Suzanne Fernandez-Pellon

Fernandez-Pellon’s innovative program idea, “Your Great Lake”, is designed to help kindergarten and first grade students take ownership of their own learning as well as become the sources of information for learning interactions that happen between the grades. It will bring to life disciplines such as language arts, math, science, and social studies to explore how water is used, especially the water from the Great Lakes, one of the most important freshwater resources on Earth. Students will get the chance to follow a water cycle journey from the Earth’s surface to atmosphere to underground and back again. Demonstrations and hands-on activities will allow students to understand how precious the Earth’s fresh water is and what can be done to conserve it. Students will make predictions about their own water use and then measure it. They also will get a chance to develop their writing skills by writing stories after their visit to Lake Michigan and Volo Bog. Fernandez-Pellon, who lives in Oak Park, hopes her creative program will help her students make connections between experiences and content knowledge.