Elementary+Student+Involvement

**Thank you everyone for your valuable feedback. The elementary school teachers and students are all very excited to be part of such a wonderful community collaboration. We have taken all of your comments and suggestions and created a brief summary in the following presentation using Slide Rocket. If I have forgotten anything or have included some wrong information, please let me know. If you are having difficulties viewing the presentation, please view in full screen mode.** media type="custom" key="11602512"
 * Follow up: **

Hello everyone and thank you for joining me in this asynchronous meeting where I hope to find a way to get my students involved in the living roof project.
 * Introductions **

First of all I, would like to introduce myself for those who don't know me.

My name is Jackie Doherty. I am fairly new to Sunnyville as my husband and I have recently realized our dream and bought a small ranch in the area. We both work in town and are really excited to get involved in what has proven so far to be a wonderful community. I have taught K-6 for many years and love every minute of it. I currently teach grade 4 but work closely with all of the science teachers in our school. They would all like the opportunity to be involved to some capacity but the grade 3 and 4 students will most likely have the largest role.

Here is a breakdown of the topics we cover from grades 1-6 that I think are relevant to this project. Science: Needs of animal and plants || Students demonstrate an understanding and appreciation of the characteristics and interests that unite members of communities. ||  || Have a horticultural student come in and do a presentation. || They will be presenting this information to parents on parent's night. Once they know which plants are going to be used on the living roof, they will be able to research those specific plants, know why the plants were used and their requirements for growth. QR codes will be included in their presentations that link viewers to the web-cam videos from their mobile devices. QR codes could also be used at the site to link to the student blogs. || Horticultural students can act as the ‘experts’ and respond to the student blogs. || (abiotic) components interacting. || Question: Will there be a roof top pond or some kind of water feature? || College student or faculty give presentation on this topic - virtual or live. || and interpreting the structural features of trees. Students also develop an understanding that forests serve as a habitat for a variety of living things, and study the role of trees in an ecosystem || Students investigate the effects of trees on the immediate environment using thermometers. They will be using the school’s new ‘ipad’ lab to document the information using evernote. It would be good to have them participate in the decision process or at least observe the decision process that determines which plants will be used. || I would like these students to participate in some of the mentoring that goes on between the older students and the younger students- somewhat of a ‘leader in training role’. ||
 * ** Grade Level ** || ** # of students ** || ** Topic ** || ** Activities ** || ** Tools ** || ** Collaboration Suggestions ** ||
 * Grade 1 ||  || Social Studies: Citizenship- Home School, Community
 * Grade 2 || 41 ||  || View the site from the webcam and discuss which insects might make the green space their habitat. || Worksheet, pencils, crayons || Have a horticultural student come in and do a presentation. ||
 * Grade 3 || 20 || Rocks and Minerals || Students have been collecting, studying, testing and documenting rocks -their colour, texture and various minerals for hardness (they each have their own webpages with all of their info). They woucld like to donate their collections to a rock garden and make their information accessible to the public. || develop **QR codes** so that visitors can access the students webpages to find out more information about the rocks in the rock garden from their mobile devices. || Have High School students edit student work and help them develop QR codes that link to their work.
 * Cost- ** would need to have QR codes encased in some kind of plaque or non-reflective casing that is weather resistant/ ||
 * Grade 4 || 20 || Plant Growth and changes || research and document common plants and classify them based on characteristics and uses. Research and document plant requirements for growth: air, light, energy, water, nutrients and space and how that varies from plant to plant. Measure and graph plant growth. || Students use **Diigo** to collaborate with peers and experts on articles and websites that have useful information. They use **Blogger** to compile that information and ask questions to experts in the field.
 * Grade 5 || 18 || Wetland Ecosystems || Students are researching ecosystems and the number of living (biotic) and non-living
 * Grade 6 || 21 || Trees and Forests || Students examine and identify local species of trees and recognize the characteristics of different types of trees. They develop skills in describing

These topics are directly related to our curriculum. I have made some suggestions for collaboration but they are merely that – suggestions. Any feedback or other ideas are certainly welcome.

