Day Three: Observation, Inquiry and Art Making
Essential Question: How can careful observation of the natural world lead to inquiry-based learning and art-making ?
SESSION OBJECTIVES:
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Use the 5 senses to observe and respond to the natural landscape.
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Learn strategies to extend visual observations and inquiry.
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Experience the parallel processes of inquiry-based learning in literature, visual arts and science.
Building Community
Back to Back Storytelling
To highlight the importance of listening fully, participants stood back to back with a partner then told a story of an amazing experience they had in or with nature. Partners take turns retelling the story.
Framing the Room
Participants use paper viewfinders to view the room from a variety of different perspectives.
From Entering Text to Performance
Vocabulary Gestures. Participants demonstrated their understanding of vocabulary words from the text by acting them out in a group setting.
Nutty Professor
Using a strategy to practice fluency, participants read and reread closely the chapter of the book called "Observations."
Choral Reading
Participants worked in groups to bring the chapter to life in a choral reading. They applied their criteria for excellence to revise their performance and then shared for the group.
Observational Drawing from Nature
Cynthia showcased drawings inspired by patterns in nature and Leondardo DaVinci's notebooks. Participants practiced blind contour drawings to warm up to the idea of drawing from observations in nature.
en plein air
Collaborative Art Installation
From Drawing to Writing. Participants hang their work together to create a collaborative display. Participants delve deeply into the text to "draw" meaning.
Observation Poetry
Modeled on the chapter from The Wild Robot, participants generated observation writing from looking at their own nature drawings. They turned these observations into their own poems, which they then combined into group poems and applied the choral reading strategy to share their work. Watch the whole process!
Show and Share
Deborah Smith, Sebastian Elementary School 5th grade ELA teacher, shared the work she has been doing in the classroom to ensure students obtain 21st century skills using Flipgrid, Quizlet, Buncee and Skype to connect with other students through the Global Reading Aloud Project.
Luanne Lewis, Rosewood Magnet School kindergarten teacher, shared how she uses technology with younger children. Some favorite apps include Chatterpix, and Seesaw, which allows her to create an online class journal.
Reflection and Transfer Time
Pictures from Day 3
