- Making the family connection: Discuss the slide above. “Just for today… we will be taking one last nature walk. Where should we explore today? Let’s re-copy the nature Treasure Hunt list into our journals, or you can re-list the items you didn’t find yesterday for today’s entry.” *Please help the youngest learners to make a list in their journal.
- Materials: family learning journals/paper, pencils, colored pencils, and/or crayons
- Remind them to open their journals to the next available page and date it. Don’t forget to have them label the top of the page with today’s learning topic/skill.
- Today’s literary connection: Beyond our Backyard… Treasure Hunt. Guided enquiry: “We will be taking our journals and a pencil outside, make sure you have a pencil with an eraser.” *Invite them to gather a baggie with colored pencils/crayons and a magnifying glass. *Grab a cooler and put some bottles of water (juice boxes), cheese slices, apple slices, and/or trail mix. *Don’t forget the wet ones or sanitizer!
- Next: On your way home… why not stop by the Battle Ground or Yacolt Library and look for some nature books! Nature books are great resources for adding details to any quick sketching (as modeled in the journals above).
- Finally: Once everyone has spent 30-45 minutes searching, have them finish their journaling at home. *Invite them to score their adventure: between 1-5 (1-not happy; 2-fun but only found a few nature items; 3-was fun; 4-would like to do again in a new location; 5-Best science exploration!).
