Place-based Learning/Place-based Writing

By Zeena M. Pliska

All places have something to teach. All places have something to tell. All places have stories waiting to be discovered.

Over the summer, I attended the Morpho Institute’s Educator Academy deep in the Amazon Rainforest. I was awarded a fellowship in the memory of a young, dynamic environmental educator/activist, Courtney R. Wilson.

The ten-day, intense professional development allowed educators to engage as learners in a place-based education experience in an unfamiliar place. The brilliance of this conservation-based program lies in the learning that happens when one is in a location so dramatically different, it pushes the participant to expand their thinking in unexpected ways.

For me, the experience was absolutely transformational as an educator, writer/artist, activist, and seeker of knowledge.

In 1999, I spent 3 days and two nights in the Amazon Rainforest. I was enchanted by the small taste I got. It is truly a magical place. As the years went by and climate change emerged as the number one threat to our existence, my commitment to find ways to mitigate climate anxiety and climate change as a teacher and a writer strengthened. It led me back to the Amazon this past summer.

I believe that as a kindergarten teacher, I am on the front line. It is my duty to support this incoming generation in their journey to live with and manage this existential threat. As an author, I can utilize my understanding of this place known as the “lungs of the Earth”, to tell its stories.

Many have asked me to identify the most interesting animal I encountered. My answer surprises me…the humans. The stories of the indigenous communities doing the work to recover the rainforest and protect the Amazon River are profound. It is these stories of the people we met during our time with the Morpho Institute that most moved me. I emerged with hope.

See the Morpho Institute website for more info.

Zeena M. Pliska spends her days immersed in the joy of 5-year-olds. She is a kindergarten teacher by day and a children’s book author by night in Los Angeles, California. A lifetime storyteller, she has facilitated stories as a theater director, visual artist, photographer, journalist and most recently as a short film screenwriter/director.

She has authored two picture books, Hello, Little One: A Monarch Butterfly Story from Page Street Kids and Egyptian Lullaby from Roaring Brook Press. Two board books in the Charlesbridge, Chicken Soup for Babies series were released in 2023. You can find her at www.zeenamar.com and www.teachingauthors.com .

THERE’S A BOOK FOR THAT!

November is chock full of days to celebrate! November 1st is National Family Literacy Day. November 3-7 is Children’s Book Week. And November 20 is World Children’s Day!

Nov. 1 - National Authors Day
WOODY’S WORDS: WOODROW WILSON RAWLS AND WHERE THE RED FERN GROWS by Lisa Rogers, illus. by Susan Reagan

16 WORDS: WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS AND “THE RED WHEELBARROW” by Lisa Rogers, illus. by Chuck Groenink

November 8th - National STEM/STEAM Day

We have too many books to list since most of our books can be used to celebrate STEM and STEAM! Click on this Google Document to see our list of books!

Nov. 11 - Veterans Day

CLOAKED IN COURAGE: UNCOVERING DEBORAH SAMPSON, PATRIOT SOLDIER by Beth Anderson, illus. By Anne Lambelet

NEW EDUCATOR RESOURCES

Maria Marianayagam’s THE AMAZING POWER OF GIRLS, which showcases girls as the forces of physics–gravity, buoyancy, magnetism and more, has a book talk, educator’s guide, and activity kit available. Find them at marianayagam.com/books/the-amazing-power-of-girls

Lisa Rogers’s WOODY’S WORDS, which traces the life of the author of Where the Red Fern Grows, has a reader's guide with discussion questions, writing prompts and activities, and research resources available at lisarogerswrites.com

And don’t miss the blog post from Lisa Rogers Especially for Educators: “Who Helps You Shine? Embracing a Growth Mindset to Reach Your Dreams”

Lynn Street’s THE BLUE JAYS THAT GREW A FOREST has a new Educator Resource Guide that includes a standards-aligned Google slide deck for teaching BLUE JAYS + 16 extension activities (bird journal, nature scavenger hunt, oak tree life cycle) and writing prompts (similes, story sequence).

Find the educator guide here: lynnstreetbooks.com/resources

HOT OFF THE PRESS THIS MONTH!

Maria Marianayagam’s CURRY MEANS MORE, which introduces readers to Shrin, a girl who loves curry but isn’t sure what it is until she watches her Amma cook and is transported into memories of her life. It releases on October 28, 2025. Buy it here.