Grafton – For the past four months, First- and second-graders at Touchstone Community School in Grafton have immersed themselves in the study of the North American beaver.
Students have done a great deal of research using elementary informational texts, videos, field trips to Grafton Conservation Land, and close observations of both a taxidermy beaver loaned from Broadmeadow Brook Conservation Center and skulls loaned from the EcoTarium.
Students have been writing realistic fiction tales as well as stories depicting social skills problem solving all with beaver protagonists. They’ve been acting out these stories with their hand-sewn beaver puppets and decoupaged beaver masks. They also put themselves in the webbed feet of a beaver, thinking about the beaver’s abilities and needs, in order to build dam and lodge prototypes in the school’s I-Lab and classroom block area.
Students have been generating questions, making predictions, seeking out answers, sharing knowledge, and conducting scientific conversations. This incredibly integrated study came about because students in the 6- to 8-year-old class were interested in studying a local animal that creates underground (or underwater) tunnels. This exploration of beavers has helped the class to not only develop their research and writing capabilities and nourish their fascination with animals, but it has also helped to strengthen their empathy skills.
A particularly significant part of the study came about with the help of the school’s garden educator and assistant head of school, as they guided the children in using the “design thinking model” in order to build dam and lodge prototypes. This process supports critical thinking and empathy skills since students needed to think of the needs and abilities of a beaver, define the problem, generate ideas, build the prototype, and then test the model and redesign as needed. The children even made small clay beavers to add to their prototypes.
While students were able to take part in most of their study on their school’s wooded eight-acre campus, they also spent some time doing research on Grafton Conservation Land near George Hill Road. There they observed chewed and felled trees, and a lodge in the distance. The class visited the same site on multiple occasions so that they could notice changes in the land. Grafton Land Trust has been an amazing collaborator with this study as they recently awarded the school with a mini-grant to purchase wildlife cameras to observe animal footage on campus. Students look forward to setting up these cameras and tracking animal activity in the spring.
For more information about Touchstone Community School, visit www.touchstoneschool.com or call 508-839-0038.
