Category: Project-Based Learning

8 Projects for My Side of the Mountain

My Side of the Mountain is a classic novel read year after year in upper elementary and middle school classrooms worldwide. Originally published in the 1950s, My Side of the Mountain has become a timeless novel that has captivated the minds and hearts of students who long for adventure. Let’s explore 8 projects for My Side of the Mountain.

Centered around nature, survivorship, adversity, escapism, isolation, and adventure, this novel is about Sam Gribley, a boy who runs away to the Catskill Mountains to live on the land by himself. With only a handful of items, Sam overcomes the danger of the outdoors such as a blizzard, an ice storm, and animals raiding his storage food. He learns to use his resources carefully, befriend animals, and survive on wild plants and animals, all while showing his bravery and determination. 

This novel is perfect for project-based learning. Sam Gribley spends a year living on the land and living out a project-based world himself. Learning from library books and some of the intelligent adults he encounters, Sam shows that education can be accomplished through using one’s hands. Learning by one’s hands is a crucial element for project-based learning. 

Below are 8 project-based learning activities your students can complete for My Side of the Mountain. 

Project 1: Shoebox Diorama

Sam Gribley successfully survives for a year largely due to his tree hollow. By digging out a cavity of a hemlock tree, he creates a cozy and safe environment to weather the elements of the mountains, stay warm, and protect himself from animals at night. Students can do a deep dive into the setting of the book by recreating Sam’s tree home by completing a shoebox diorama. Allow students to use a variety of materials including Lego blocks, real items from nature, art supplies, etc. to create their dioramas. Students must also reference the novel to make their diorama as accurate as possible.

Another alternative is for students to create a shoebox diorama of their very own tree home they would have if they were to live in the wild for a year like Sam. This allows students to deeply connect to the character of Sam. Perhaps they would do things completely different than Sam, like find a cave and create a moss bed instead. This would allow them to think about their very own survival setting.

Students and homeschoolers can utilize their backyard for this project. If students are in a traditional public school, they can document this journey through photos.

Project 2: Plant/Animal Journal 

Sam keeps a journal of his various activities, recipes, hunting/trapping tips, and more in a journal. Students can create a journal to help them follow along with the various informative pieces of the novel. Students will learn a great deal about specific plants and animals as they read the novel, and they can record this valuable information in a journal.

After reading each section, students record each plant and animal mentioned as well as the various bits of information Sam mentions. This journal can then become a springboard for a deeper project later on, such as a posterboard report about an animal or an interesting plant from the book.  

Project 3: Catskill Mountains Investigation

The Catskill Mountains, located in southeastern New York state, is the beautiful backdrop to Sam’s adventures. Students can delve into the novel’s setting by creating a presentation all about the Catskill Mountains.

Using Google Slides, Canva, or any other presentation platform, students can create an informative display featuring pertinent information about the mountains such as weather, climate, landscape features, animals, plants, and more. The best part? They can use the novel to find out most of the information for their presentation. 

Project 4: Survival Backpack

Sam takes a handful of items with him when he runs away to the mountains. He takes a pen knife, $40, a ball of chord, and an ax. Sam wanted to rely on the land and his ingenuity to survive.

Grab our free Digital

Survival Backpack Project here.

Challenge your students to think of 5-10 items they would take with them in a survival backpack. Students can create a posterboard with the items printed out or drawn with captions explaining each component of their survival backpack. Students could create this on Google Slides as well or bring in an actual backpack with the real items. Challenge students further by stating they must bring in items they find at home. (Fair warning: If a student wants to include something like an ax or matches in their backpack, have them draw or print out that item instead.) 

Project 5: Recipe Challenge

Sam uses his resources creatively and with inventiveness to cook and prepare his meals solely from the land. From acorn pancakes smeared with blueberry jam to deer steak and wild strawberries, Sam becomes quite the foraging chef.

Ask students to prepare one of the recipes found in the novel or a variation of one. Some ideas include fish wrapped in grape leaves, wild salad, turtle soup, and venison stew. Prepare a meal together in class or encourage students to prepare one at home (with the help of an adult) as a project and bring it in for their classmates to try. 

