We also continued working through this Poet Prints Teaching biodiversity unit. Students engaged in the following activities:

1. They completed their "Biodiversity All Around Me" minibooks by drawing local herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores. 

2. We read the "Life Needs Energy" passage and did the response activity. 

3. Students drew snapshots of biodiversity in Richmond including at least four plants and four animals. I really like this activity because it's super simple (all you need is blank paper) and accessible for everyone including students who are ELL or who struggle with writing. 

4. I had the students brainstorm local animals then vote on an animal they'd like to do a class project about. Owls were the winning animal! The student who suggested owls was so proud! I kicked off the project with this Mystery Doug lesson: Why do owls say hoo? (Our school has a free trial of Mystery Doug this year!) I also had students brainstorm questions about owls. Then, students created a flipbook all about owls using the template from the unit linked above. The unit includes two versions of the template. I had most of my students complete the more advanced template, while four students worked on a simplified version. This was an easy way to differentiate. We read books about owls from Epic as research, and also read Owls Overhead from Reading A-Z which is about owl adaptations. We ended off with this owl art project. My students really enjoyed this inquiry and they were so proud of their work!

5. Finally, we did the summative assessment from the unit linked above. 

I introduced the Principle Learning involves recognizing that some knowledge is sacred and only shared with permission and/or in certain situations by exploring the meaning of the word "sacred" with the students. We read the book You Are Sacred by Sarah-Anne Tourond, which is part of a series about the Anishinaabe medicine wheel. Students created their own medicine wheels to show how they keep themselves healthy physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. I gave them a circle divided into four parts and they drew pictures and recorded words in each section. We watched this Teepee Time episode, too! 

For the Principle Learning is holistic, reflexive, reflective, experiential, and relational (focused on connectedness, on reciprocal relationships, and a sense of place), I chose to focus on the reciprocal relationships aspect. I shared the book A Morning With Grandpa with the students, which is about a little girl who teaches her grandfather yoga, while he teaches her tai chi. I had the students connect to the book by identifying reciprocal teaching and learning relationships in their own lifes. For example, I have taught my mom to use her phone and computer, while she has taught me how to make macaroni and cheese! 

To explore the Principle Learning involves recognizing the consequences of one's actions, I had students identify good and bad choices they can make at home or at school and the resulting consequences and record them on a graphic organizer. Example:

Good choice: I tidy up my room when my mom asks me to. Positive consequence: I get to have iPad time.

Bad choice: I do not tidy up when I am asked to. Negative consequence: I miss out on iPad time. 

The students were surprised to learn that a consequence is not always a bad thing! Some consequences can be positive! 

4. Building a butterfly! I challenged students to work with their family members to collaboratively make their butterfly symmetrical! The template is from PJs and Paint. I'm thinking in future years I'll use this activity to teach the concept of symmetry in Math! 

5. Spring Add and Color! This game is part of this free bundle from Games 4 Learning on TPT. 

6. Gratitude flower using this template! The one on the left is an example I made for my sister!