Forest Ranger Bag

Spring Break is over now. The forest unit starts Monday.  I don’t know how ready I am, but I now have completed one exemplar Forest Ranger Bag which should be loads and loads of fun to make in the classroom.  I have filled in most of the information so that the other teachers in the school/grade level can see what one looks like.

This dual purpose bag will serve as a place to stash portfolio items that the kids have created in the classroom as well as a place to glue what they have learned.  It will also keep the fire marshal off of my back by reducing the amount of paper stapled to my wall.

I wish I could take credit for the idea of the bag, but I can’t.  The idea originates with http://tiny.cc/Rk1n9 by by Karen Simmons and Cindy Guinn.  These two teachers do magical things with paper bags.  They cut them apart and use them to create “backpacks”, dioramas and more.  The science C&I department of my school district introduced me to these at the last staff development.  They also gave us many ideas of what to put on and in the bags.  I left their example at school (and refused to go and get it over the break).  So, while I can’t take credit for the idea, I can take credit for the organization of the content on the bag.

The science TEKS ( http://tiny.cc/hUjxF ) in our district are supplemented by district specificities.  These are the details that the TEKS fail to give us.  For example, the TEK may say, “The student will compare and give examples of the ways living organisms depend on each other for their basic needs.”  The specificity would then say, “The student will learn that animals depend on each other in the forest.  For example: Food chain starting with the sun.”  Following the spirit of the TEKS, the specificities give teachers the freedom to teach that as they wish in their own classrooms.  Using the general topics and the specificities, I organized my Forest Ranger bag.  Each general topic has its own Thinking Map.

Thinking Maps are a wonderful system of graphic organizers (http://www.thinkingmaps.com/httmexam.php3).  They take the idea of the graphic organizer to the next level by asking the students to chose one based on what information they are organizing and the best way to organize that information.  In first grade, they are still learning the different Thinking Maps so the teacher selects the map rather than the student.

When you look at a paper grocery bag, you can see that the bag has sections based on the way that they are folded.  When you open the bag, the bottom forms a rectangle.  As you look at the open bag, turn it over so the the opening is setting on the table and the bottom is facing you.  This is the way that the bag will be handled forever more.  The rectangle at the top will need to be cut on three sides: both short sides and then one long side.  Now the flap opens and continues to give access to the inside of the bag.  Fold the other side over (the side the manufacturer intended as the opening) and glue the bottom of the bag closed. Now, you have a pyramid or a really angular ice cream cone.  See pictures here: http://flickr.com/gp/10816768@N08/p487g0 .

All sides of this bag will be covered with information.  I sat down yesterday and did the entire bag over the course of three NCAA March Madness games (Go Duke! Go UNC! Too bad, A&M, but we’re not really surprised). In my classroom, we’ll do one section per week as the kids learn to control the information.  

The sections of the bag are divided thusly: Food Chain (tree map), Temperate Forest Biome Model (construction paper), Tree Riddle (brace map), Life Cycles (flow map), comparisons between insects and arachnids (double bubble) and amphibians and reptiles (brace map).   

All of the information will be gathered from field experience and then charted on large pieces of butcher paper in the classroom.  First graders have a terrible time writing as small as they would need to in order to fit the information on the bag.  So, I will type the information they give me and then ask the kids to cut and glue information in the correct place per thinking map.  I gathered the information from these sites:  http://tiny.cc/UuQGT and will use that base information as a guide for the student learning.  If they miss key points, I’ll make certain to bring it up somehow.

I am really excited to start this unit and see how my ideas are interpreted by my students.  Feel free to use the ideas here, but please give credit where credit is due!