Gr. 3 - Localized Taxonomy Book

One year before I started this project a student at my outdoor school had the distressing experience of picking and eating a wild mushroom in our school forest. Our staff was collectively unable to identify the mushroom that he ate, so the student was taken to the hospital. He was given charcoal water to drink, an experience that he later remarked as unpleasant. I knew that there was a need for more education on the flora and fungi of our place. I took a look at some of the plant books in our library and realized it would be difficult for most of our students to navigate the density and breadth of these books. Then a thought dawned on me. What if we had a taxonomy book that only had the plants and fungi you would see around our immediate place at Kelly Creek Community School? What if students could become experts on their place and spread that knowledge to others?  Curricular Connections - Science 3

Big Idea

• Living things are diverse, can be grouped, and interact in their ecosystems. 
  

  
  

Curricular Competencies

• Demonstrate curiosity about the natural world

• Make predictions based on prior knowledgeObserve objects and events in familiar contexts

• Identify First Peoples perspectives and knowledge as sources of information

• Make predictions based on prior knowledge

  
  

Planning and Conducting

• Collect simple data

• Make observations about living and non-living things in the local environment

Applying and innovating

• Contribute to care for self, others, school, and neighbourhood through personal or collaborative approaches

  
  

• Co-operatively design projects

Evaluating

• Make simple inferences based on their results and prior knowledge

• Reflect on whether an investigation was a fair test

Communicating

• Express and reflect on personal or shared experiences of place

Curricular Content

• Biodiversity in the local Environment the knowledge of local First Peoples of ecosystems

First Peoples principles of learning 

• Learning is holistic, reflexive, reflective, experiential, and relational (focused on connectedness, on reciprocal relationships, and a sense of place).

• Learning recognizes the role of Indigenous knowledge.

• Learning involves generational roles and responsibilities.