Sit Spot Scroll Project-PBL, Outdoor, Nature

Sit Spot is the best project I do with my students all year. The deep nature connection it fosters is the most valuable thing I can give them. It is always their favorite part of my class.

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There is a growing understanding that spending time in nature-even if it's just sitting under a tree-has all sorts of wonderful benefits. This curriculum makes it easy for teachers to give this gift to their students. I found that having them do "nature journaling" with only vague guidelines (like "write/draw your observations") as is frequently suggested, didn't work for most of my students and resulted in students being "done" after 5 minutes. So I created specific, highly engaging activities in science, art, math and writing that they could choose from for each sit spot session that would keep them engaged for at least 30 minutes.

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Overview: students choose a tree that they will visit numerous times over a single week, month, season or school year. During each sit spot session, they complete a tree-related activity using a half sheet of easy-to-follow instructions. The activity might include doing a simple science investigation, creative writing, creating art, or doing math investigations. All activities relate to their tree. Each activity results in a piece of work that they will glue on to their Sit Spot Scroll once back in the classroom. For distance learning, students can make a Virtual Sit Spot Scroll by uploading a picture of their work after each session to Google Slides. By the end of the project, they will have a scroll (physical or virtual) that displays their creative work!

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What's included:

• 25 Sit Spot Activity Guides. Activities are in science, art, math and writing and are designed so that students can follow the instructions independently when they are with their tree.
• 1 Teacher Guide. A step-by-step guide for how to prepare for and implement Sit Spot with recently added tips for distance learning.
• 1 PowerPoint Presentation. Edit and use this presentation to introduce Sit Spot to your students and get them excited about it! There are two versions of the PowerPoint: one for in person learning and one for distance learning.

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To have students go even deeper with their sit spot tree, use it to anchor a mini unit on photosynthesis, Seed to Tree, in which students figure out how a tiny seed can grow into a big, beautiful tree and make an infographic to hang on their tree in the spirit of pop-up science! If you're interested in sit spot you might also be interested in this SUPER EXCITING project-based, place-based Complete Ecosystem Unit.

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