Project 6: Nature Art Project

Create a cross-curricular opportunity by allowing students to sketch the beauty of nature in a journal or on art paper. Sam’s journal includes amazing sketches of his surroundings.

Students can connect with Sam by drawing the nature they find outside the school building or in their backyards. Challenge them to write captions of their drawings to detail the pictures just like Sam did in the book. 

Project 7: Newspaper Article/Video Report 

Toward the end of the novel, Sam’s friend, Bando, brings him a variety of newspaper articles that feature a wild boy living in the mountains and living off the land. Sam was shocked that he was a local sensation. He also struggled because his privacy was violated. Students can pretend to be newspaper writers and create an article all about the “wild boy.” They can interview various people that he has encountered, and even featuring an interview with Sam himself. 

Furthermore, students can write an article to read aloud like a news report and recorded for the class to see. 

Project 8: Inside Sam’s Head

My Side of the Mountain is a great book to explore the various types of conflicts in literature. Sam experiences each type of conflict as he wrestles with how to survive on the land completely by himself. One of the biggest conflicts he faces is an internal struggle between Sam vs himself. He battles with himself on wanting to stay isolated but also needing some sort of socialization. He contends with himself because he misses his family. However, Sam recognizes that his family is the reason he had to get away in the first place.

Students can explore Sam’s internal struggles by creating a poster showing the outline of Sam’s head. Inside the head, students will draw and write the various inner conflicts Sam faces. Students will include how each conflict is resolved. 

Conclusion

These various projects will engage your students. It will allow them to connect deeply to My Side of the Mountain in a hands-on, out-of-the-box way. I highly recommend My Side of the Mountain as a novel unit in your classroom. Students will be drawn to the adventures of Sam and the many active and intriguing learning opportunities. 

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Project Based Learning Ideas in Language Arts

Are you looking for ways to hold your students’ interest and ignite their passion for learning? Look no further! In today’s blog post, we will explore project based learning ideas that are guaranteed to engage and inspire your students. By integrating classroom learning with practical application, students will develop critical thinking, problem-solving, and collaboration skills. These are all essential skills needed for success in the 21st century. So, let’s get ready to transform your classroom as we dive into these awesome project based learning ideas!

Personal Classroom Experience

This year will be my second year teaching a strictly project based learning class. Last year, we tackled the real-world experience of creating a mini-golf course, complete with a restaurant. Students created websites, envisioned and implemented complex mini-golf courses with fun themes, and calculated prices. They also solved issues around seasonal scheduling, made advertisements, and tackled so many other challenges that arise when beginning and running a small business. It incorporated economics, math, art, design, engineering, and so much more. 

I have been utilizing project based learning far longer than teaching this particular class. From my students creating zoos to learn area and perimeter, from my history class completing WWII projects, to real-world science projects, it has always been one of my most favorite educational approaches. Chances are, you, as a teacher, have implemented project based learning, even if you didn’t realize it. 

Project Based Learning Definition

Project based learning is an educational method in which students learn through real-world experiences. PBL was first widely implemented around the 1960s in medical schools. Project based learning was quite active in the science and math world, especially in medicine, technology, and engineering. However, project based learning has been around much longer. John Dewey, an educational pioneer, in the late 1800s, was formative in project based learning. He believed students should not be passive learners in their education, but active participants. Researchers of project based learning trace this practice back to Confucius in 550 BCE. Confucius is famous for stating, “I hear and I forget. I see, and I remember. I do and I understand.” 

Student-Centered Approach to Education

One thing that can be agreed upon is that project based learning is simply education by “doing.” It is a student-led way of learning that involves giving choice and autonomy. In a nutshell, project based learning is a student-centered approach to education. Students solve real-world problems or learn a specific topic through exploration, engaging in research, collaborating with students, and applying their newly-acquired knowledge to solve problems or to display in a meaningful project. The project is edited, receives feedback, revised, and finally presented. Project based learning is less about the final product or destination, but more about the journey along the way. The learning is in the process with project based learning. 

5 Advantages of Project Based Learning

We have a more in-depth blog post about the 5 advantages of PBL, tips for implementing, and the characteristics of this educational method. We recommend starting there. 

Click to read more about PBL.

