My Side of the Mountain: Multi-Subject Unit Study

Target Student: Troy (Age 12)
Estimated Time: 1 hour total (Four 15-minute subject blocks)
Concept: Applying the survival, scientific, mathematical, and historical concepts from Jean Craighead George's novel, My Side of the Mountain.

Unit Materials Needed

• A copy of My Side of the Mountain
• Blank journal or white paper
• Graph paper and a ruler
• Pencils, colored pencils, or fine-tip markers
• A compass (or a smartphone compass app)
• A small piece of oak bark, an acorn, or a leaf (optional, for observation)

Subject 1: Language Arts & Creative Writing (15 Minutes)

Topic: First-Person Voice & Sensory Nature Journaling

Learning Objective: Troy will identify sensory details in Sam Gribley’s journal entries and write a short, first-person narrative entry using at least three sensory descriptions (sight, sound, smell, touch, taste).

1. The Hook & "I Do" (3 Minutes)

• The Hook: Imagine living inside a hollowed-out hemlock tree during a blizzard. The wind is howling, and your only friend is a trained falcon named Frightful. How do you tell your story?
• Instruction: In My Side of the Mountain, Sam keeps a journal on scraps of birch bark. Read this quick quote from the book: "The snow is piling up around my tree. It is cold, and the wind sounds like a freight train." Sam doesn't just say "it's winter." He describes the sounds and sights so we feel like we are there. This is first-person sensory writing.

2. "We Do" (4 Minutes)

• Let's look at a plain sentence: "I ate some fish by the fire."
• Together, let's upgrade this sentence using Sam's perspective.
  • What does the fish smell or taste like? (e.g., smoky, sweet, crisp)
  • What does the fire look or sound like? (e.g., crackling, orange embers, spitting sparks)
• Resulting cooperative sentence: "I sat by the crackling embers of my fire, peeling back the charred skin of a trout that tasted sweet and smoky."

3. "You Do" (6 Minutes)

• Activity: "The Wild Journal Entry"
• Troy will write a 4-to-5 sentence journal entry from Sam's perspective.
• The Scenario: Sam has just successfully caught his falcon, Frightful, for the first time.
• Requirements: Must be in the first-person ("I"), and must include at least three sensory details (what he saw, heard, felt physically, or smelled). Troy can add a quick sketch to the margin of the page, just like Sam did!

4. Assessment & Wrap-Up (2 Minutes)

• Formative Assessment: Troy reads his journal entry aloud. He must point out the three sensory details he used.
• Success Criteria: Clear first-person voice and three distinct sensory words/phrases.

Subject 2: Science & Ecology (15 Minutes)

Topic: Plant Identification & Acorn Leaching Chemistry

Learning Objective: Troy will explain how Sam made acorns edible by removing harmful tannins, and will design a "Wild Edible Profile Card."

1. The Hook & "I Do" (3 Minutes)

• The Hook: Did you know you can eat acorns? But if you bite into a raw one, it will taste incredibly bitter and make your stomach hurt! Why?
• Instruction: Oak trees protect their seeds (acorns) using chemicals called tannins. Tannins are bitter, astringent compounds. To make acorns edible, Sam had to "leach" them. Leaching is a chemical process where a soluble substance (tannins) is washed out of a solid material (acorn meat) using running water. Sam boiled the acorn meats in water, changing the water several times until the bitterness was gone, then ground them into flour for pancakes.

2. "We Do" (4 Minutes)

• Let's trace Sam’s scientific method for making acorn flour:
  1. Harvest: Collect ripe, brown acorns (green ones have too many tannins).
  2. Shell: Crack open the hard outer shell.
  3. Boil/Leach: Boil the nutmeat in water. The water turns brown (that's the tannins escaping!). Drain and repeat until the water runs clear.
  4. Dry & Grind: Dry the leached nuts and smash them into powder.
• Discuss: Why does boiling water speed up this process compared to cold water? (Heat increases the rate at which molecules dissolve and move).

3. "You Do" (6 Minutes)

• Activity: "Wild Edible Profile Card"
• Troy will create a quick index card or drawing of an Oak Tree / Acorn.
• On the card, he must write:
  • Common Name: Oak / Acorns
  • The Problem: Tannins (bitter, toxic in large amounts).
  • The Solution (The Leaching Process): Draw a simple 3-step diagram showing the boiling water taking the bitter chemicals away.

4. Assessment & Wrap-Up (2 Minutes)

• Formative Assessment: Ask Troy: "If you are in the woods and find acorns, why can't you just eat them right off the ground? What scientific step must you take first?"
• Success Criteria: Accurately explains the role of tannins and the basic concept of water leaching.

