Children investigate how their choices change the classroom, playground, home, and park, using photos, walks, scene cards, and simple acts of care to answer, “How do our choices change the places where we live and play?” They learn to notice before-and-after changes, explain which choices helped or hurt a place, and practice better actions that protect living things and shared spaces. With guidance from Leah the custodian, a Park Ranger, and the Riverpark Conservatory, students work together to create photo posters and a class picture book that show real solutions for keeping places clean, safe, and welcoming.

Students learn to notice how everyday choices affect classrooms, homes, playgrounds, parks, and the living things in those places by using photos, drawings, short talk, gestures, and role-play. They build skill in comparing before-and-after images, asking questions, gathering observations, and naming actions that keep shared spaces clean, safe, and welcoming. They practice using evidence from their own work and examples from Leah, the Park Ranger, and the Riverpark Conservatory to suggest better choices and simple solutions. They also strengthen collaboration, listening, reflection, and presentation skills as they create posters and a picture book to show how their choices change the places where they live and play.

Students will create class-made before-and-after photo posters that show clean, safe choices in the classroom, playground, park, and home, plus a simple “choices help places” picture book with student photos, drawings, and one short sentence per page. Throughout the project, they will also make a class promise poster, photo-sort charts, labeled scene-card responses, and a growing display chart where they place photos of their work and revisions. These products let children show what changed, explain which choice caused the change, and share better choices through pointing, speaking, gestures, and role-play. At the end, visitors can view the poster set, listen to the picture book, and join a thumbs-up vote about actions that help places stay clean, safe, and welcoming.

Begin with a Before-and-After Mystery Gallery using large photos of the classroom, playground, park, and home, and have children point out what changed and name the choice that made each place cleaner or safer. Follow with a short Park Ranger Path Walk or schoolyard walk where students notice caring habits, act out one better choice at each stop, and connect those choices to helping plants, animals, and people. Invite Leah the custodian or a Riverpark Conservatory guest to share one simple habit for caring for shared spaces, then end with a Little Keepers Choice Rally using scene cards, thumbs-up signals, and a class promise poster to launch the project question.

Host a Riverpark Nature Steward Spotlight where children share their class-made before-and-after photo posters and the “choices help places” picture book with families, Leah the custodian, the Park Ranger, and a Riverpark Conservatory guest. Students can stand by classroom, playground, park, and home displays, read one short sentence, point to the better choice, and invite visitors to give a thumbs-up vote for actions that keep places clean, safe, and welcoming. Add a simple interactive station with scene cards so children can lead guests in acting out a caring choice and explaining how it helps living things and shared spaces. Close with a short gallery walk and celebration of one caring habit each child wants to keep using after the project.