Project Based Learning Ideas in Language Arts

When doing a deep-dive into project based learning, there are so many opportunities to learn social studies, science, economics, and math through this approach. Language arts is an area where project based learning is not as readily explored. Since project based learning involves attempting to solve a real-world problem, and most of what students read in language arts is fictional, it can be hard to find a connecting point.

How Do We Do This in Language Arts? 

Within language arts, it may be challenging to find a real-world problem to solve. If it is not readily accessible, the approach of exploration and research can be utilized. Exploration and research is a subsect of PBL and can be easily used within language arts.

Project Based Learning Ideas in Themes

When reading a novel or short story with students, look at themes. What is the theme of what we’re reading? How can we take that theme and turn it into more research, exploration, and connection? How can we display our knowledge of this theme in a way that we can teach our classmates about something new?

Theme of Identity: The Outsiders by SE Hinton

When reading The Outsiders by SE Hinton, the theme of identity can be explored as students research the various social groups and identities students take on throughout school. Students can display their findings in a Google Slides, Canva poster, or Canva infographic. I have had students create their own identity group that is not readily known. One group of students created the Starbucks Girls Group and some of my male students created the Weights-Lifting Crew. Students dove into the specific theme of identity, connected with it on a personal level, researched, collaborated, and presented their findings in a meaningful display. 

Canva for Education

Theme of Unlikely Friendship: James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl

After reading James and the Giant Peach, by Roald Dahl, the theme of unlikely friendship can be explored as students create a poster showing each of James’ new friends, their connections, and special relationships. Students then, create their own display of their friends, from pets to classmates, from special family members to teammates. Students connected with the theme and characters, displayed their theme, and presented their connections. 

Theme of Loyalty: Rikki-Tikki-Tavi by Rudyard Kipling

Project based learning can work with picture books and short stories. After reading Rikki-Tikki-Tavi with sixth graders, students explored the theme of loyalty, while incorporating science, as they researched how mongooses are especially useful in yards in India because of their reputation for attacking and keeping out venomous snakes. This theme project can be presented in a variety of ways, incorporating choice for students. From an Canva informational brochure to a Google Slides presentation, students choose how they want to display their newly acquired information. 

Canva for Education

Theme of How Names Shape Our Identity: The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi

In The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi, students explore the theme of how names shape our identity by doing a deep-dive into their name meaning, interviewing their parents on how their name was chosen, and finally displaying their personality traits in an art activity. Grab this mini-project for free here: 

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PBL Cross-Curricular Opportunities in Language Arts

Project Based Learning Ideas: Settings

Many books incorporate real-world settings, even if it is fictional. Historical fiction novels are some of my favorite to teach because of how much real-world information students can learn, explore, and research. Authors incorporate real settings and time periods such as The Great Depression, Civil Rights movement, WWII, and so on and so forth as a backdrop for fictional characters. 

PBL: Setting and Historical Elements

Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz

In Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz, so many historical elements are explored from The Mexican Civil War, The Great Depression, The Dust Bowl, “Okies,” Immigration, and Repatriation to name a few. Students can connect with the setting of the novel and learn more about the history behind it in various projects. 

A huge theme in Esperanza Rising  is food. Each chapter is named after a fruit or vegetable they are harvesting or a dish they are making. Each of these food titles is symbolic of something in the story. Cooking, especially for this novel, is a project based learning activity that is quite hands-on, incorporates many standards, and allows the reader to connect to the deep theme of food. Food is crucial to the characters’ culture. Oftentimes, the dishes shows when they are in plenty and when they are lacking. Cooking is how they bond. The food dishes are also a comfort to Esperanza as everything else is changing around her. 

In our latest resource, we have included two specific recipes that were mentioned in the book that you can use with your class to teach Esperanza Rising.   

Grab our Esperanza Rising 14 Research Projects for the project specifically about the history behind the novel, along with other hands-on activities. 

Grab yours today.

For more activities on Esperanza Rising, take a look at a previous blog post.

Click here to read more.

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor

In Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor, the history of racism, prejudice, slavery, and The Great Depression are all traversed. Students can choose a topic in history to learn more about and display their findings through a quote and research project. This is a basic project any teacher can implement. Students pick a historical topic that acts as a setting in the book, and pull around 10 quotes from the novel that show this setting. Next, students connect the quote to the setting and to a real historical fact through pictures and explanation. Students display the quote, historical fact, and explanation in a type of spiderweb map either on posterboard or an online presentation. 

