Jeff and Alex have been collaborating and using outdoor spaces for creative and engaging opportunities. Alex explained the sixth graders Science class last week: “In this photo, students are making a map of the sport court from a bird’s eye view. Their job was to look around the sport court and add all the objects to their maps. They were considering scale and proportion (how big are the objects in relation to other objects), accuracy (how can we use the grid lines on the paper and the markers along the sides of the sport court to show where each item is), and perspective (from above, which objects would be visible and what would they look like from the top view)”

This cute llama stuffy participated in the science class to help students learn about perspective. Because its position is on top of the desk, the llama would appear in the bird’s eye perspective maps drawn by the sixth graders. However, the shoes beneath the other desk in the background, would not appear on the bird’s eye perspective maps. Jeff is working together with Alex to help the sixth graders build mapping skills as part of the field studies & ecosystems unit. Further explorations this week include understanding scale, slope, elevation, contour – and language – through creating relief maps. Hyla sixth graders are gaining new tools and perspectives!