"What will history say about me?" UPDATE!

Mr. Simpson's 7th grade Social Studies class is nearing the final stages of their "What will history say about me?" timelines.  They used the technology of Prezi as well as scanning and uploading pictures and documents.  Students had to learn and apply the concepts of artifacts, archaeology, primary, and secondary sources. {The link to view the timelines in progress has been removed as the top final drafts were posted on Oct. 10th}

Grade 5 Solar Energy Inquiry Extends to the Global Community - Role PLay

As students continue to learn about energy, they will be given a global problem regarding deforestation in African countries, particularly Burkina Faso.  Students will investigate how they can help people in villages who have no method to cook their food, because of the lack of fire wood.  Students will investigate possible solutions as they inquire about wind, solar, and other renewable energy sources.  During this role play students will have an opportunity to design solar cookers based on data and observations they have collected. Visit this blog next week for an update on how their research is progressing.

Mrs. Connors 5th Grade Class is Inquiring about ENERGY

Mrs. Connors is using concept mapping to find out what students already know about energy. They used one color for what they already know, then as they learn more they will add to their concept maps in a different color.

Read this peer to peer to teacher interview for "What will history say about me?"

Assignment: Write an essay/story that describes what an archaeologist would find 1000 years from now from your life. Identify at least four artifacts and describe what he/she would say about you based on finding these artifacts. Here is a script of a portion of an actual interaction taking place between two students using peer review for the first time with a teacher. The students had time to review each other's work, using a rubric, before this conversation (Names have been changed as the students were shy about people knowing who they are). . Teacher: "Can you explain to me a little of how you reviewed Olivia's essay?" Candace: "She like has, like, she can put more stuff in her (stops talking)...." Teacher: "What is she missing anything specific? Did she have four things that the archaeologist found?" Candace: "Yeah, uhh, she could add what he thought about it." Teacher: "Oh, and what do we call that?" Candace: "A hy..." Olivia: "A hypothesis" Teacher: "So you will want to add that to your essay right? Olivia, do you think that is a fair critique?" Olivia: "Yeah" Teacher: "So what did you like about it?" Candace: "She wrote that he found an ipod" Teacher: "Why do you like that he will have found her ipod" Candace: "Because it's a generation 4 he will know the year of the ipod". Teacher: "Very good...those are the clues Mr. Simpson was talking about that an archaeologist would use to make better hypotheses. Olivia, what did you think of Candace's essay?" Olivia: "Hers was good." Teacher: "What was good about it?" Olivia: "I like how she put all four details Teacher: "When you say details, what do you mean?" Olivia: "I meant the artifacts." Teacher: "What were her artifacts?" Olivia: "Pictures from when she was a little girl, a report card, videos." Teacher: "Anything specific?" Olivia: "No, not really." Teacher: "Should you suggest that she put a specific picture in?" Olivia: "Yes" Teacher: "Why" Olivia: {silence} Teacher: "If you remember we do want to talk about a specific picture or specific event, because it will be difficult to make your presentation next week if you don't have a specific event in mind. Do have a specific event you can think about to add to your presentation?" Candace: "I have a picture of me at a farm that my parents took me to" Teacher: "What did you do at that farm? Candace: "Pet animals." Teacher: "How old were you?" Candace: "Like 8." Teacher: "What might an archaeologist think if they saw you in that picture?" Candace: "That I lived on a farm" Teacher: "Would that be true?" Candace: "No" Teacher: "So what does that tell us about artifacts?" Candace: "That someone could get the wrong idea sometimes".

Summer PD Being Implemented with Enthusiasm

Mrs. Coyle is already implementing tools from the summer professional development. Here is a taxonomy that the students are developing as they care for the class tortoise.

Momentum is Strong for Inquiry Based Learning!

Teachers are actively moving forward with planning their Inquiry Based Learning. Grade 1 teachers are working on the enduring understanding that "Rules create safety, order, and a peaceful society". Students are using emerging math skills of shapes and student conversations about safety to move toward a campaign for school safety. So far a year-long project is being planned in fourth grade to incorporate social studies (New York State), science, math, and ELA. Teachers are collaborating to develop lessons that help students to engage in deeper understandings with the guiding essential questions of "How has New York State changed?" and "How can we affect change in our community?". Supporting activities of a research paper on regions of New York State (using library and computer lab), salt maps (geography and topography), develop maps of New York State which will include elements from their research papers, and recipe books. Although still in the development stages, the ultimate goal is to create a book that uses refined student work (through critique and revisions) that will propose answers to the essential questions.

What's happening now...

Mrs. Tomaka and Mrs. Fast have been having productive meetings with teachers to plan for their first projects. So far teachers are  planning for a 3rd grade year long "science in a shoe box" cross-grade teaching project; a small 1st grade project about measuring and observation; a 6th grade ratios, percents, and food labels project; and a 7th grade historian and archeology project. As we move forward in planning we will document the essential questions and enduring understandings for the projects, photos and reflections from teachers and students. What a great beginning!

Project - "What will history say about me?"

Mr. Simpson is planning a project that will allow students to project into the future and describe what might a historian and archaeologist say about them if they found primary and secondary sources and artifacts from their lives.  The "Prezi's" are still being completed, but you can preview them at:
http://prezi.com/explore/search/#search=artifact+timeline&reusable=false&page=1&users=less

Exemplar for Grade 7 Social Studies Project - Still in the planning stages

WELCOME!

Welcome to the School 33 Bi-Lingual Center Project Based Learning (PBL) blog! This blog will be used to post the great learning that is taking place in Grade 3 - 8! Please check back often!