PBL: Setting and Science Fiction

The Wild Robot by Peter Brown

Setting does not always have to explore a historical time period, but can also investigate the location itself, while incorporating science. The Wild Robot by Peter Brown, takes place on a remote, wild island with many animal inhabitants. From bears to otters, from fish to deer, from foxes to geese, students have ample opportunity to research a specific animal from the island, complete a project, and present it to the class in a jigsaw cooperative strategy. 

Another intriguing setting investigation for this book involves figuring out where this specific island is located. The author never reveals the name of the island in the novel. Students can use text-based evidence to prove which island the author is referring to by investigating the types of animals on it, the climate, the landscape, and weather. Students then research various islands to come up with a hypothesis on the island Peter Brown picked for his book. 

Check out our The Wild Robot blog post here. 

Click here to read more.

PBL Cross-Curricular Opportunities in Real-World Problems

A big part of PBL is that students try to solve a real-world problem. This type of PBL is authentic. Many books, even if fictional, have real-world problems that students can tackle or even may have to face in their lives one day. Many of these real-world problems incorporate other subjects such as science, math, or social studies. 

In The Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner, the main character, Willy, faces a real financial problem. The farm he and his grandfather live on will be foreclosed due to back-taxes. Students can explore how to solve this problem if there were no dog-sled contest to win, or if Little Willy had not placed first. 

In Hatchet by Gary Paulsen, Brian Robeson, a thirteen year old boy, is stranded in the Canadian forest after his plane crashes into a lake. A project students can tackle is creating a raft diorama or mini version of a raft Brian could build and use to navigate a river off of the lake to find help. This is a real-world problem that students can face (even though we hope they do not). The River Raft project incorporates critical thinking, STEAM, and so much more.

Find this project along with more in our Hatchet 12 Research Projects (STEAM). 

Click here to grab yours today.

A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park is a novel that tackles real-world issues that affect real lives. 

Publisher’s Synopsis:

A Long Walk to Water begins as two stories, told in alternating sections, about two eleven-year-olds in Sudan, a girl in 2008 and a boy in 1985. The girl, Nya, is fetching water from a pond that is two hours’ walk from her home. She makes two trips to the pond every day. The boy, Salva, becomes one of the “lost boys” of Sudan, refugees who cover the African continent on foot as they search for their families and for a safe place to stay.

Enduring every hardship from loneliness to attack by armed rebels to contact with killer lions and crocodiles, Salva is a survivor, and his story goes on to intersect with Nya’s in an astonishing and moving way. Includes an afterword by author Linda Sue Park and the real-life Salva Dut, on whom the novel is based, and who went on to found Water for South Sudan.

Students can tackle the real-world project of finding water for Sudan. They can investigate how to avoid the long walks they must make. Last, they can compare it to the real-life Salva Dut and how he found a way to bring and keep clean water for South Sudan. A project of this scope can incorporate science, history, and social justice. 

Conclusion

Project based learning can be fully implemented in language arts classes. Students can explore theme, settings, and real-world problems present in literature. Thinking outside of the box and taking a student-centered approach, virtually any story or book can be investigated through project based learning. The key to remember is that students take the educational journey of learning along the way. It is not the destination, but what is learned throughout the project that matters most. We hope you will take some time to look at the literature you teach and how to best incorporate PBL in your classroom. 

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Check out our Printable Cursive Alphabet Posters with ELA Book Characters for your upper elementary to middle school classroom.

Grab yours today!

Each letter has the name and picture of a book character from an upper elementary to middle school novel. In addition, it not only helps with cursive handwriting but introduces students to characters from different upper elementary and middle

5 Advantages of Project-Based Learning

I am a tremendous fan of project-based learning or PBL. If a fellow colleague mentions PBL, my eyes light up and I get oh-so-excited! I am like a teacher with a new pack of flair pens or like a student with a homework pass! That’s how excited I get. With that, let’s dive into the 5 advantages of project-based learning in the classroom.

