From Start to Finish

Have you ever wondered how something is made?  

Where do we get the resources to make all the things we use every day?  

These were two questions that helped launch a unit of study as we traced the development of a product from a natural resource to a finished product. 

We began with an open sort of items and students were asked to sort them in any way that they thought would make sense.  We learned there was one secret way to sort the times.  

The different ways we sorted

Things we use and Trash

Things that are not flexible and Things that are flexible

Plants and Not Plant

Things you find inside and Things you find outside

One group guess the secret sort:

Things that are made by man and Things that are made by nature

Each group took a picture of their sort using our classroom iPad and then shared it with the class using AirServe to explain their thinking. 

Then we went on a walk around our school to find more examples of natural resources.  We took pictures of what we found using our classroom iPad.  We also read a passage from our social studies textbooks and viewed a video about natural resources to get more information.

Next, some students were given a clip art picture of a natural resource and a man made product and mixed around the room, using a Kagan cooperative learning strategy.  Students had to find their partner by matching the natural resource to the man-made product. As groups found each other, they were given a corresponding book from the start to finish series that explained how the product is made from the natural resource.  

After having time to explore each of the different books in the series, students broke themselves into groups and three and each group selected one of the books they would like to explore further.  

Groups read the book and discussed the process.  They then made a Flow Map (Thinking Maps) to trace the development of a product from a natural resource to a finished product. 

Because we wanted to share our learning with others, each group also created a short video to explain the process using Educreations.  We were inspired byt the book Tomorrow's Alphabet as we created our titles.  We added a QR code to our maps and sent an email out to our campus inviting students to view our work.  

 We also learned how to use the i-nigma app to scan other groups QR code to view their videos.

This unit addressed the following enduring understandings:

People depend on their physical environment, including natural resources, to satisfy their basic needs.

All goods begin with natural resources.

Below are the Educreations projects we made: