Elementary 2 Curriculum

The elementary 2 classroom consisted of 11 9- and 10-year olds. Students experienced a variety of curriculum to enhance their development as individuals, spreading their wings and exploring more of the world. They were exposed to themes that pushed their boundaries and stretched them while they were safely held in a community that emphasized respect and communication. Large themes this year included the 2000 presidential election, slavery and the Civil Rights movement, Journey North's Mystery Classroom Project and Tulip Program and a Three-Act Play. Students engaged in a combination of independent and teacher-directed learning. Generally, tasks were required of the whole class, with age/ability expectations. Students were expected to independently handle daily homework and establish the connection between learning at home and school.

Personal and Social Development
E2 focused on the personal and social development of individual students and our classroom community throughout the school year. We devoted much time in the first weeks of school to circle time and discussions about how we wanted our classroom to function. We came to consensus about rules that were important for everyone to feel safe and respected in our classroom. Our class created specific times in the day (work time, getting ready time, listening time) and developed expectations about behavior during those distinct periods. Using cooperative games and team-building activities, we developed a common vocabulary of respect and conflict resolution.

Students in this age group are ready and able to demonstrate self-control and work collaboratively and cooperatively with other children and adults. Therefore, we set up a space that enabled them to do so. Clear communication was always stressed and the class soon created an environment where everyone felt safe and ready to learn. Decisions were made in a democratic manner taking care that all voices were heard before a vote was held.

The one consistent piece that focused E2's personal and social development, as individuals and a whole group, was the daily reflection form. On a daily basis, students were given a form to rate their day. They thought back on the day, their behavior, and their performance and ranked themselves in each category. Then, they were given a spot to reflect in writing on any other issues (positive or negative) from that day. This invaluable tool enabled the students to become more reflective, act with responsibility and independence and was the springboard to conflict resolution. Early in the year, Barry Shaw provided a brief refresher program in anger management to follow-up on his six-week program last year.

Language and Literacy
Reading and writing were integral components of the classroom curriculum. All components of language and literacy were studied independently and as part of thematic units.

Students in E2 were makingthe transition from learning to read to reading to learn and therefore were able to utilize written materials in many aspects of their learning. Students experienced book studies in different groupings. All students were a part of at least one literature group. These book groups consisted of about 4 or 5 students who read the same book. They functioned relatively independently and read the book at their own pace, answered questions about their daily reading, discussed the themes and big ideas of the book and then completed a cumulative project about the book. These groups encouraged students to analyze and interpret the information they were reading.

E2 students also did several other reading projects. They read books of their choosing for homework and were responsible for sharing books through "Book Talks." These talks gave each student a chance to practice oral presentation skills in a safe environment. Students read a biography as part of our study of slavery and civil rights and completed timelines, poems, and reports about the individuals they read about. E2 also read one book, How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell, as a whole class.

Students utilized informational books for reference purposes when researching the location of their Mystery Classrooms in our Journey North Project. They used different types of resource materials such as encyclopedias, nonfiction books, and atlases to gain information and solve the "mystery."

Students' listening skills were honed through teacher read-alouds. These books were usually theme related and helped draw out the students' interests and engage them in a topic of study. Interesting discussions and conversations always emerged from read-alouds. For instance, Holes by Louis Sachar inspired an interest in the garden and a study of spring and migration. The Watson's Go to Birmingham, 1963, by Christopher Paul Curtis, complemented our slavery and civil rights unit. It gave the class a child's first- person perspective on what they were studying. We closed out the year with Chasing Redbird by Sharon Creech as a read-aloud. This coming-of-age book sent the students into summer vacation with a strong sense of themselves as maturing young adolescents, expanding the horizons of their world while remaining firmly anchored to their families and school community.

Students in E2 were also ready to expand their use of writing as a tool. They continued creative and fanciful story making but also began to use writing to achieve specific purposes. Several times a week students had 10 minutes of "free-write" time. This special time of the day consisted of everyone writing non-stop about whatever was in his or her head at that moment. These journal entries were then often used as a beginning for writing projects. Students also participated in letter writing, report writing, note taking, and the writing of daily reflections. All of these specific types of writing came about from an organic interest in the classroom and had different requirements. In order to successfully complete the requirements of these writing projects, students were taught important fundamentals and conventions of good writing. We worked on paragraph formation, standard spelling, conventional punctuation, dialogue and other basics of grammar, usage, and mechanics. Students learned the important art of revision and discovered that it is much more then just proofreading for spelling mistakes.

