To the Teacher:
This start-of-the-school year reflection invites students to connect to their natural surroundings. With a focus on gratitude, students will explore how nature influences and positively impacts them. This lesson also invites students to reflect on how they can build their connection to nature in the future.
Note: This lesson’s timing is flexible and can be completed in one class period or split up over two class periods.
Photo by Mikita Yo on Unsplash
Gathering:
Excerpt from Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer:
“Rain fulfills its duty as it falls because it was given the gift of sustaining life. What is
the duty of humans? If gifts and responsibilities are one, then asking, “What is our responsibility?” Is the same as asking “What is our gift?” It is said that only humans have the capacity for gratitude. This is among our gifts.”
Read the excerpt aloud. If possible, share it on screen while it is being read or have the excerpt available to distribute as a handout.
Prompt: What do you think the author means? How does it make you feel? What thoughts or connections are you making?
- Have students turn and talk to someone close to them (in pairs or groups of 3-4).
- Guide them to have everyone in their group share and to share one at a time. After everyone has shared, they can have a conversation and respond to what one another shared.
- Invite them to have one person in the group ready to share back what was discussed to the larger group.
- As a whole group, invite each small group member to share their key takeaways from the conversation.
- Invite students to share any impressions or questions they may have about what was shared. Take some time here to have a rich and lengthier conversation if students are engaged.
- Thank everyone for participating
Part 1: Our Connection to Nature
Invite students to reflect on how they connected with nature over the summer - whether they left their neighborhoods or not. They can also share how they have connected with nature during previous summers
Create a Matrix of their reflections
- Hand out post-it notes and markers
- Set up a space where the Matrix can live - like a wall, back of a door or whiteboard.
- Invite students to write down how they connected to the natural elements over the summer. The elements are earth, water, air, and fire. Use one post-it per response. They may contribute as many responses as they like.
Examples:
- I went swimming (water)
- I enjoyed the night sky from a rooftop (air)
- I barbequed with my family (fire)
- I picnicked in the park (earth)
If students are challenged by this request, encourage them to think about how their daily actions may be connections to natural elements, ex: taking a shower (water), having air conditioner or a fan (air), cooking on the stove (fire), walking their dog (earth)
Once students have filled out their post-its, have them reconvene with the same small groups they were in before.
Ask them to:
- Take turns sharing what they wrote.
- Notice the similarities and differences in their reflections.
Answer: If you can do anything next summer (no barriers or limitations) that connects you more to nature, what would it be?
- They each take a turn sharing and then can have a conversation about what was shared.
- Have students place their post it notes on the Word Matrix space.
Part 2: Our Connection to Gratitude
Introduce: The Words that Come Before All Else—Onondaga Tribe/Nation
Robin Wall Kimmerer, author of the excerpt we started today's circle with, shares that where they reside, the school week begins and ends…with The Words that Come Before All Else, also known as the Thanksgiving Address. Starting the day with this is a statement of identity and an exercise of sovereignty, both political and cultural. It sets gratitude as the highest priority.
- As a class, you will read part of it together: Go around the circle and have each student read one line of until everyone has read a line. The complete text can be found here.
- After everyone has read a line, ask for impressions, feelings, experiences, and thoughts.
- Introduce what’s next: Students will be demonstrating gratitude for one natural element or connection that they have to nature.
Part 3: Expressive Gratitude
Using your Matrix as inspiration, students will express their gratitude through writing or drawing. To tune into gratitude, invite students to consider current events and how they are impacting our planet - lives and homes were recently lost on the island of Maui due to wildfires, deforestation driven by capitalism is displacing thousands of people, and animals and the corals reefs in the Florida are dying due to rising water temperatures.
- Invite students to select one post-it from the Matrix—the one that is speaking to them the most at this moment, one that may reflect what they are grateful for.
- They can choose a post-it that is not their own.
- Students can go up in small groups, by tables, by rows—whatever works best for your space and classroom culture. While students are selecting, writing, and drawing materials can be distributed.
- Once they have selected a post-it, students will have a set amount of time to create an expressive gratitude (written or drawn) inspired by what is on the post-it.
- All interpretations of what is written are welcome. They don't have to literally respond to what is written.
- They can use the way The Words that Come Before All Else was written as inspiration and exemplar.
Closing Go-Round:
After students have created their expressive gratitudes, close out by inviting everyone to share what they created. Give thanks to the planet and thanks to each other.
Collectively read the excerpt from Braiding Sweetgrass:
“Rain fulfills its duty as it falls because it was given the gift of sustaining life. What is
the duty of humans? If gifts and responsibilities are one, then asking, “What is our responsibility?” Is the same as asking “What is our gift?” It is said that only humans
have the capacity for gratitude. This is among our gifts.”