Week Two

    So at the end of week two in my classroom as well as graduate school I am feeling a bit overwhelmed!! There is so much work to do and I am still getting used to a new group of students. I can say that with everything that needs to be accomplished in school as well as with these graduate courses, I just need a couple of extra hours in my day to get it all done. But, when it is all said and done, I know I will learn a lot.

Project Based Learning

(PBL)

       We had such a positive experience at my school, in June, with our PBL activity, that I can't wait until we get our creative juices flowing once again this year. It was a long, busy, sometimes monotonous process. However, the journey was worth its weight in gold! Once we were finished, and ready to present, our halls had been completely transformed into a rainforest.

Our Waterfall

Science wall showing the layers of the rainforest leading into the cave

 Interactive Food Web

 Bar graphs comparing the tropical rainforest to the temperate rainforest.

     The reason we decided to build a rainforest stemmed from our read aloud series, The Island, by Gordon Korman. The students connected with the characters in the books and they truly embraced the projects that were assigned to them. Of course, there were many challenges along the way and it was definitely time consuming. Yet, in the midst of all of the model curriculum testing, NJ ASK test prepping,  and RTI sweeps, the students and teaching staff persevered. Vines were twisted for the canopy, rainforest creatures were colored, glued, painted, and hung. Rainforest layers and trees were carefully positioned on the walls, and a waterfall was built. When the day arrived, students eagerly rehearsed their jobs, prepared for their tasks, and I can honestly say, they ran the show, with just a little help from the teachers. Overall, our PBL was an amazing experience for all of us. We were all happy to see the nicely written article in The Daily Journal and were pleasantly surprised when the article made it on the National Council for the Social Studies NCSS website. 

The see more pictures of our PBL, just click on the picture below.

Stay tuned....more to come on this year's project!!