Systems Thinking

Fifth graders started thinking in systems today!  Systems thinking is a holistic approach to looking at the world; instead of simply looking at isolated parts, we look at the whole.  Students had fun trying to figure out what to do with various words written on index cards.  Some of the words were: children, pencils, Vicky, website.  Together they agreed all these words belong in a school, and if you take one away, the whole system isn't as strong.  Sandy's big idea statement about this was:  Every part is needed for the system to work.  Out in the garden students looked to see what systems they could find.  We started with the life-cycle of a plant and ended with the lumber industry, as the raised bed frames are made from wood!  We will use this type of thinking in many of our content areas throughout this year.  In the near future, this will apply to our study of ecosystems.  We ended our day by bundling mint we picked, to dry in the classroom.  Today we were all so grateful for our AC!