Sustainability+and+SEEDFOLKS

=**SUSTAINABILITY and //SEEDFOLKS//: An ELA/ELL Unit of Study**=



__What is Sustainability?__
**Sustainability: Learning how to live well in our places without undermining their ability to sustain us over time**

Source: World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED). Our Common Future. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987, p.43.
=__ **//What is Seedfolks?//** __=

__**Overview:**__
= = ===In this tradebook, thirteen very different individuals each tell a story (one chapter each) of their personal involvement and social interactions in the creation of a community garden. Each individual comes to the fledgling garden with a different story. Each individual leaves the garden with a better sense of interdependency, sustainability, and responsibility. In all, students are exposed to sixteen different perspectives (some of the individuals bring a friend!) of how individuals can collectively take care of the commons and learn to live well for the common good.=== ===**"God Almighty first planted a garden," Sir Francis Bacon once noted. In Paul Fleischman's novel //Seedfolks//, a junk-strewn, rat-infested city lot is transformed into an urban oasis, a process that transforms the gardeners' lives, as well. From the day when the secret plantings of a nine-year-old Vietnamese girl named Kim are discovered to be nothing more illicit than lima beans, the ugly lot is headed for changes. Neighboring apartment dwellers of all ages and many cultural backgrounds begin planting there, too, and soon a new society is formed.**===

=__** UNIT TITLE: Working together and creating change for the common good **__=

__Essential Question:__ __How can we work together to build a sustainable future in our school and community?__

 * __The EfS (Education for Sustainability Standards) addressed in this unit of study and aligned Enduring Understandings:__**
 * 1. We are all in this together. (Interdependency)**
 * 2. We recognize and protect the Commons. (Tending to the Creations of Society and Nature)** **(The Commons - Places we all share)**
 * 3. We reconcile individual rights with collective responsibilities. (Participation and Leadership)**
 * 4. It all begins with a change in thinking. (Thinking Drives Behavior, Behavior Causes Results)**
 * 5. We can all create change in our sphere of influence. (Create a goal, and solve one problem at a time.)**
 * 6. We recognize that healthy systems have limits.** **(Sustainability)**

=Unit of study overview and lessons link:=

[[file:kohmhoffmanSeedfolks final2.doc]]
===This unit of study (for ELA/ELL students with special education accommodations) was created by Linda Hoffman and Paula Kohm during the Cloud Institute (July 19-24, 2009) for Sustainability Education (371 7th Avenue, NYC). This unit asks students to read the tradebook //Seedfolks// as a springboard for understanding and reflecting on the Education for Sustainability Standards. //The Lorax// by Dr. Seuss is also worked into the unit in order to sensitize students initially to the issues of the destruction of natural resources through human actions. In addition, students study other sustainability issues that relate to the notion of taking care of the commons (places that we all share) and of having a sense of participation and leadership.=== =__Other useful resources:__=

=__Differentiation through Teacher/Student Choice: A MUST SEE__= Seedfolks Novel Ties Study Guide - Great vocabulary activities, discussion questions, writing prompts, graphic organizers for pre, during, and post reading activities

=__**SEEDS: The Promise of Life (A MUST SEE):**__= =**http://www.kidsgardening.com/special/seed-news/Seeds2.pdf**= = = =__**SEEDS feed the world (A MUST SEE):**__= =**http://www.kidsgardening.com/special/seed-news/seedsfeed-03.pdf**=

=__**KIDS GARDEN NEWS: Propagation of Plants**__= =**http://www.kidsgardening.com/2005.kids.garden.news/april/pg1.html**=

=__**Other Curriculum Connections for SEEDFOLKS:**__= =**http://www.audiobookshelf.com/seedfolk_cc.html**=

=__**Videos about school gardens**__= =**__The seedfolks of room 324:__ http://schoolgardenweekly.com/school-garden-news/the-seedfolks-of-room-324**= =__**Growing minds - installing an educational school garden:**__= =**http://schoolgardenweekly.com/school-garden-news/growing-minds-installing-an-educational-garden**= =__**Winter flowers:**__= =**http://schoolgardenweekly.com/instructional-activities/winter-flowers**= =__**How to amend a bed:**__= =**http://schoolgardenweekly.com/instructional-activities/video-how-to-amend-a-raised-bed**= =**__How to plant seeds__:**= =**http://schoolgardenweekly.com/video/video-how-to-plant-seeds**= =__**Transplanting:**__= =**http://schoolgardenweekly.com/video/week-8-transplanting-video**=

= = = = =**A good way to begin the unit...**= =__Pre-assessment: DIVERSITY AND COMMUNITY ANTICIPATION GUIDE__= Have students read each statement to themselves. Have students circle "agree" or "disagree" for each statement according to their beliefs before reading the book //Seedfolks:// Tell students that they should be prepared to discuss their answers with the class.

Agree Disagree 1. People in a neighborhood always get along.

Agree Disagree 2. It is easy to make a difference your community or neighborhood.

Agree Disagree 3. Nature is a way for people to be drawn together.

Agree Disagree 4. One person can make a difference in the world.

Agree Disagree 5. Good things that happen in one part of the world do not affect things that are going on in other parts of the world.

Agree Disagree 6. People who do good things always know exactly whom they will affect.

Agree Disagree 7. People of different races should try to keep to themselves.

Agree Disagree 8. Sometimes differences in people do not matter.