Information+Writing

**__Earth Manners__** **Before ** In small groups, have students write rules or guidelines they think would make sense for learning outdoors. Bring students together to share their ideas. List ideas on board or chart paper. **During ** Read the story “Trapper” – in Project Learning Tree, pages 380 – 381. This is also a picture book. **After ** 1. Follow-up the book with the following questions: How did the story make you feel? How do you think Trapper felt at different times in the story? Why did Muttsok try to collect all the seals? Do you think Trapper gave Muttsok good advice? 2. Discuss objects they would like to collect outdoors. List ideas and discuss what might be right to collect and what should be left in nature. 3. Review the rules from the first step and decide if they want to change the rules. 4. Have students write rules in their nature journal. If time allows, you could have students illustrate each rule. Refer students to their “Earth Manners” before schoolyard observations.
 * Resource**: Project Learning Tree – Environmental Education Activity Guide- page 378 – 381
 * Goal**: Students will express appropriate ways to treat living things and to act in forests parks and other natural areas. They will write their own rules for proper manners when outside.

 ^This lesson involves reading the book Leaf Jumpers by Carol Gerber, discussing the trees that we see in our every day lives, why trees are important to our lives, and learning about why/how trees change colors.

-Carol Gerber has also written a book called //[|Winter Trees] //

Before ** Read aloud Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf by Lois Ehlert. Discuss how the author incorporated non fiction information into her story, particularly at the back of the book. Each child chooses a living (or non-living) thing from outside (ie tree, icicle, leaf). They then complete a KWL about this object (what I KNOW, what I WANT to know, what I LEARNED). Use this as a springboard for a research project about the topic. Each student could go to the library to gather resource and books and they could use the internet to further their research. To make their research more specific, they could research a specific wondering about their topic such as "I wonder how snow is formed." Research could be shared in a variety of formats, depending upon teacher preference (ie powerpoint, poster, mobile)
 * __Informational Writing__
 * During **
 * After **


 *  __Non-Fiction writing using the schoolyard.__ **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Resource **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">: //<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">A Place for Wonder //<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> by Georgia Heard and Jennifer McDonough
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> Before **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">: Have children select a nature topic. Example snow. Using a graphic organizer, have the kids create questions related to the topic (a graphic organizer is shown on page 102). Example: Why does it snow? How cold is snow? How do you make snow? Where does snow come from?
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> During **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">: Have kids sort their questions into two piles – questions from the heart (ones you can answer with your mind) and questions from a book (ones that you need to use books, experts and the computer to find information for). Provide opportunities and resources to find information related to their questions. Create a magazine or feature article or some other way for kids to present findings. This resource has many great charts and graphic organizers that are very simple and easy to use.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> After **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">: Share their new findings and information with each other.

<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">**<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">__Save a Tree Paragraph Writing__ Before: Discuss important parts of paragraph **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> - __Topic sentence:__ First sentence in the paragraph, which introduces the main idea and indicates to the reader what the paragraph will be about. - __Supporting details:__ Come after the topic sentence, making up the body of the paragraph, and gives details to develop and support the main idea of the paragraph through supporting facts, details, and examples - __Closing sentence:__ Last sentence in the paragraph, which restates the main idea of the paragraph using different words (than the topic sentence). After:** Use tree template to create a paragraph about one type of tree. Roots = topic sentence Trunk (supports the tree) = supporting details Leaves = closing sentence
 * During: Bring students to the computer lab and have them explore [|Real Trees 4 Kids] website. (Grades 3-5 > tree types). Have each student take notes on one type of tree.