Kid vs Wild Unit Study

This unit study will include STEAM and Social Studies and great stories!

Students will be engaged in exploring the great outdoors in their local area as they read to great books: Smack Dab in the Middle of Maybe by Jo Watson Hackl  recommended for grades 3-7, and My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George recommended for grades 4-8.

Both books feature main characters who are using survival skills as the live on their own.

“Eleven days, thirteen clues, and one kid who won’t give up. In Smack Dab in the Middle of Maybe, 12-year-old Cricket and a field cricket named Charlene find adventure in an overgrown ghost town in Electric City, Mississippi. They follow a thirty-year-old clue trail left by an eccentric artist in search of a secret room that may or may not exist–all to try to win back Cricket’s run-away mother. Cricket must use her wits and just a smidgen of luck to live off the land in a Mississippi winter and put together the pieces of an increasingly baffling puzzle. As she works toward uncovering the final clues, Cricket meets the reclusive last resident of the ghost town, enlists the help of a poetry-loving dog, and takes up a touch of grave-robbing. in the great outdoors. Cricket in Smack Dab in the Middle of Maybe.”

“In My Side of the Mountain, Sam Gribley is terribly unhappy living in New York City with his family, so he runs away to the Catskill Mountains to live in the woods - all by himself. With only a penknife, a ball of cord, 40 dollars, and some flint and steel, he intends to survive on his own. Sam learns about courage, danger, and independence during his year in the wilderness, a year that changes his life forever.

In this unit study students will engage in activities that will introduce them to woodlands, survival skills, foraging, outdoor cooking, and recipes.

Students will be expected to read the book and participate in class discussions and activities.

There will be homework assignments and each student will be expected to keep a journal during class. The journal should include written entries and or sketches of animals or plant life seen in nature. The entries can also include weather observations, temperatures, and time of day.

As a part of the class, we will take walks in the community to make observations and discover similarities to those plants, animals, and conditions in the books.

The Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics found in both books will be pointed out and students will be given the opportunity to participate in activities related to them.

Both Sam and Cricket have to survive outdoors in the woods without human companionship. Students will discover what they did to find food, stay safe and provide shelter.  How long can they each live like that and what dangers will they face?  Answers to these questions and many others will be answered as students read and discuss the two books.

Each registered student should borrow or purchase a copy of the books and read them.  Students should have a notebook as a journal to write down questions, ideas, and other notes pertaining to the books.

Students will be provided handouts and outer written material via email to download and or print.

There will be activities recommended for students to do with adult supervision or do with the family.

Literature and grammar will be included in the course as we examine the writing style of the authors.  STEAM education activities will also be a part of the course.  Drawings and descriptions of animals and plants and weather conditions should be entered in the journal.  More instruction about the journal will be provided.

Classes will meet on Wednesdays, 2:30-3:30 pm, beginning January 31

February 7, 14, 21, 28

March 6, 13, 20, 27

April 3, 10, 17, 24

May 1, 8   Total class sessions:  15