Designing A “Botanical Trail” to learn about plants and their cultural use in Catalonia: Part 1

Objectives:
1. To get to know each other.
i. Who are we? (Tony introduces himself, then students practice saying who they
are, I am (name), and I am in (number) grade.
ii. What do we usually do during this time (after lunch)?
2.To set the rules of our meetings.
i. Respect for the opinions of others
ii. How we go to the forest and come back to school
Iii. How should I participate in this activity? (individually/collectively, actively)
Iv. How to be respectful with Nature? (don’t walk on places with no trail, don’t
damage plants or disturb animals, leave nothing on the forest.
3.To find out what we already know about the forest Turull next to our school.
I. Tony elicits existing knowledge about the Turull forest from students to inform
the design of “Montseny School Nature Trails ”
4. To present and describe to students the project “Montseny School Nature Trails ”.
I. it is a project that seeks to create knowledge, admiration, and respect for the
natural surroundings of our school.
Ii. It will require that students be active designers of trails (identifying interesting
plants, or other aspects), and feel ownership of the product (Nature Trails)
Iii. The trail will be visited by others (peers, teachers, parents and community
members).
5. To familiarize ourselves with the English language (Tony will lead all activities in English).
• Description of Activity:
a. 1:30 pm. (at the school) Tony and Monitor of the group introduce Tony and the work he
will be doing with the group.
b. 1:35 pm. Tony and Monitor describe the rules of behaviour to be followed during the
activities in the forest and/or classes.
c. 1:40 pm: The entire group leaves school and begins to walk to the forest choosing a
route selected by students.
d. 1:40-2:00 pm: During the walk Tony & Monitor discuss the project “Montseny School
Nature Trails ”, and how students will be active members of the design. Then, Tony &
Monitor asks students to point to plants (trees, shrubs, other plants) they are interested
in knowing more about and/or that other people should know about. Through this
activity, we can accomplish objective #3 because students may offer their knowledge of
the flora around the school.
e. 2:00-2:15 pm: The entire group gathers and walks back to school. Tony asks students to
think about how they will draw a map of the route they have just done so that other
people could take it and don’t get lost.
● Adaptation to different grade levels:
Grades
Adaptation
Ci (1rst/2nd)
Cm (3th/4th)
Content: The focus will be on rules, and asking students to point to things
they recognize during the route.
English: short sentences and emphasis on keywords (Leaves, Plants,
Forest, Trail, Hi, Hello, good bye, etc.).
Content: Focus on eliciting a route they think others would want to take,
and selecting organisms and things they find interesting, familiar, strange,
etc.
English: focus on pronouns (this, that, those, I, he, she) and short
sentences.
5th & 6th
Content: Focus on eliciting a route they think others would want to take,
and selecting organisms and things they find interesting, familiar, strange,
and how to construct a map of the route.
English: focus on pronouns (this, that, those, I, he, she), short sentences,
and structure of questions.

Getting to Know Each Other and the Natural Setting Around our School
Levels: All (CI; CM; 5/6) with adaptations to each level.