SECRUOSER - A Natural Resources Adventure Role Play

Our Planet Earth

The decisions we make can affect the planet.

1. The extraction and use of natural resources.
2. Current environmental issues in Japan and the world.
3. Responsible decision making: exploring the difference that we can make.

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When I saw natural resources, my thoughts drifted back to my first year working at TIS. At that time I was teaching PE, and I would drift in and out of classrooms when I could, and I remember very clearly seeing a bulletin board with trees on it, then a few weeks later the trees were cut in half. When I asked about it, the Grade 3-4 teacher told me they were learning about resources and he used that as a kind of role play.

Fast forward to this year and I was faced with a natural resources unit, so I decided to give it a shot.

The yellow boxes show where the students wanted to build houses.

I first set the landscape. I created an area modeled after Miyagi, Japan (where we are). I first talked with the students about the different features of the landscape. We talked about the trees, the water, the animals, and the mountains and the possibility of minerals in them (thanks to Minecraft). I told them that the name of the land was SECRUOSER. I intentionally wrote it next to the word resources to see if anyone would get it, and one astute student did. Now I wish I had left that nugget for later.

Next I had the students scout out their homestead. They each came up to the board and pointed to where they wanted their house. Several students placed their homes close to each other in the upper part of the board.

Surprisingly only one student chose a place on the lake shore. They don't know what they are missing.

An explanation about the placement of a house.

Many students chose to build away from the coast of the ocean and away from water as well citing tsunamis. Other students talked about floods and introduced words like "avalanche" and "landslide". Natural disasters were a huge influence on their decisions.

I wonder if this is because of Japan, the March 11, 2011 earthquake, or if it is just their age.

SECRUOSER after the purge.

I then found some house cutouts. I showed the students each one and assigned them a tree value. There was a grass house that cost one tree, a stone house that cost one tree, a few that cost two, and one that cost three.

The students were so excited to get their houses and color them. Little did they know what was in store for them.

All trees and houses for this board were made using scrap paper.

Each time I put up a house, I cut that many trees from the board, but I left stumps so they could see what was happening. This is what caught their attention. When I cut the first tree there was a silence in the room that told me the shock helped them realize that the decisions they had made had consequences that they could not get out of.

I went to all the students collecting houses, and when I did, I asked the class how much the house cost. I then told them that if you were to build a house, and had no vehicle, you would cut the trees closest to where you lived.

The boys who moved next to each other found that when humans get together there will be a large hole in the forest. In our land area the whole forest north of the river was ravaged. The students who chose stone houses saw parts of mountains taken out.

One student was so excited he brought his mom into the room and told her all about what happened.

Next chapter: What happens to the animals? OR When beavers strike.

Rainy Day Activity - Make Three Equal Groups

Most of Japan is in the midst in the rainy season. Rainy season is sandwiched in between spring and summer.

Today was a rainy day. I dread rainy days; especially when I am on recess duty. The students seem especially energetic on rainy days, and not having a chance to run around outside can cause some problems.

Right in the middle of an outdoor recess today it started raining enough so that we had to come inside. When all the students were in, I began sorting them into three lines. The students were being slow and two of the lines were much longer than the third.

Having seen this before, and knowing that it would take the rest of the recess period to get them lined up, I made a snap decision and called out, "Stop!"

"Divide yourselves into three equal groups."

From there the students spent the next five minutes trying to figure it out. It was interesting to see which students did not follow directions correctly and started making groups of three. There were some students who were not engaged, and some who were confused (I think confusion is a good thing for a little while), but it was a good problem for a rainy day.

It was interesting to see some of the older students who knew how to solve the problem try to line up the students to make the groups.

Life After High School - A Student Council Event

I knew it was a good idea when I heard it. This was the kind of event I had hoped we would have more of when I became involved in the Student Council. 

Back in January a former student emailed the current Student Council President with an idea to have former students come to the school and share their experiences. I knew it would be a great experience for the current students since they will be moving onto college from a school with less than 100 students and regular contact with only three high school teachers.

2014 Life After Tis STUDENT COUNCIL EVENTGraduates around the world | Create Infographics

It was not easy to get it set up as there were several obstacles to overcome. There was a time when I did not think that it would ever happen.

After we had a date, it was time to gather attendees. The President reached out to the alumni through Facebook. To those who were interested in attending, the Student Council sent them a short survey to gather information about their current city, their university, majors, and the years they attended TIS.




The event itself was awesome. The alumni spoke with maturity and the current students listened because they were talking with young adults. Peer mentoring at its best.

There was a nervousness among some of the adults in the building as to how it would go. It was heightened by us being visited by two professors from a university in Fukushima.

I kept thinking about my philosophy regarding Student Council through all this: when you give students responsibility over something they truly care about, they will come through.

iPad Book Creator App and Dropbox Part 2

Until today, we were playing "pass the iPad" with project to make a book about our school.

What I mean is that with Book Creator, you cannot simultaneously edit a book (that I know of), so I had the kids do something while one student was making their page.

The problem [only in the sense of time] was that the students kept tweaking their pages and after two days I had two pages of the book. That was not going to work.

Last night at home I remembered seeing a way to combine books. So today I set out to do that. Here is how it is done.

Warning: When combining books, you need to have the book you want the pages merged in to selected. (By selected I mean have the main book be the one in the center of the screen.)

Step 1 - Start at the "Home Screen"

I do not know the official name for this screen, but it is the one where you can see all of your books.

Step 2 - Click the "+" [plus]

Step 3 - Click Combine Books

iPad Book Creator App and Dropbox Part 1

Embarking on my COETAIL final project, I found myself collaborating with two other classes to make a book about each of our schools which will lead to another project about communities. 

The app of choice is called Book Creator. I really like the app so far since it is easy for the students to get the hang of it. One of my more tech-savvy second graders tried it for the first time today after being out last week when we started with it, and it was amazing to see him find his way around so quickly - not even the hidden buttons could hold back this digital native.

Since we will be sharing our books using Dropbox, I spent some time trying to figure out how this thing would work.

I tried Googling how to save to Dropbox and came across this blog post about how to do it with iOS 6, but it is slightly different with iOS 7.

Step 1

Click the "send" link.

Step 2

Click "Open with another App".

Step 3

From here you can save to Dropbox.

This is my first attempt at this so I am sure there will be more learning along the way.