Without Walls...
10/21/2018
What a wonderful thing to be able to extend our learning beyond the traditional walls of the classroom. Students at PNA are able to venture out into the community and beyond to further enhance their studies with field trips to various places. The second grader's first field trip of the year was to visit the Wells Fargo History Museum. The little-known jewel is housed in the midtown Wells Fargo Bank building and has a small but impressive collection of Native Alaskan items. The 2nd graders traveled there to get ideas for their Native Alaskan postcards they created for the Postcard Challenge Project they're involved in. There were so many ideas to consider... After some hands-on exploration and note-taking so they could remember what they had learned about, the students headed back to school to work on their postcards. Here are their results...
The Power of Lifelong Learners
10/13/2018
Wikipedia defines lifelong learning as the "ongoing, voluntary, and self-motivated" pursuit of knowledge for either personal or professional reasons." The picture of learning and learners has evolved over the last fifty years or so from a prescription of age, time and content to a wider world full of opportunity. Gone are the days where formal learning was only set forth as a prescribed regimen done within a specified classroom and learners were boxed in by age or availability. Learning has always been a mix of formal instruction, informal experience and self exploration but has only recently begun to be recognized as such. It was, and will always be, an ongoing process through daily interactions in our lives with the people, places and things around us. While some might appear more motivated to learn than others, we are all intrinsically motivated to learn about something. And that is a very great thing because there are many benefits to lifelong learning. Walden University offers that lifelong learning -keeps your brain healthy and strong by keeping cells working and performing at optimum levels. -helps you to succeed whether in personal or professional goals. -helps you stay connected with the people who share the same interests and talents as you. -helps you to keep fulfilled and happier by offering opportunities for an enriched life with emotional balance. I've had the privilege of serving on the planning committee for the NWAIS Fall Conference over the last several years. This has afforded me the opportunity to connect with educators and individuals who share similar philosophies of education as we continue the work of reaching for the best ways to teach and reach our students.
Amidst my committee duties, I was able to attend several very thought-provoking and energizing sessions that allowed me to strengthen and continue my lifelong learning journey. I returned with a renewed commitment to help our students find their own joy in lifelong learning journeys of their own. Postcard Project
10/6/2018
Our first PBL project of the year is our Postcard Project. There are many different elements that go into a PBL project. Projects are introduced to students with an entry event. Our entry event was receiving our first postcard in the mail. Students were curious and engaged to learn more about the project after receiving some mail! The second step is to introduce the driving question for the project. "How can we as Alaskan students, send a postcard to students in all 50 states to teach them about Alaska?Essential questions came next. They included: Where will we get the postcards from? Should we try to get them donated? Should we each buy some and bring them in? Should we make them? How do we know what the states are? What should we include about Alaska on our postcard? How will we keep track of what states we receive postcards from? How will we keep track of what states we send postcards to? From there, students were tasked with giving their opinion about essential questions. They voted to make their own postcards and figured out that each class member would need to make 4. Since that only got us to 44, the students decided to ask for donations for the rest. They also decided that they needed to write something that would be the same for every postcard, instead of each student coming up with their own thing. They took their previous knowledge about Alaska to cooperatively write a blurb that talked about our seasons, wildlife, communities and activities to do in Alaska. These decisions are part of making sure student voice and choice are honored in the project.
While students already know a lot about Alaska, there is much still to learn. In a field trip next week, students will be learning about an aspect of Native Alaskan culture that interests them as they explore the Wells Fargo History museum and interact with the museum curator. There is sustained inquiry in this project as we are expecting more postcards to arrive from other states...we currently have received four postcards. Students are also interested in seeing if we can get postcards from around the world so we are looking into that possibility. This project integrates social studies and language arts standards as well as offering practice in communication, critical thinking and creativity. In a week or so, students will reflect on the project and their parts in it. We're looking forward to adding more postcards to our wall and sending a little bit of Alaska out to the Lower 48! |
Marcella HitchcockMs. Hitchcock teaches second grade, is a mom of two, an avid reader, lifelong learner, and a seeker of sunshine! Archives
March 2021
Categories |