Project-based learning is a student-centered approach to education. Students solve real-world problems or learn a specific topic through exploration, engaging in research, collaboration with students, and applying their newly-acquired knowledge to solve problems or to display in a meaningful project. The project is edited, receives feedback, revised, and finally presented. Project-based learning is less about the final product or destination, but more about the journey along the way. The learning is in the process with project-based learning. 

The following picture displays a good summary of the sequence of project-based learning and the characteristics that make it up. 

5 Advantages of Project-Based Learning

There are numerous benefits for students who tackle a project-based approach to learning. 

1st Advantage of Project-Based Learning

When undertaking a project that relates to a real-world problem, students can see firsthand how what they’re learning relates to the environment we live in. Students can see WHY they’re learning this specific concept, because it does, in fact, circle back to an issue that affects the world and its inhabitants.

2nd Advantage of Project-Based Learning

Even if a project is not addressing a real-world problem, but is designed to thoroughly research and explore a subject, students can feel personally connected to their learning and become excited. This excitement creates student buy-in and they become an autonomous learner.

Project-based learning involves choice. This choice allows students to pick a topic or pick an avenue to display their knowledge that interests them. A typical book report can be presented in a variety of choices from creating a play’s script for those with writing interests, to creating a diorama for students that succeed in more hands-on activities. This choice gives students more educational motivation.

3rd Advantage of Project-Based Learning

Project-based learning doesn’t even feel like learning. Students engage in arts and crafts, research and exploration, experiments, etc. and thus connect personally to their education. Students become autonomous and self-directed learners. In a post-Covid educational culture, students can gain back that autonomy they feel they have lost, as so much choice was taken away from them in a variety of ways. This self-guided and exciting way of learning can spark joy into school again for many students. 

4th Advantage of Project-Based Learning

Project-based learning can touch on a variety of standards and objectives in fun and interesting ways. Projects are meant to be academically rigorous, but designed in a more fun way to approach learning. With project-based learning, students enjoy developing skills like critical thinking and practical application. 

5th Advantage of Project-Based Learning

PBL is student-centered. Once the project is explained, the teacher takes a step back. The student becomes the teacher within their own project. The teacher becomes the facilitator guiding the student in their learning. PBL pulls the teacher away from lecturing to the teacher being amongst the students as a educational guide to the exploration of their project.

As a teacher, it is wonderful. Educators can walk around the room, engaging in discussion, trouble-shooting, leading the students through various topics, and offering insight and guidance. Teachers can also take some time (gasp!) to sit down for a second and get some grading or lesson planning done as students work independently. It is a win/win situation. I have personally found that there is less behavioral issues during project-based learning. Going over a quick set of rules beforehand helps guide your students to their tasks for that class period. Because students are eager to explore their topic, their focus tends to be better and there is less classroom behavioral distractions. 

5 Tips to Incorporate Project Based Learning

Project-based learning is simple. It is just a matter of rethinking and reworking the objectives and standards being learned. 

1st Tip

Will your project be a summative assessment or part of the learning/unit? 

If the project is a type of assessment, then rethink how you can evaluate those standards without a traditional test. For instance, instead of taking a test on the 8 parts of speech, have students design a menu for their own restaurant in which they color-code the parts of speech on their menus.

Instead of having students take a formal assessment on their novel, think of how you can have students show what they’ve read through an interesting project such as a Pizza Box Report or through writing an Amazon Book Review. If formal assessments are a requirement at your school, assigning a project for independent reading is a great idea.

Grab your FREE Book Review today!

As a middle school English teacher, I assigned an independent book project every quarter. Students could choose a book they’d like to read and then they’d choose from a list of options. Some options included baking a cake that centered around a theme of their novel, designing a puzzle book based on their book, or even creating paintings with captions that detailed the book’s events. 

2nd Tip

If you are teaching the standards and not assessing yet, then rethink how you can incorporate the standards/objectives into a project. 

For instance, with every novel I teach, I focus on teaching characterization. Instead of doing the same song and dance with a worksheet, I turned it into a project. Grab your FREE copy below!

Characterization Poster Project

When teaching 6th-grade history, after reading the lesson on Ancient Egypt, we took our basic knowledge from the lesson and explored and completed research to make a life-size sarcophagus on butcher paper. Students investigated more into mummification and our learning was based on what students explored within their project. 

