Nature Numbers
School: Capital City Public Charter School
City/State: Washington, DC
Grade(s): Pre-K, K
Format(s): Children's book
Subject(s): English Language Arts, Mathematics, Science and Technology, Visual Arts
Project Overview
This book was created by Pre-K and kindergarten students at Capital City Public Charter School in Washington, DC.
Students spent the entire year studying nature and related issues, such as recycling and gardening. They visited a park to surround themselves in nature and explore. At the same time, the class was studying numbers and reading counting books, and they decided to combine both of those studies by taking pictures of numbers in nature. Pairs of students worked together to find pictures of items that represented their assigned number. Through many visits to the park, they captured photos of numbers zero through ten.
Students then used the pictures as the class addressed standards related to number sense, combining them to understand addition and place value. The students took all of the pictures in the book, wrote and typed all of the text, and placed the correct number of dots for their assigned number on the page.
How This Project Can Be Useful
- Strong example of an interdisciplinary writing/science/math/visual arts project for young students
- Format is a fun way for young children to learn
- Careful observation of nature encourages appreciation for the natural world
- An example of a product with an authentic audience that serves a real purpose – teaching other students about numbers
- The quality of the printing, and the ability to share their work with others is empowering for students