Shannon and I have begun the Survival Unit with this year’s students.
She always starts with a few articles, such as Aron Ralston’s incredible story of perseverance as he faced certain death, or a story about a real life encounter with a grizzly. Then we move onto researching the gear, tools and rules needed to survive in the wild.
When our students buy into the survival theme, we introduce the book we’ve chosen to study.
This year, it’s Lost Trail, the graphic novel by Donn Fendler and Lynn Plourde, illustrated by Ben Bishop. We passed out the books. Let the kids handle them. Flip through the pages.
Before we read a word though, Shannon showed photos of her climb up Mt. Katahdin, and traversing Knife’s Edge.
Then we began to read.
Immediately, our students were hooked!
A couple chapters in, we introduced researching shelter building. What kinds are there, when would you use them, what materials did you need to build them?
They made a plan.
Then we DID IT!
Behind the school are trails . . .
where our students happily built their shelters of choice.
They’ve made so very many connections to Lost Trail! And are especially loving Ben Bishop’s illustrations.
Wait until you see their Pamola’s . . .