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Using Ask the Planet in your classroom
Congratulations! If you’ve arrived here, chances are good that you are an educator who is interested in teaching kids ecological concepts in fun, empowering, multi-disciplinary ways. These lessons are meant to work in conjunction with the songs on the CD Ask the Planet. If you haven’t done so already, we encourage you to download the album or order a hard copy for use in your classroom.
Each teaching guide has six sections:
| Intro . . . . . . . . | background, the big ideas involved |
| Connections w/. . | keywords to help teachers find songs/lessons that relate to other subject areas |
| Objectives . . . . . | specific goals of the lessons provided |
| Discussion . . . . . | three to four questions to help get the students thinking together about the songs |
| Activities . . . . . . | activities of various scales |
| Vocabulary . . . . . | simple definitions of potentially unfamiliar words used in the songs |
We did not include time estimates for each activity, because our hope and expectation is that you will adapt our suggestions around your diverse teaching styles rather than following our plans word-for-word.
Age Range
This curriculum was written with children in third through fifth grades in mind. However, many activities could be adapted for slightly older or younger students. We have suggested some possible modifications, using the term “grow it” to show how an activity could be made more sophisticated or complex, and “shrink it” when we are describing a simplification.
Equipment
To download and use these teaching guides you will need:
- a copy of Ask the Planet (order here)
- a CD player
- Adobe Reader (available here)
- a printer (each guide is approximately two to three printed pages)
Generally, no additional equipment is needed.
Thank you for sharing this music with the children in your lives, and thank you for experimenting with these lessons. We can’t wait to learn from your experience.
Curriculum written by Amy Martin, Ask the Planet songwriter, with assistance from Sam Stier, Director of K-12 Education, The Biomimicry Institute.
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Copyright 2007 - 2008 The Biomimicry Institute