Mathematical Thinking
The E2 math curriculum was created from a variety of sources. We utilized Addison- Wesley, Investigations, Marilyn Burns's lesson plans, Teaching Math Developmentally, and the Vermont State frameworks. There was a concerted emphasis on math as a problem-solving enterprise, coupled with an establishment of a strong foundation of basic skills. Students were encouraged to look at problems as something that could be solved in numerous ways and grew to expect the requirement of explaining what they were doing and why they were doing it. Every morning started with a different pattern and students were soon able to make predictions and draw conclusions about a variety of different patterns.

Much of our work focused on further development of number concepts and understanding. Students worked with addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of large whole numbers. Many strategies were discussed and students were taught to make reasonable estimates of quantities and to check their answers. The class was taught to use algorithms but, more importantly, to demonstrate conceptual understanding using manipulatives such as base 10 blocks. Students were also introduced to fractions, percents and decimals throughout the year. They used models as they explored various ways to represent numbers and to perform operations.

Students investigated symmetry and different geometrical concepts. Measurement was often a part of our theme work and their skills improved dramatically from hands-on experience. In addition, our Journey North project gave students real-life experience with graphing and difficult calculations. They collected and organized data to create graphs and then read and interpreted those graphs to utilize them for their research.

Scientific Thinking
Students in E2 worked as scientists for the Journey North program this year. They participated in the Mystery Classroom Project and the Tulip Program. These projects enabled the students to see that science is something that people do with a very real purpose. When tulips were planted as part of an international effort to track spring's arrival, the students immediately were able to see the importance of a control in a scientific investigation.

Observation and questioning skills were emphasized throughout the year. The Mystery Classroom Project proved especially useful in teaching students the thinking patterns of scientists. Students learned about photoperiods and how to calculate them for their Mystery Classroom and their E2 classroom. From that information they made logical predictions about the location of their mystery sites. Next, they utilized active investigation with known data and reference materials to solve their mystery. Finally, using the information discovered, students drew conclusions and backed up their findings with research.

Social Studies
The social studies curriculum was designed to augment children's growing sense of themselves within a diverse community, society and world. Students brought in current events daily, which could be of local, national or international importance. We engaged in many thought-proving discussions about these events and students began to analyze different points of view and the various sides of a story. We used these current events to highlight our theme of community and to emphasize how human beings are both similar and different and how those differences can result in conflict. In the fall, the election and political process were studied as we closely watched the presidential election. This study and participation in Kids Vote 2000 gave students the opportunity to examine the individual's role and responsibility in our society and community as well as the purpose and structure of our government. They certainly were able to construct knowledge about the Electoral College!

In the spring, E2 studied the Civil Rights Movement and slavery. This was an intense topic for students who were upset to learn how human differences could cause such extreme conflict that can not be resolved with simple solutions. Students created a class timeline and identified important events and individuals involved in the struggle for equality in the United States.

Our Mystery Classroom project immersed students in the study of another place. They used globes, atlases, photographs, books and flat maps as resources to determine the exact site of the Mystery Classrooms. They shared their research and the whole class learned much about locations as far-flung as Hong Kong and Antarctica.

The Arts

Artistic expression was integrated into all subject areas and theme work. Students made beautiful symmetrical drawings, they re-created the view from our classroom window, they wrote poetry about important historic figures, and they created visually appealing posters for display. Students were part of a Three-Act production of the play "How to Eat Fried Worms." This gave all students a chance to explore how actors bring fictional characters to life. They also created beautiful and imaginative scenery and props for this play. The class attended The River Gallery Art School, run by Barbara Campman, for studio experience during the fall and spring. Kirsten Peterson taught music class and instrumentals such as keyboard, flute, percussion, water instruments and recorder throughout the year.

Physical Education
Students went to the Gibson Atkin Center for physical education class once a week. Dot MacDonald led these classes in the second half of the year. Classes included specific skill challenges to help develop and refine gross motor skills. There were also a variety of co-operative and competitive games presented to help encourage teamwork among the students. Physical education extended beyond the gym to the playground. Students played informal games at recess and our class had daily morning kickball games in the spring. The class participated in all-school hikes in the fall and spring. Our Winter Sports Program provided students with an opportunity to downhill ski, snowboard, skate, or cross country ski.

Computers
Chris Parkins taught computer science one afternoon a week. E2 students were taught word processing skills using Microsoft Word and basic keyboarding fundamentals. Students used Hyperstudio to create a hyperstack to complement their Mystery Classroom study of latitude and longitude. They also used computers for research, utilizing both the Internet and encyclopedias on CD as tools.