Symbiotic Schoolyard

[Janneke Petersen]

Hi Everyone,

Symbiotic Schoolyard is a new curricular resource: an Ecosystem Unit (grades 6-8) anchored by a native planting project in the schoolyard. Students take on the role of restoration ecologists to figure out how to increase the biodiversity of their schoolyard. They figure out, though 14 hands-on lessons, that native plant communities form the foundation of complex food webs. By planting native plants in their schoolyard, they can increase birds, bees, butterflies and a web of life. The unit can be adapted for grades 4-5.

I wrote this unit and it comes out of my experience as a middle school science teacher who wanted to do project-based units that solve environmental problems in our community (Seattle) but I could not find high quality, NGSS aligned curricular resources that supported this kind of teaching. So I spent 3 years writing my dream ecosystem unit.

The unit has been field tested by 7 teachers and reviewed by 3 Master teachers. It's a place-based unit that works ANYWHERE. It's a plug and play that works really well (you just create a set of organism cards for your bioregion using the templates and instructions provided). The unit includes everything you need to teach. No gaps.

I am SUPER PASSIONATE about supporting teachers in restoring biodiversity to their schoolyards as a part of this high quality ecosystem unit. I can support you in all aspects of this beyond providing the curriculum, including identifying a good planting site and connecting with local volunteers who can help you with the native planting project.

Check out my new website and the short video on the homepage and let me know if you're excited about this too :)

https://www.symbioticschoolyard.org/

Thanks all,

Janneke