Mini-Minnesota
 | | This is the schoolyard before Mini-Minnesota |
Welcome to the Mini-Minnesota website! Here, we will keep you up to date on everything that is happening with our project.
The
project began during the February 2008 Intersession. Twelve 4th - 6th graders
were invited by Ms. Jessica and Ms. Sonia to become part of the
Mini-Minnesota team. They learned about the characteristics of
different types of trees such as the growth rates, soil preference,
life cycles. Then they created a plan of action for the land including
a visual map of how they want the area to look. They also learned about
service learning, goal setting, assessing community needs, using
different resources to further understand the issues, and how to
connect needs to action. The students explored the individual gifts and
talents they each possess and examined how these gifts can be an
essential part of making change.
Our goal was to
provide a positive experience where students, family, friends,
volunteers, and community partners were able to come together and  | | Maddie, Emma, and Isabelle create a blueprint for Mini-Minnesota |
learn
how to be stewards of the earth, learn about the ecology of Minnesota
biomes, gain leadership and teamwork skills, learn how to recognize
community needs, and explore the possibilities of how they can become
part of a solution.
We connected our classroom lessons to the following curriculum standards:
-Science – Biology and Ecology
-Language Arts – Writing, Reading, Research
-Math – Data analysis, statistics, and probability
-Social Studies – Individual development and identity; Civic engagement and
ideals; People, places, and environment
Our community partners included:
-The University of MN Bell Museum of Natural History
-The AmeriCorps Promise Fellow program
-The Master Gardening Program of Ramsey County
-St. Paul Public School District Grounds Department
"I
think Mini-Minnesota is going to change our school by giving students a
place to study plants and trees up close and also get some fresh air."
-Emma Fervoy, 4th grader
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 | | Day 3 | "Today I planted a tre all by myself. I used a trowel (a piece of equipment thats a small version of a shovel.) Well I used a trowel to plant a tree and it took yesterday and today to finish it. It was totally cool." -Glamalina
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| | Day 4 | "Today we went to put the plants in their places and I got poked by a pokey tree." -Tamara
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