For Thanksgiving, my 8th graders wrote and made a poster of a Thanksgiving Dinner Party that Anne Frank would throw to help learn perspective and review The Diary of Anne Frank. It was a fun and interesting task to do a couple of days before Thanksgiving break. 

Whatever you may be teaching, with just a little “out of the box” thinking, your objectives can be turned into a project. 

3rd Tip

Don’t reinvent the wheel! When teaching 6th History, instead of utilizing the curriculum’s quizzes for every three lessons, we completed in-class project-based learning to review the concepts. I did make some of the projects, but most of them were creative ideas I found through Pinterest, Teachers Pay Teachers, or other teacher blogs, and I would edit them to fit my needs or add to them based on what we were learning.

A great project my 6th-grade history students loved while learning about Medieval Times involved creating a Knights Wanted poster that I found on Teachers Pay Teachers.

Click here to grab yours today!

I love supporting other teachers myself and as someone with their own TpT business, I appreciate paying it forward.

4th Tip

Learn the characteristics of PBL so you can incorporate it fluidly into your lesson plans. 

Project-based learning involves key characteristics that distinguish it from other pedagogy. Just like the picture at the beginning shows, it involves the following: 

Project-Based Learning
  1. Authenticity
  2. Sustained Inquiry
  3. Student Choice
  4. Collaboration
  5. Reflection, Critique & Revision
  6. Presentation

1. Authenticity

With every project, sometimes it is not possible to lead it back to a real-world problem. In some cases, the concept you’re learning will make it easy to do so. For instance, when teaching 7th Civics, we learned all about how the Green Movement impacted politics. Students researched and created a poster all about a specific Green Movement that interested them in hopes of inspiring their peers to take action to help their environment.

Other times, after reading a novel, it may be harder to circle it back to a real-world problem, so making sure it is a personally meaningful topic to the student helps with student motivation. 

2. Sustained Inquiry

Sustained inquiry is the rigorous part of research, exploration, and application. It is the heart of the project as students are doing most of their learning in this phase.

3. Student Choice

Student choice is super important. It helps give students the autonomy to make the decisions as to what to explore further, and how to display their information. Student choice gives them the power to be the driver of their own education. Even if everyone is completing a similar final project, incorporate choice in any area you can within that project.

4. Collaboration

Collaboration is also a crucial part of PBL. If a project is independent, collaboration can still be achieved. Collaboration can be completed by working with the teacher. Perhaps working with other students in areas that they have questions about, or even gaining insight from a student that has a strength in a particular area they are exploring. 

5. Reflection, Critique, and Revision

Reflection, Critique, and Revision is the real-world work of PBL. This is the phase in which adults even complete in many careers. Students reflect on their work, receive critiques or suggestions from their teacher and peers, and work on making their project even better, or deeper and thought-provoking. 

6. Presentation

Presentation is the final culmination of project-based learning. I find it is some students’ favorite part. They are able to share what they’ve been exploring and they are so proud of their final result. Their project may inspire others to learn a new topic or to see information in a different light. 

5th Tip

Project-based learning does not have to be daunting at all. Once you incorporate it into your teaching style, it’s hard to want to teach in any other way. Many educators ask how I logistically complete project-based learning. Most of the time, projects are completed in the classroom over a course of a couple of days or more. If students are completing a project that isn’t an assessment, (since those take longer), an example of the schedule I typically do is as follows:

Monday: Background Lesson/Knowledge (Authenticity) and Review of Project’s Guidelines

Tuesday: Research (Sustained Inquiry)

Wednesday: Student Choice & Collaboration (Turn that research into the project!)

Thursday: Reflect, Critique, Revise

Friday: Presentations

This would be a more simplistic project timeline. Some projects may take longer or less time, depending on how long your class periods are. Some teachers I’ve spoken to feel like PBL is just “fluff” and they do not have the time for this type of learning. The important part to remember is that PBL is not a “goofing-off” period. Students are doing rigorous learning during those days. It just may look a little different.

Conclusion

If you have not tried out project-based learning, you should take a dive into the deep end. Considering the 5 advantages of project-based learning, PBL’s student-centered approach to education increases student motivation, incentive, autonomy, creativity, and so much more.  When students are excited about learning, it is always a victory. 

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