As you can see our school is fortunate to have been given the opportunity to work with many new and innovative technologies. One initiative that we are really excited about is mobile learning with the ipads and itouches. Our grade 4 and 6 classrooms are currently piloting the project but we hope to extend it in coming years to the other grade levels. Each of these students is currently working on their own Personal Learning Network (PLN) maps. This assignment will allow them to add many more ‘nodes’ to their networks. Integral to this assignment is demonstrating good digital citizenship, which they will also have the opportunity to demonstrate.

Our students tend to catch on very quickly, even the younger ones- In fact it was one of our grade 4 students who suggested creating QR codes to make their blogs more accessible. They never cease to amaze me! If you get the opportunity to talk with any of these amazing young people, I encourage you to ask them about the projects they are working on- you’ll be surprised at how much you can learn from them!

Our students and staff could also help with the planting and weeding, though I am very concerned about the safety of our youngest students It would be nice to organize individual “companions” for each of them during the field trips.
 * Safety and Maintenance **

I see this project as not only a wonderful opportunity to collaborate and contribute to the community but I also think it can have a real lasting effect on our students as they grow and evolve with it. Their involvement will give them a sense of ownership.


 * Collaboration **

I’ve provided some suggestions on collaboration in the table above. I realize there is a pretty lengthy list and you may not be able to commit to all of them. Please provide your thoughts in the sections below and I will work with the other teachers at my school to fill in the gaps where necessary.

Margo - Is there any way the kindergarden or pre-school kids could be involved? Laura - I think they could be involved in colouring and learning about some of the elements of the ecosystem in the roof. Matching activities, using pictures to identify basic parts of the plants, what do you think Jackie? Yes I agree Laura, the kindergarten and preschool students can take part in the field trips. Having them complete colouring worksheets is a good idea. I will work with the kindergarten teacher to see how this could fit into his curriculum planning.

**Grade 1** - Laura - We give tours all the time in the greenhouses. I can't guarantee that students will be available all the time, but we can find a staff or faculty member to support the visits to the greenhouse. Jackie: Great! We can arrange to have the kindergarten (which is a small class) and the grade 1 and 2s collaborate so that they come on the same day. We can divide them into groups so that the students who are not touring, can complete their worksheets and then switch off. **Grade 2**- Laura - College can support greenhouse visits with staff and/or hort. students.

**Grade 3** – Greg L - Town PLanner - I love the QR codes suggested for the Grade 3/4's. The town has access to sign making facilities for our road signs and I'm sure I could convince council to support the printing and weatherproofing of the QR tags. Jackie: I know, I really think there is so much potential for the use of QR tags. Exploring culture and community is a large part of the grade 1-3 social studies curriculum. I think having them involved in something that leaves a permanent mark allows students to examine their own sense of belonging in our community. This promotes students’ development of citizenship and identity. Laura - help me understand - the Living Roof will not be accessible, right? Once the roof is constructed and complete, there will not be a "path" for visitors to walk on. Greg L - The roof will only be accessible during school operating hours for safety reasons the architect says. To allow it to be virtually accessible 24X7 I envisioned a sign/model at ground level with pictures of the plants, layout, etc with QR Codes embedded on the model/sign where visitors could use QR reader software to see more info about the various plants or sections of the roof. We could permanently leave the webcam operating and visitors could access the pictures/video by way of a QR code.

**Grade 4** – Laura - yes, we can assign a group of students to each Blog so students get comments. We can also tweet the blog links if that's okay to solicit comments from the science folks who follow us. Jackie: This sounds like a wonderful opportunity to expand on the student's PLNs!!

**Grade 5** – Greg L - Town Planner - If a local college student is not available but you find someone elsewhere who is willing and able I want you to know that town council chambers has **Polycomm video conferencing / telepresence equipment** that your class could come down and use. It is better quality than **Skype** but whatever works for the teacher. I just wanted to put it out there that we have the gear and could make it available if a local presenter is not possible. Just an option. Laura - Maybe a faculty member would be a better choice as students get pretty tied up in course work and projects. Great idea!

