Fresh From The First Grade

This week we’re discovering how true it is that the more you know, the more you care. After learning so much about the awesome land around us, we began discussing an extremely current side of landforms - land pollution. We started our by exploring the photograph below through a “See-Think-Wonder” activity. See-Think-Wonder is a really great activity to help children practice complex thinking while noticing details. It usually goes something like this....

1. We look at an image or object and state only what we see (for example, “I see an old toothbrush”).
PS. It’s amazing what children point out that us adults never even noticed!

2. We take turns sharing what we think about the image/object (for example, “I think this place may be stinky” or “I would not want to live there”).

3. We begin sharing what we’re wondering about (for example, "I wonder if mice live here” or “I wonder who made that mess”).

{here are our See-Think-Wonder charts from 2 classes}

After we filled in our chart, we zoomed out to this image:

{from here}

This photograph evoked some serious emotion in our first graders.... it was a mixture of sadness and anger to think that someone would do this our land. It was equally sobering to understand we do this to our land when we are not wise with our trash. Many people were shocked to know that this is where their trash ends up and were eager to do something to change this. It was absolutely amazing see how much the 1st graders at New Hope care about and feel a responsibility to take care of the earth. I feel so honored to have the opportunity to learn alongside these kiddos. It’s so encouraging to know that they will be the ones taking care of our world and figuring out creative alternatives to make this world a healthier place. 

Thankfully, we didn’t leave things on a sad note. We read this book by Paul Showers together to discover some alternative ways to get rid of trash... more on this coming soon  =)