Wisconsin Almanac: Using Siftr to increase student awareness of the seasonal changes in nature

Overview:

Once each month, students will use the Wisconsin Almanac Siftr to document the seasonal changes in the natural world around them. Students will:

1. post and caption a photo that will serve as evidence of seasonal change.
2. accurately indicate the correct location where the image was taken
3. record temperature data
4. compare their observations to those made by the naturalist Aldo Leopold in his classic work A Sand County Almanac.

Activity goals

• Students will become familiar with the work of Aldo Leopold
• Students will become more aware of seasonal changes in nature
• Student will see that more data points provide more accurate observations

The process

Step 1: Introduce students to Aldo Leopold’s A Sand County Almanac

• Let students know that Aldo Leopold did not write for middle school students
• Front-loading major concepts, using visuals, and reading the essays to students will ease young readers into the format of Aldo Leopold’s writing
• Older students should be encouraged to read the essays independently
• Ask students to list and plans, animals, or natural phenomena they heard during the reading

Step 2:  Introducing students to Siftr

• have each student create an account on Siftr.org. It is easier to do this from a desktop computer than from a mobile device. Usernames are visible to the public so consider having students avoid using their real names. Student ID numbers are a good option because they have no identifying value outside of the school district.
• step students through the process of posting to Siftr. Consider creating a simple shifter for this process that can be deleted at the end of the lesson.

Step 3: Monthly posts to the Wisconsin Almanac Siftr

• direct students to the Wisconsin Almanac Siftr.
• explain the monthly expectations

Step 4: Monthly whole-group sifting sessions using the  Wisconsin Almanac Siftr

• as a group, explore the posts that students have made
• Ask students to identify any patterns they see.

Step 5: Each month have students independently Sift the Wisconsin Almanac Siftr

• Ask students to compare the posts from the current month with posts from the previous month
• Ask students to identify any patterns they see.

Extensions

• Encourage students to send the Wisconsin Almanac Siftr link to a relative who lives in another part of the country. This would allow comparing seasonal changes in Wisconsin to that of Nebraska or Honolulu.

Teacher responsibilities

• Create a Siftr for your students to use. See
• Ensure that students are familiar with using Siftr
• Ensure that students have access to technology either in school or out
• Provide an alternative activity for student unable to access district technology
• Instruct students in Online safety rules, such as no faces, and no full names.
• Provide a class set of Aldo Leopold’s A Sand County Almanac

Students without smartphones

• Images can be taken with someone else's phone and emailed to students school email address
• Images can be posted using school-based desktop computers

Standards

Wisconsin Standards for Science

• WI.SCI.CC7.m
  

Wisconsin Standards for Environmental Literacy and Sustainability

• WI.ELS.C1.C.m

Language Arts Standards

• WI.ELA-Literacy.L.7.3
• WI.ELA-Literacy.L.8.3
• WI.ELA-Literacy.L.9-10.3
• WI.ELA-Literacy.L.11-12.3

Assumptions

This activity assumes that the user is familiar with the Siftr app from the Field Day Lab at UW-Madison and that their students have the basic skills to needed to post to a Siftr in a student-safe format.   This video from Field Day Labs  will be helpful. Introduction to Siftr

Modifications

The original Wisconsin Almanac Siftr can be found at: https://siftr.org/almanac/. You can create your own Wisconsin Almanac Siftr by using the Recipe for Recreating the A Wisconsin Almanac Siftr linked here.