On Thursday, November 16th, 2017, following student water quality field trip series, students turned in clean and healthy harbor advocacy projects to advocate for a swimmable, fishable and drinkable harbor in our school community.
Advocacy Action
In conjunction, with the water quality field trip series, students participated in three action pieces, which encouraged fourth grade scholars to demonstrate an ability to speak, write, and think about the health, safety, and cleanliness of our harbor. The three action pieces include, Clean and Healthy Harbor Advocacy Project, Clean and Healthy Harbor Assessment, and Upcycling Artwork with the Recy-Queen or Bridget Parlato. Through advocacy conversation students were taught and shown examples of persons in our community speaking, writing, and thinking about the health, safety, and cleanliness of the inner harbor. As students created each project students are citing and using evidence from the information and sources provided to them throughout our learning.
Clean and Healthy Harbor Advocacy Project
As a culminating project, students were charged with designing and thinking about a way to keep the harbor clean. Students used their knowledge gained from their My Baltimore Book and collective experiences or actions to devise an individual action for change in the health and safety of our Baltimore City community. In this project, students are speaking, writing and thinking about the real-world problem of keeping our inner harbor clean and healthy. In each project students cite evidence from information provided and accessed individually. Below are examples of students' individual action, demonstrating students knowledge that their voice and actions have value.
Student Project Example #1:
The student in project example number one chose to design a new machine to keep our harbor clean and healthy. The student named the new machine, Mr. Trash Floater. The student used her prior knowledge gained from in class lessons and field trips to create a model and write an expository essay to explain how Mr. Trash Floater works.
Student Project Example #2:
The student in project example number two chose to create a video to share with her school community, to inform students the importance of keeping our harbor clean and healthy. The student used her prior knowledge gained from in class lessons and field trips to create a model and write an expository essay to explain how she and others can keep the harbor clean and healthy.
The student chose to create a video to share with her school community, to inform students the importance of keeping our harbor clean and healthy. The student in this video is demonstrating an ability to speak and think about the health, safety and cleanliness of our harbor. She is also displaying an increase in pride and cultural identity as a citizen of Baltimore, advocating for a clean and healthy harbor.
Student Project Example #3:
The student in project example number three chose to write an informative picture book about how to keep our harbor clean to share with younger NACA I students. The student named his picture book "7 Simple Ways to Keep The Harbor Clean." The student used his prior knowledge gained from in class lessons and field trips to create a model and write an expository essay to explain how his picture book will inform his community.
Clean and Healthy Harbor Kindergarten Advocacy
On Monday, November 20th, 2017 students ventured to our Northwood Appold Community Academy I (NACA I) Kindergarten classroom to share their picture book creations with our school's younger Kindergarten students. In this moment, students put their efforts of advocacy into action informing the Kindergarten students about the problem of pollution in our harbor and encouraging students to think, speak, and write about clean and healthy harbor advocacy.
NACA I Kindergarten scholars listened closely to the problem of pollution in our harbor. Additionally, each scholar listened intently to learn about their role in creating a swimmable, fishable, and drinkable harbor.
In the videos above the four fourth grade students are advocating for a clean and healthy harbor. The four students are demonstrating an ability to speak, write and think about the real-world problem of pollution in our harbor and share these thoughts of advocacy with our school’s youngest scholars. As students share their picture books with the NACA I Kindergarten scholars, the students are citing evidence from information the students have explored and interacted with in and outside of the classroom. From the information presented and gathered, fourth grade students give each Kindergarten scholar actionable steps in his or her story to create a harbor that is clean and healthy in Baltimore City, Maryland.
Clean and Healthy Harbor Field Trip Assessment
As a culminating assessment, students completed a teacher created test, titled "Clean and Healthy Harbor Field Trip Assessment." The assessment encouraged students to demonstrate their ability to write, think and express their learning about the health and safety of our city, as it relates to our harbor. On the assessment students wrote and thought about real-world problems and cited evidence from information gathered during classroom and outside of the classroom excursions.
Assessment Example #1:
Assessment example number one is the first example of the Clean and Healthy Harbor test. The test demonstrates the student's ability to write and think about the real-world problem of pollution in the inner harbor.
Assessment Example #2:
Assessment Example #3:
Upcycling Art In School Project
Following the Recy-Queen's classroom visit students were charged with creating their own recycling pieces of advocacy art to use as practical objects during the school day. On Monday, November 20th, 2017 students worked with Bridget Parlato or the Recy-Queen to create upcycling art and practical creations. Upcycling means "to recycle (something) in such a way that the resulting product is of a higher value than the original item" (Merriam-Webster, 2017). On this day students took action thinking, speaking and creating value out of recyclable goods for the health, safety and cleanliness of our harbor. Students used old cereal boxes, different forms of used cardboard, and magazines to create three different items: ornaments, notebooks and bracelets. The upcycling products students created with the Recy-Queen are displayed below:
The upcycling activity encourages students to think about their role in valuing each resource and reusing items in our community for the health and safety of our harbor. In the video above Bridget Parlato is explaining how to construct a notebook using recyclable cardboard and paper.
In the image gallery above students are enthusiastically showcasing their upcycled notebooks. Following, Bridget Parlato’s visit to our classroom for upcycling artwork students asked Bridget Parlato to come again for more upcycling artwork opportunities. 😊
References
Upcycle. (2017). Retrieved November 19, 2017, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/upcycle