In continuing the idea of engaging, enhancing, and extending the curriculum, this lesson plan was designed to teach students about a national river within my home state and to extend their learning to include such functional tasks as being able to write directions (while using a map). It includes a presentation that can be shared with students that includes various links and examples. This portion of the presentation prepares students for the two main assignments: writing directions to a cabin and designing an invitation that allows students to show what they learned about the Buffalo River.
This unit is filled with possible extensions, such as comparing and contrasting different parts of the Buffalo River or studying specific aspects of the ecosystem. (The Arkansas Game and Fish Commision has booklets detailing fish species, etc., that are native to the state.) Students typically enjoy getting to pretend to go on a vacation and choosing where they will stay. Additionally, students get to be creative with the final part of the lesson: designing an invitation. This lesson also provides plenty of opportunity for scaffolding and supporting students. For example, there is a linked Google doc in the presentation that has a word list and sentence frames. The teacher can adjust each student's supports as needed. This LINK will open to the Google slides presentation that is intended to be shared with students. If you enjoyed this lesson plan or have feedback, please leave me a comment.
