My students are taking charge of their learning by using critical thinking skills and working collaboratively to demonstrate knowledge by creating representations out of various art materials and recyclables. Gone are the days of worksheets and sitting at a desk. We are using our hands and getting messy!
My students live in some of the most challenging home environments.
Poverty, prison, single parent, drugs and death plague some of my sweet students. My five-year old students have endured life-changing events that some adults have never experienced. Even after all of this, my students still smile when they come to school. My students are my children.
The teachers at my Title I school endure a lot of sweat and tears and truly love teaching the children here. We are here because we are needed.
My Project
In order to effectively demonstrate their learning, my students will need to have access to a variety of recyclables and art materials. The school provides crayons, markers, glue, paint and construction paper but we need so much more to accurately display what has been learned. Students will be able to choose what to create and how.
One of the real-world problems this year that we are going to try and solve is the disappearance of animal habitats. Each student will decide what kind of habitat he/she would like to construct. Playdough, clay, paper, Twisteez, paint, glue, tissue paper and so much more would be needed for the student to execute his/her idea.
The materials requested would be available to use throughout the year for children to work with.
Imagine reading books about animal habitats and then, completing a worksheet or test to show what has been learned.
Pretty boring right? Now imagine reading books about animal habitats, doing research online and in the real world and then demonstrating what has been learned by actually creating an animal habitat out of recyclables, clay, Wikki Sticks, paint, paper, etc.
The project is more rigorous and knowledge will be retained longer due to the variety of skills learned and used in the process.
More than three‑quarters of students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more
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