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Absorb
Students take their drawings and tree branches home. They investigate National Geographic Young Explorer and 21st Century artist and illustrator Nirupa Rao’s illustration portfolio and view a video of her talking about her work and drawing techniques before creating an accurate and measured detailed drawing of their tree.
Research
Back in the classroom we identify high-frequency vocabulary related to trees and forests, focusing on deconstructing words, forming relationships, and looking for patterns in key scientific words. We look at prefixes, roots, compound nouns, pronunciation, and definitions. We look at the individual words as I pronounce them.
Then we read a National Geographic article. We move off island and into the global world of forests. We look at general characteristics and place. We reinforce the reading by looking at the images of the forests mentioned in the reading, and then, in randomized order, I show the regions depicted in the reading on the board. Students are tasked with quickly scanning the reading to first find the region before then pointing to the type of forest associated with it, another form of intense visual accuracy.
Use the language
Talk, talk, talk. Process and use the language, reinforcing and correcting vocabulary. Never forgetting the importance of play- some hangman to work with vocabulary and pronunciation, yoga for a kinaesthetic understanding, stories about cutting down a tree and transforming it into my kitchen table when I was a Peace Corps Volunteer, connections in any form- the more the better.
Transform and extend the language
This exploration of trees in an ecological sense naturally led to investigating the historical aspects of our local environment, “So why does Malta have only one forest?”
Language in action
By the end of their study of trees, my students had familiarized themselves with not only their adopted tree, but also with five of the major forest types of the world. They were able to express their ideas about drawing in the wild, incorporating vocabulary they had studied in the classroom, and make reasonable guesses about the history of not only their trees but of other trees in our local environment, as well. Students were able to identify their trees, researching and presenting and labeling specific information about scientific classification, distribution, and unusual characteristics of their trees.
This series of lessons emphasized language in action. Students were engaged with authentic reading materials, listening to each other and to the supporting material which had been presented in the form of video, they were asking questions, and using the language they had acquired in both spoken and written form in new and creative ways. As a teacher, this integration of skills is exciting to witness, but even more rewarding is to see students collaborating with each other, supporting and offering solutions to problems offered by real-world, experiential learning. These skills will help ease the transition to middle school, which is my foremost concern, but then hopefully remain with them for the rest of their lives.
Adapt the structure for your classes, individual students, and children. Explore and play.
See you out there!