What to do with a Smartie!
While in Algonquin Park last week, we had a lot of fun with the purple Smarties we had in our bags of trail mix. Not only did we eat them, but they were featured in many photos and were the subject of much discussion. Our Smartie adventure was inspired by Leisa Stewart-Sharpe and Aaron Cushley’s How Does Chocolate Taste on Everest: Explore Earth's Most Extreme Places Through Sight, Sound, Smell, Touch, and Taste - a fun book about places all over the planet told in a way that gets the reader thinking about where they are, using their senses, and planning their own adventures.
Here are a few ideas for your next picnic or camping adventure or for some fun moments in your classroom or daycare! Take your food for a walk and see what stories, questions, and new information you’ll discover.
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Other Fun Ideas
Make a collage of your favourite pictures or use an app like Chatterpix to get the Smartie sharing all sorts of interesting information or telling you how it feels!
How Does Chocolate Taste on Everest
Students love being read to - no matter how old they are. Another great activity is to read the book with your students or have students read it on their own.
You can have students create their own, similar, page for a class book or have them create a graphic organizer similar to the pages to explore their senses in any setting (food or no food!). This would be a great research project that would allow you to assess all sorts expectations in various subjects. They would be writing, of course, but also:
using critical thinking and reading skills to assess the information they’ve gathered,
making links to science, geography, math,
using graphic design skills to create their page layout,
using knowledge of images, font, and colour to communicate their message.
Celebrate whatever your children or students do by putting their work on your home or class bulletin board! My best moments as a teacher are when students bring their friends into class to show them their work, or when they Snap their friends after class to share pictures of what they’ve done. Those are the moments I know the learning has been meaningful to them.