Thursday, March 10, 2016

Excitement in the Air SOL#16

For the last two years, our school has undertaken something called a Country of Study. We've had two teachers go visit a specific country during the summer - visiting as many sites and schools, and learning as much as they can in two weeks. During the year, each grade weaves this country into their curriculum in some way. Last year we studied Japan. This year the country is South Africa. When you walk into our building, the second grade has transformed it! You enter through Table Mountain and see beautiful artwork of animals and African instruments made by the second graders. You walk through an open shark's mouth up the stairs, while seaweed streamers hand down, and can see the research and writing the students completed on animals, posted on the sides of the stairs. At the top of the stairs set against black paper backgrounds in cubbies, are beautiful sea scenes they painted.  This is just a snippet of what the campus looks like. As you travel through the primary building, you go on a safari, looking for the Big 5. In the lunchroom, there are water filtration systems created by the third grade. My students, the fourth and fifth graders, chose different topics to study and represent - everything from history and native tribes, to education, to traditional dance and foods, to sports and games, to famous people, to tourist attractions like the Cooling Towers and God's Window, to a whole host of topics related to wildlife and nature. The students did display boards, paper mache, dioramas, used clay, paint, and so much more - even creating videos and a website. All the students will have a 15 minute time slot this afternoon to docent for their exhibit. Last year we had over 500 visitors on campus. Hopefully, today will be a big success. The students have really worked hard to create museum quality work, and now, the excitement is in the air.


5 comments:

  1. What a fantastic celebration of the students learning! I'd love to visit your "South Africa"!

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  2. This sounds delightful! What a fun thing to do. My mother in law taught in the era before over-packed curriculum took over and at her school they often did this, but with topics like owls, or snakes. They'd have the whole school studying the same thing and sharing their learning in big ways.

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  3. This sounds exciting! Best of luck to your students as they have the opportunity to docent. It sounds like amazing learning.

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  4. This sounds like a wonderful practice/tradition. I am sure your students have prepared so well! Congrats to them for all of their earnest work!

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  5. Wow! What amazing learning and teaching opportunity.

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