DEVELOPING A SENSE OF A SPECIAL PLACE
From Sue Bradley
Each fall, I take my students to my farm. My students are children with emotional disturbance and range from kindergarten through grade 5. Some students I have for more than one year, some as many as 6 years. They love to go to the farm and play in the barn, go out on a field and shoot bows and arrows, etc. After some preparation at school, I'd like to equip each student with a disposable camera to have them take pictures of a place they designate as a "special place" on my farm. I'd especially like to do this because if children are to love and protect the land, they need to develop some emotional ties to it when they are young.
Ahead of time, we will discuss my farm and talk about natural places on it. The "special place" cannot be a building or any part of the farm that is manmade. I will have pictures of my farm and talk about what makes each a "special place" with input from them. I'll look for books which indicate a special place for a child. We'll talk about what they might find there, such as shelter, other animals, what kind of trees, plants, what they would do there (activities there must keep their place safe and can't be loud, how would they live there, etc.), how their place would change over seasons, time, what they would do to protect their place, measuring their place, imagining how their place used to look (were there Native Americans there before or pioneers). We will also talk about how to use a camera and require that at least 6 pictures be of their special place before they take pictures of other things. They also will listen when they are in their place for any sounds of animals, etc.
Back at school, they will each assemble their pictures in a booklet. They will write about each picture. They'll give a name to their special place. A possible follow up activity will be to write a song, poem, or story about their place. They could make a map of their place in relation to other places around it. I could make a movie of them showing their booklet and presenting their follow up activity and later show it at parent teacher conferences.
STATE STANDARDS MET: English Language Arts: B4.1, B4.2, B4.3, C4.1, D4.1, D4.2, E4.3 Mathematics: D4.3, D4.4
Assessment would be measured against the state standards above. For my students, it would be important that they follow directions given to them (This is an important skill for them if they are to be successful in reg. ed.) I would need to be conscious of the different grade levels. For example, the lst grader could either do kid spelling as he labels his pictures or dictate to an adult. The 2nd graders would label the pictures while older students could write sentences to go under each picture. Successful completion of a follow up activity would be required. If this activity is successful, it would be great to repeat it the following year. It would also be possible to continue writing about their "special place" at other times in the year.