Subject 3: Practical Mathematics (15 Minutes)

Topic: Scale Drawing & Map Coordinates

Learning Objective: Troy will use a ruler and graph paper to draw a scale map of Sam's campsite, converting real-world feet to grid squares.

1. The Hook & "I Do" (3 Minutes)

• The Hook: If you don't know where things are in relation to your shelter, you can get lost in a sudden mountain fog. Sam had to map his territory carefully.
• Instruction: Today, we are going to use scale. Scale allows us to represent huge distances on a small piece of paper. On our grid paper, we will use the scale: 1 square = 5 feet.
• If Sam's tree is 15 feet away from his fireplace, how many squares on the map is that?
  • Math: 15 feet ÷ 5 feet per square = 3 squares.

2. "We Do" (4 Minutes)

• Let's practice converting a few distances together using our scale (1 square = 5 feet):
  • The fresh water spring is 25 feet North of the hemlock tree. (25 ÷ 5 = 5 squares North).
  • Sam's firewood pile is 10 feet East of the tree. (10 ÷ 5 = 2 squares East).
• Mark the compass directions (N, S, E, W) on the edges of the graph paper.

3. "You Do" (6 Minutes)

• Activity: "Map Sam's Mountain Home"
• Troy will draw a map on graph paper based on these coordinates.
  1. Draw a brown circle in the exact center of the page. This is the Hemlock Tree (0,0).
  2. The Cooking Fire is 10 feet South of the tree. (Troy calculates and draws it).
  3. The Deer Hide Tanning Rack is 20 feet West of the tree. (Troy calculates and draws it).
  4. The Frightful's Perch is 5 feet East and 5 feet North of the tree. (Troy calculates and draws it).
• Make sure Troy uses a ruler to draw straight lines and labels each feature clearly.

4. Assessment & Wrap-Up (2 Minutes)

• Formative Assessment: Check Troy's map. Ask: "How many grid squares away is the tanning rack from the tree?" (Should be 4 squares West).
• Success Criteria: Correct application of the 1:5 scale to all four coordinates on the map.

Subject 4: Social Studies & Geography (15 Minutes)

Topic: The Catskill Mountains & "Leave No Trace" Stewardship

Learning Objective: Troy will locate the Catskill Mountains on a map, explain why Sam had to hide his camp from the public, and define the modern concept of "Leave No Trace."

1. The Hook & "I Do" (3 Minutes)

• The Hook: Sam Gribley ran away from a crowded apartment in New York City to the wilderness of the Catskill Mountains. But are the Catskills completely empty of people?
• Instruction: The Catskills are a mountainous region in southeastern New York State. By the 1950s (when the book was written), much of this land was either private property or state-protected parkland. Sam was actually living on his family's old, abandoned farm property. Because he was a runaway and didn't want to be sent back to NYC, he had to practice what we now call conservation and camouflage. He couldn't just build a giant cabin; he had to blend into the forest.

2. "We Do" (4 Minutes)

• Let's discuss the modern outdoor philosophy: Leave No Trace (LNT).
• Did Sam follow "Leave No Trace"? Let's analyze his actions:
  • Positive: He lived inside a dead tree rather than chopping down living trees. He wore deer hide and ate off the land without wasting anything.
  • Negative: He built fires that could have caused forest fires, and poached deer out of season.
• How did Sam balance his survival needs with respecting nature?

3. "You Do" (6 Minutes)

• Activity: "The Wilderness Code of Conduct"
• Imagine Troy is a Forest Ranger who has discovered Sam's hidden camp.
• Troy must write down Three Rules for Wilderness Stewardship that Sam (or any modern camper) must follow to keep the Catskills wild and clean.
  • Example: 1. Only burn fallen wood, never cut down living trees.

4. Assessment & Wrap-Up (2 Minutes)

• Formative Assessment: Troy shares his Ranger Rules and explains why protecting mountain environments like the Catskills is important to modern society.
• Success Criteria: Formulates three clear, logical rules focused on conservation or "Leave No Trace" principles.

Differentiation Options for This Lesson

• For Visual/Kinesthetic Learners (Scaffolding): Use actual twigs, leaves, and pebbles on the graph paper in Subject 3 before drawing them.
• For Advanced Learners (Extension): In Subject 2 (Science), research the scientific family of Oak Trees (Quercus) and look up the difference between Red Oak acorns and White Oak acorns (Red Oaks have far more tannins!).