3rd Grade Environmental PBL

The goals and benefits of our garden/hydroponic system program are: 
Goals/Benefits:
    1    Deepen understanding of how the natural world works and their place in the environment
    2    Cause and effect on the local environment from decisions they make
    3    Appreciation for and relationship with nature, food production, animals (i.e. beneficial and harmful insects)
    4    Growing food for local animal sanctuary
    5    Organizing & hosting the school’s annual Garden Party
    6    Learn domain-specific vocabulary, including parts of the plant and cell structure
    7    Emotional growth and development when excel at challenging activities
    8    Physical work- larger & small motor
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Participants

Students: Kindergarten- 40; 1st Grade- 50; 3rd grade- 60; TOTAL Students = 150 (about half of the school student population)
Staff: Teachers & EAs- 10

Engagement
Students: designing garden, planting, weeding, watering, harvesting, conducting science experiments, collecting & presenting math data, writing about their process, presenting Project-Based Learning (PBL) to peers and community, working with local experts, meeting some to the needs of local non-profit (Roots Animal Sanctuary)
Staff: Designing PBLs that students lead and implement, that connect to a real-world situation/problem, organize community/speaker involvement, support student-chosen projects 

Parents- 10+: provide guidance during growing project, share expertise with students that cause them to think deeper and from different perspectives
Roots Animal Sanctuary: relationship between plant nutrition and animals’ dietary needs, recipient of garden produce and refuse
Bob Coburn, local soil and water conservation representative: presentations, extra pair of hands in garden, builder of shed
Roots Farm Cafe & Educational Center: organic farming in our local environment & altitude, field trip to their growing farm
NRCS: speakers, extra pair of hands in garden
Gabriel Dawson: worm architects, vermiculture
Kathie Deal: watershed and the environment
Vince Case, Sandia Mountain Natural History Center: environmental connections; PBL support for teachers; work with students at school
Gloria Henderson, Master Composter: school composting & its use in gardens
Liana Sonne: support in gardens, composting, water conservation in the gardens, vermi-composting, ancestral lands and waters, experiential educator
NM Natural History Museum

ABQ Botanical Gardens

Kindergarten & 1st Grade 
Driving Question: What does a living thing need to live, grow, and thrive?
Launch: Intro via discussions in RRLab (Amy discuss life cycle) and in classroom about plants and end product; “Parts of a Plant”, “Plant Growth Conditions” and “Pollinators” on Generation Genius 
Community Connection: Natural History Museum; Botanical Gardens; can schedule a date/time w/Amy for a discussion
Public Product w/ Voice and Choice: grow flowers in pots; Growth Posters (displayed around school) OR brochure for growing plants (pass out to school community?); Reminder: rubrics are in the folders; giving back component (Roots Farm- Kelli, Bake Sale to raise funds); also complete bird feeders
Estimated Length of PBL: few months; March-May
Standards: 

• K1-LS1-1. Use observations to describe patterns of what plants and animals (including humans) need to survive. [Clarification Statement: Examples of patterns could include that animals need to take in food but plants do not; the different kinds of food needed by different types of animals; the requirement of plants to have light; and, that all living things need water.]
• K1-ESS2-2. Construct an argument supported by evidence for how plants and animals (including humans) can change the environment to meet their needs. [Clarification Statement: Examples of plants and animals changing their environment could include a squirrel digs in the ground to hide its food and tree roots can break concrete.]
• K1-ESS3-1. Use a model to represent the relationship between the needs of different plants and animals (including humans) and the places they live. [Clarification Statement: Examples of relationships could include that deer eat buds and leaves, therefore, they usually live in forested areas; and, grasses need sunlight so they often grow in meadows. Plants, animals, and their surroundings make up a system.]
• K1-ESS3-3. Communicate solutions that will reduce the impact of humans on the land, water, air, and/or other living things in the local environment.* [Clarification Statement: Examples of human impact on the land could include cutting trees to produce paper and using resources to produce bottles. Examples of solutions could include reusing paper and recycling cans and bottles.]

Vocabulary: roots, stem, leaves, flowers, seeds, soil, living vs non-living, life cycle, germinate, seedling, pollen, reproduce, nutrients, pollination, anchor, photosynthesis

3rd Grade
Driving Question: What are the benefits of using hydroponics versus traditional soil planting? (Internal argument about the findings/data)
Launch: Connect with Steve McGuinness at RMS; germinate seeds in windows to see roots begin (which will go home during Spring Break)
Community Connection: Steve McGuinness; Donate to Kelli Quattrone’s Roots Farm and present to her about the items grown w/writing 
Public Product w/ Voice and Choice: Grow veggies/plants for pigs through hydroponics; Choice of presenting what they learned (slides, poster, video, oral)
Estimated Length of PBL: 8 weeks; March-May (don’t plant in hydroponic system until after Spring Break)
Standards:

• 3-LS4-3. Construct an argument with evidence that in a particular habitat some organisms can survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all. [Clarification Statement: Examples of evidence could include needs and characteristics of the organisms and habitats involved. The organisms and their habitat make up a system in which the parts depend on each other.]
• 3-LS4-4. Make a claim about the merit of a solution to a problem caused when the environment changes and the types of plants and animals that live there may change.* [Clarification Statement: Examples of environmental changes could include changes in land characteristics, water distribution, temperature, food, and other organisms.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment is limited to a single environmental change. Assessment does not include the greenhouse effect or climate change.]

Vocabulary: hydroponics (baskets, peat moss, coir), closed system, germination, nutrients, environment, organism, adaptation, solar, grow lights, habitat, characteristics (data information), Corn video, animal sanctuary (for Kelli’s farm donations), “lollipopping”
 

Project-Based Learning uses real-world connections to assess students’ knowledge, understanding, and application of concepts and skills being taught throughout the PBL. Public products may be added to or changed by students as they proceed through the PBL to best reflect their learning.

Kindergarten & 1st Grade: Public Product w/ Voice and Choice: grow flowers in pots; growth posters displayed around school, brochure teaching how to grow plants (pass out at school & local businesses); student-created rubrics; giving back component to include Roots Animal Sanctuary by Bake Sale to raise funds; build bird feeders for garden
3rd Grade: Public Product w/ Voice and Choice: Grow veggies/plants for pigs through hydroponics; Choice of presenting what they learned (slides, poster, video, oral) to peers and community members; musical for school

All three grades: Organize and host a Fall Garden Party for the entire school, community members, local businesses, and organizations- hang posters for all to read, brochures passed out, teach weeding and harvesting techniques, give mini-presentation about PBL learning.

Innovation: student-designed and student-managed gardening, application and integration of Common Core Standards and Next Generation Science Standards to solve the real-world problem of teaching others to grow their own nutritious herbs and produce, providing food for a local animal sanctuary, building lasting relationships with businesses and organizations

Cultural/Historical Connections: growing native food plants and flowers, New Mexican acequias systems used in our local area, local recipes that use garden herbs and produce

Summer maintenance will be more difficult this year due to a security fence and gates surrounding our campus, including the gardening area. In past years, families signed up through a Signup Genius chart for a week during the breaks. With the locked campus, we’ll have to be creative in how we maintain the garden and what we plant. 

• Water harvesting system from Music Room portable
• System on a timer from water faucet
• Staff that are available will open the garden for families to weed and harvest herbs, produce, and flowers during breaks