Kindergarten, first, and second graders are hard at work turning plastic and other recyclable materials into works of art that represent life in the ocean! We will mail these creations to Students Rebuild and earn $2 for every creature sent toward ocean conservation agencies!
It'll be hard to say goodbye to these amazing creations! They're so imaginative and beautiful!
This week we unveiled our newest STEAM unit, in which we are partnering with Students Rebuild and the Bezos Foundation to help support ocean conservation efforts all around the world! Check out this inspiring video to learn more about what it entails.
Our students will be learning about ocean conservation, identifying what one thing they can start doing right now to help preserve our oceans and save this precious habitat from pollution, while creating awareness and art using recycled materials that could otherwise have ended up in the ocean. It's going to be amazing, inspiring, and fast! Their creations will be on display at the OQS Art Show on March 20th!
To kick off this unit, we wanted students to appreciate how quickly a body of water can get polluted, as well as how difficult it is to properly clean it up. We filled these buckets with all kinds of common plastic pollutions, as well as canola oil and glitter, which is really just tiny pieces of plastic!
The most common expression we heard when the students saw the water and began to attempt to remove the debris using tongs and slotted spoons was "YUCK!" The students couldn't stand the way the water felt on their skin, and they grimaced as they had to dig deeper into the water to get the materials which had sunken to the bottom. In their attempts to clean their individual "oceans," they quickly realized it isn't as easy as it looks! They definitely had more empathy for the sea creatures that have to live in these kind of environments, especially when they considered what it would be like to swim or drink this water!
By the end, the students reached the consensus that it is certainly easier to keep plastics out of the ocean in the first place than to try to go clean it up after the fact! They will be making a Flipgrid to reflect on what one thing they can do to help the ocean, from limiting use of plastic bags, to doing waterside cleanups, to bringing reusable cups with them instead of using cups and straws in restaurants. They are so inspiring and motivated, and are already thinking of how they can make a difference here in Vermont!
Our students all support the Global Goal #14, Life Below Water, and along with the Students Rebuild Challenge, we are ready to turn plastics that would normally end up in landfills into beautiful pieces of art that will help spread the word that we need to save our oceans!
Talk to your students about what your family could to do support Global Goal #14, Life Below Water, and what they've learned in STEAM and library this March!
Here is the video of the unbelievable STEAM presentations of the students' Minecraft towns that they created using design thinking and tow planning. They kept their Global Goals in mind and worked hard to create a sustainable community that we all wish we could live in!! Not to mention, they had quite an audience: kindergarten and third grade presented to each other, as did first and fourth, and second and fifth, plus teachers, district administrators, and community members! It was a real testament to their hard work and awesome communication skills!
Bravo to all our builders, engineers, and visionaries!!
I cannot express how incredibly proud I am of all our OQS students who did an unbelievable job before break presenting their Minecraft worlds!
The afternoon was videotaped, and once I get it I will share all the amazing learning that was shared and communicated so clearly and intelligently! From the assistant superintendent to members of the community to staff members, the students had to present in front of quite an audience, and I was so proud of their skills. More amazing details to come, but the students deserved a shout out!
This week our Minecraft buildings are actually coming together to look more like a town! The students are working so hard and the impact this unit has had on their learning, communication, cooperation, and design thinking has been unbelievable! Check out this video of how Minecraft has helped these fifth graders learn!
The students are putting their finishing touches on their buildings and infrastructure this week, and next week they will present their towns to one another! I can't wait to see how it all comes together in a town that reflects our values and the Global Goals that we believe in!
And a note to our future selves if we ever do Minecraft again, or any other educators out there who are considering this project, be sure to have the students create some element to their creation that clearly identifies it as theirs (i.e. a purple door, a tree, a chimney, a sign), so that there is no confusion or arguments over who is building what! Including which Global Goal they are working with reminds the teachers of their focus, which can help us keep them on track!