**Grade 6** - Josh- Jr. High School Science Teacher- I am really excited about the opportunity to plan a collaborative inquiry project that engages your students, my students and the high school students in contributing to the plan for this work. As posted in collaboration 4 I envision a project something along the lines of the overview below which could fit really well with the grade 6 trees and forests curriculum. I will create a google doc UbD planning template, share it with you and Deborah, and we can start working through the design of this cross grade collaboration. "Students could work in small groups along with High School Students (collaboratively on Google Apps/Model/skype) and with input from Elementary Students (ftof/skype/vc) to create landscape design plans using criteria developed by “EverGreen” professionals and with support from Evergreen specialist (via blog/twitter), college students (f2f or Skype, VC, YouTube videos, slideshare) and Greg W (face to face/skype). The designs could be evaluated by a panel of experts (Greg L, EverGreen representative, Margo, Greg W, administrators from 4 schools) and the winning design could contribute to the design used for the roof."

Laura - In my discussions with Kaylea, I was under the impression that no input on the design was possible. We also offered to provide input and collaborate on the design as our students complete landscape design courses in the program.

Kaylea - Hi laura and jackie, this is not the case as was identified in collaboration meeting 6. please have a look at the construction phase presentation and spreadsheet where this was discussed.

think the digital collaborations listed will work nicely for this purpose.
 * Grade 6 **- Deborah - Sunnyville High - Hi Josh and Jackie, I would welcome this type of collaboration. The students would benefit greatly from this. I noticed a living wall in the approved design. However, no has mentioned it so far. I will be bringing this up on week 3 to determine if our students could work on this. This collaboration would work on that as well. Check out the high school collaboration discussion for more details. On another note, I

Other comments:
 * **Re: Safety and Maintenance -** Your friendly industry specialist at EverGreen Roofing is happy to see that the majority of your proposed collaborations with students in this young age group are focused primarily after construction. This is very positive, as the involvement of younger students during construction obviously poses some safety and liability concerns. As far as post-construction maintenance, student involvement and buddy systems for maintenance and perhaps re-planting is a great idea. Initial planting would however need to be completed by our qualified technicians. I am glad to see safety is already one of your major considerations. [Kaylea, Industry Specialist]


 * **Re: Greenhouses, Rock Garden, Pond -** You have mentioned a number of potential design considerations for the living roof that would complement the elementary curriculum. These features can all be taken into account in the design phase of construction, and I will be sure to highlight with my contractors that they would benefit the curriculum. [Kaylea, Industry Specialist]


 * **Re: QR Code Encasement -** This sounds like a fantastic idea for your students and the community alike. This is not something I have seen implemented in previous projects so I would be very interested in how it turned out. I would just like to note that this would be outside of EverGreen's landscape architecture and roofing expertise, so this is likely something you would have to contract out elsewhere. [Kaylea, Industry Specialist]


 * **Additional Collaboration Ideas -** My apologies, I am not a curriculum expert so I cannot pinpoint what age groups certain collaboration would be appropriate for. However, I would just like to make you aware that EverGreen does use Twitter and Blogger to document the construction phase. We also have access to recording equipment to stream video of the construction process. We find this is a good way to get the community engaged in the construction process without presenting safety or liability risks. [Kaylea, Industry Specialist]


 * As well, we will be releasing EverGreen Living Roof Safety learning modules to all Sunnyville students and faculty

**Jackie : Excellent! Thank you so much for your valuable feedback Kaylea. I will be sure to have our students add Evergreen to their PLNs.**

NEW: Our grade 6 students have just created a hash tag #sunnygrrf, where they will begin posting questions they have about green roofs. If you have any feedback for them, please feel free to answer them there. Twitter has only recently been accepted by our administration as a tool to be used for educational purposes. There are still many teachers and parents who are wary but I think this is wonderful opportunity to demonstrate digital citizenship.

Thank you!

Jackie Doherty Grade 4 teacher at Sunnyville Elementary School