Tracking the Sun's Patterns in the Sky

I designed this unit from my experience in a Fulbright-Hays Seminar Abroad in Iceland in summer 2021.  Students learn how to draw panoramas and use landmarks in their own landscape to show the position of the sun at different times of day. Then they make zoetropes to show the sine wave of the sun from sunrise, to midday, to sunset, night, and over again. This allows them to see that the sun appears to make a continuous loop, traveling above and below the horizon. It also provides ways to visualize space in both 3D and 2D formats. Students then explore time lapse videos of the sun taken in the North and South Poles to can see how, in certain seasons, the sun travels in circles around the crown of the sky, never setting. The unit ends with an exploration of a Sun Path Simulator. Link to the unit below. Also posted here. 
​The Fulbright Program is funded by the US Dept. of Education. 

Acorns!

There is so much to learn from acorns! I developed a unit around them which includes studies of acorn weevils as well as how acorns can be turned into food. I have students practice The Honorable Harvest while collecting acorns to process into flour. They also plant acorns for future generations. Everything involved in this unit attends to the natural inclinations of first graders: collecting, categorizing, sorting, discovering, and of course, smashing. 

Maple Festival

Tapping maple trees is a great way to get kids excited to learn about tree chemistry/physiology and a local food source. I developed curriculum to pair with the maple syrup-making process, which I presented at the PA Environmental Educators Conference in 2019. The unit culminates in a festival where the students show off their knowledge and hard work to visitors.