Beaver is a diligent collaborator. He represents Social Responsibility.
Through Beaver, we can learn to care for our community and environment by valuing diversity, advocating for others and working together for a greater good.
Exploring Connections: How does Beaver teach us about Social Responsibility?
As we explore each of the Core Competencies, it is important that we help our students unpack the various facets. Asking the question, How does Beaver teach us about Social Responsibility? allows students to make connections between the “I can statements” and the characteristics and behaviour of Beaver. It is a powerful tool and one that students, time and time again, connect with.
To begin this journey, Mrs. Sidney accessed her students’ background knowledge by asking the simple question:
What do you know about Beaver?
All answers were accepted and recorded on a class chart.
To introduce the idea of Beaver as a socially responsible animal, Division 7 watched the creative video DAM! The Story of Kit the Beaver and discussed the question: How was Kit the Beaver socially responsible?
Finally, students listened to the Beaver pages from The Six Cedar Trees and connected all of their ideas. This lay the foundation for future conversations about Beaver and the Social Responsibility Competency.
Inspired by Kit’s story, students in Division 7 wanted to create their own graphic stories to illustrate their understanding of the Big Idea: Beaver teaches us that we can make the world a better place. Having already explored storytelling using loose parts, students jumped right into their graphic stories.
Stay tuned for their final products… you will be delighted at their humour!
Context: We can work collaboratively like Beaver to make the world a better place!
Essential Question: How effective are we in sorting our garbage and recycling?
Have you ever stood at a row of waste and recycle cans and puzzled over where to put your trash? This is a predicament many of us can connect with and one that two of our classes at Brooke decided to turn into a class inquiry. Students in Mrs. Sidney and Mrs. McLachlan’s class felt confused themselves, and wondered if their confusion was felt by others throughout the school. So they set forth on a journey to explore the effectiveness of student sorting. They wondered: How effective are we in sorting our garbage and recycling?
Armed with a question, Melanie and Shannon started at the beginning: What did their students know about garbage and recycling? The dialogue naturally turned to a place-based exploration and students decided that they wanted to “audit” the bins and learn first hand what was happening in our hallways. This undertaking was about as messy as it sounds. With garbage and recycling sprawled all over the ground and the chorus of “Ew…. Gross!” floating across the playground, two brave teachers and 58 kids set out to sift, sort and critique! It was messy. And gross. And yes, a little crazy! And when things get a little crazy, or you simply need to know if you’re on the right track, you know it’s time to ask the three questions: What are we learning? How is it going? Where to next?
This conversation allowed the students to refocus and determine that a second garbage audit was necessary! Armed with a more controlled environment and firm expectations, the two classes were able to gather some accurate data on the effectiveness of our school waste management system.
Here were their findings:
- Many students were using the grey, blue and green bins correctly.
- Some students were throwing food out IN the plastic bag and not separating the food from the plastic.
- The black bin was being used as a catchall. When in doubt, people were just throwing it out!
Students decided to take their findings and help educate their fellow schoolmates as well as teaching staff, through informational posters. Working collaboratively and diligently like Beaver, they focused on sharing their thinking clearly like Wolf. Mrs. Sidney and Mrs. McLachlan established simple criteria to help keep their students focused.
What makes an effective information poster?
- Be on topic
- Explain the “why”
- Include details
- Use a slogan/anchor line
- Use respectful language
- Be neat and easy to read
- Be big bright and beautiful
Creating the posters was an interesting endeavour. Students were clearly passionate about what they were doing. In researching the “why,” some students got side tracked by other environmental issues, namely: What happens when our garbage affects wildlife? Students were horrified to learn of the impact our waste in the world has on animals. While this was of key interest to students, Mrs. Sidney worked hard to redirect her students’ attention to their original intention, saving students’ new interests for later exploration.
What surprised and delighted this teacher were the “extras” kids came up with. For some groups, a poster wasn’t enough. They decided that as they traveled into classrooms they also wanted to engage their audience in games and sorting demonstrations that would help make their message clear. Not only were students working diligently like Beaver and communicating like Wolf; they were also being creative like Raven!
Putting a Lid on Their Inquiry
As students completed their presentations, Mrs. Sidney realized it was time to reflect on their learning and bring closure to their project. Rereading the animal pages from The Six Cedar Trees, Mrs. Sidney asked her students to think about how they were like these animals as they participated in this waste management inquiry. Stopping periodically after each animal, Division 7 reflected on their thinking and their actions. They realized quickly that this inquiry had allowed them to develop each of the six competencies!
Students were given opportunities to reflect individually as well, and these reflections were powerful evidence of thoughtful and reflective learners.
For more examples, click Garbage Audit Reflections.
Overall, both teachers and students completed their project with a sense of empowerment. They felt a strong connection to the environmental issue of waste disposal and recycling. They had become advocates with the power to make a difference and they didn’t want to stop there! Even after their research and projects were completed, Division 7 and 8 held a third garbage audit to see if they had made a difference!
Note:
Thank you to Melanie Sidney for sharing the journey she and Shannon McLachlan took with their students!
This project was initially undertaken as part of a BC Green Games project that encourages place-based environmental education. Division 7 & 8 were incredibly proud to see their work on a website receiving votes!
For more information please check out bcgreengames.ca
The Six Cedars 