Purpose
Students investigate “If our city could talk, what would it ask us?” by combining ELA, reading, writing, math, science, social studies, and the arts to design a more thoughtful shared space. Working with U.S. Fish & Wildlife and community voices, teams research local places, create and test a prototype, and revise it through weekly reflection and feedback from peers, teacher-approved AI tools, families, and community members. Students apply age-appropriate broadcasting and podcasting practices to produce poetry, scripts, stories, live performances, films, or audio pieces. The project culminates in a poetry slam, storytelling pop-up booths, and an exhibition of learning for families and K–8 learners.
Learning goals
Students will investigate “If our city could talk, what would it ask us?” through research, reading, writing, discussion, habitat observations, mapping, measurement, data displays, and study of civic decision-making. They will collaborate with peers and U.S. Fish & Wildlife to design evidence-based proposals that support people, plants, and animals in a shared space. Using age-appropriate broadcasting and podcasting workflows, students will create poetry, scripts, live performances, filmed stories, or audio pieces, then improve prototypes through peer, teacher-approved AI, parent, and community feedback. Students will document growth in weekly reflections and present revised work through a poetry slam, storytelling booths, and a Living Words exhibition for families and K–8 learners.
Products
Students will create Connection to Place journals with weekly reflections, research notes, interview findings, bioblitz data graphs, maps, and writing that explore, “If our city could talk, what would it ask us?” Teams will develop a shared-space proposal through sketches, scripts, scale models, grid-paper plans using area and perimeter, signs, and artist statements informed by U.S. Fish & Wildlife expertise. At a prototype event, students will share draft poems, stories, performances, podcasts, or broadcasts and revise them using peer, AI-supported, and family or community feedback. The final K–8 campus and family exhibition will feature a poetry slam, pop-up storytelling booths, live or filmed theatre, broadcast-ready recordings, visual displays, and team pitches for the Living Words space.
Launch
Transform the room into a “Living Words Newsroom” where teams investigate city sound clips, wildlife images and data, maps, place stories, and a recorded challenge from U.S. Fish & Wildlife and the principal. Students read, observe, measure, and record a 30-second theater, poetry, podcast, or broadcast response to “If our city could talk, what would it ask us?” using clear audio, source credit, and purposeful visuals. Teams share their first recordings, offer kind, specific, helpful feedback, and create a Need-to-Know board followed by a brief reflection. Close by revealing that teams will research, write, prototype, and revise with peer, AI, parent, and community feedback before presenting a poetry slam, storytelling booths, performances, and broadcasts to families and K–8 learners.
Exhibition
Host a “Living Words: Voices of Our Place” exhibition for families, K–8 learners, U.S. Fish & Wildlife, and local decision-makers. Teams present habitat design prototypes, research, maps, math-based plans, bioblitz graphs, artist statements, and proposal writing through a poetry slam, pop-up storytelling booths, live theatre, recorded scripts, and student-produced podcast or broadcast segments. Before the exhibition, hold a prototype event where peers, families, and community partners offer “I like, I wish, What if” feedback; students may also use teacher-approved AI feedback to revise while checking all suggestions against their evidence. Provide performance and nonperformance roles, then close with a weekly reflection that revisits, “If our city could talk, what would it ask us?”
