of activities, crafts, and games to encourage children to get outdoors. Leaf crowns, twig boats, kites, stone sculptures and more are described here. Although the images are of rural settings, many activities use found objects which any park or tree-lined street might also provide. This book contains instructions for making fire, crafting and using bows and arrows, and other riskier endeavors. Cautions are included for safety and conservation. Camps, retreats, home schools, and "regular" schools can take advantage of the skills and fun provided here.
Nature's Playground. Chicago Review Press. 2005. 192 pages. 800-888-4741. http:// www.ipgbook.com.

Questing: A Guide to Creating Community Treasure Hunts, by Delia Clark and Steven Glazer, is a thorough guide for setting up Quests with your class. Questing, like English Letterboxing, is creating and exchanging treasure hunts in order to collect and share your community's distinct natural and cultural heritage. Each Quest focuses on a community story, environment, or character. Many examples of successful Quests, in both rural and urban settings, are given. Step-by-step instructions walk readers through the process of creating a single Quest, and transitioning into an ongoing community program. As they explore the natural world, history, or culture, your class will engage in wonderfully relevant science, math, and technology activities, such as mapping, research of primary historical documents, and field identification, as well as meeting with local government or networking with community groups. (Steven Glazer has an article in this issue.)
Questing: A Guide to Creating Community Treasure Hunts. University Press of New England. 2004. 256 pages. 800-421-1561. http://www.upne.com.

Childhood and Nature: Design Principles for Educators, by David Sobel, is an excellent guide for creating careful and deliberate curriculum. This collection of articles and essays advocates for developmentally appropriate ways for children to connect with the natural world. Sobel and other authors provide examples of studies in and out of classrooms, largely in New England. The author outlines childhood core concepts, such as adventure, fantasy and imagination, animal allies, special places, hunting and gathering, and weaves them into relevant school studies, capitalizing on inherent interests to foster empathy and understanding of our environments and the relationships we have with them. This is both an inspirational and sobering invitation for teachers and schools to support children in the pursuit of childhood, much of which is compromised by our fast-paced and scheduled lives.
Childhood and Nature: Design Principles for Educators. Stenhouse Publishers. 2008. 168 pages. http://www.stenhouse.com.

Healthy Neighborhoods/Healthy Kids Guide, by Tiffany Tillman, is a concise guide to engaging youth in community planning and revitalization activities, complete with lesson plans, tools, planning guides, and resources. The guide grew out of a partnership program between Shelburne Farms, Smart Growth Vermont, and the Sustainable Schools Project. While based on specific examples in Burlington, Vermont, the guide is written in a way to make the ideas applicable to any setting. There are exemplary ideas on community involvement, service learning, and children's development. Managing students, materials, field trips, and parent community volunteers is also addressed. The structure and flow of the guide is very clear and will enable confident participation by older elementary and middle school teachers. This is a highly useful guide.
Healthy Neighborhoods/Healthy Kids Guide. Shelburne Farms' Sustainable Schools Project. 2007. 169 pages. 802-985-0333. http://www.shelburnefarms.org.

Informal Learning and Field Trips, by Leah M. Melber, examines all areas of K5 curricula, including math and science, and the potential for great learning that comes from student choice, intrinsic motivation, and active investigation. Many logistics are explored, including guidelines for visiting a site ahead of time, how to speak with administrators before and after the trip, coordinating volunteers and transportation, and dealing with gift shops! The book includes extending the learning off site into the classroom, developing a relationship with an institution, and bringing activities into the classroom when a trip is not possible. The guide also has considerations for children with special needs, and using technology to enhance the experience for all students.
Informal Learning and Field Trips. Corwin Press. 2008. 143 pages. $30.95. 800-233-9936. http://www.corwinpress.com.

Mathematics in Rural Appalachia: Place-Based Mathematics Lessons, edited by Theresa Hopkins and Vena long, is a collection of twenty place-based lesson plans gathered from a doctoral cohort at ACCLAIM, the Appalachian Collaborative Center for Learning, Assessment, and Instruction in Mathematics. This is a wonderful resource for choosing curriculum close to home as the basis for mathematics. Although the examples are specific, they can be adapted and applied in many rural communities.
Mathematics in Rural Appalachia: Place-Based Mathematics Lessons. Koinonia Associates. 2009.166 pages. $19.00. http://www.amazon.com

WEB SITES

The Cloud Institute for Sustainability Education has a goal of "inspiring young people to think about the world, their relationship to it, and their ability to influence it in an entirely new way." Based in New York City, the institute offers professional development and teaching resources throughout the nation. http://www.sustainabilityed.org/.

Geocaching is a game of hide and seek, using GPS devices to locate caches. This is played throughout the world by families, older and younger folks, and classes. The Web site has all the information you need to join (for free) and get started finding and leaving "treasures" for others. http://www.geocaching.com.

Promise of Place is a Web site of the Center for Place-Based Learning and Community Engagement, a unique partnership to advance place-based education by facilitating collaborative efforts in research, program design, technical assistance, resource development and dissemination. Links to many organizations, resources, and stories from the field are included here. http://www.promiseofplace.org.

©2009 Synergy Learning, Inc. All rights reserved.

Connect Staff - Synergy Learning has a small dedicated staff of educators with experience both in the classroom and staff development.
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