IdeaShare

Info sheet with plant uses. Good teaching tool- can be used as a read aloud and encourage discussion.

• link: https://schoolgardening.rhs.org.uk/resources/Info-Sheet/Plants-in-our-daily

I liked this alternative ending to The Giving Tree as I feel it’s a better lesson on healthy boundaries while still being thankful - my kids preferred it too

• link: https://www.topherpayne.com/giving-tree

Download and explore the free app iNaturalist. You can explore what has been mapped out in your community or city already. Or, you add photos, narrow down the classification and other citizen scientists help to further identify the birds, bugs, plants, etc... that you contribute. This will turn into an ongoing project for observations we continue to make on walks or hikes.

We live in Alaska, and it was 30 below zero when we reached this lesson, so going outside wasn't really preferable with my asthmatic son, so we added a few additional reading assignments - The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle, and How the Forest Grew by William Jaspersohn.

My 7-year-old daughter is not a big fan of drawing, but she loves to take pictures. So we modified the Nature Walk and Journal. As we walked outside, she took pictures of different plants she saw. Then we uploaded the photos to the computer and she printed and cut out the ones she wanted to put in her journal. Then I let her choose her favorite plant to draw her own picture of, which still encouraged the creativity without all that drawing feeling like a burden to her.