Work EXPO - academic showcase of what We've been doing in class
(April 7, 2015 - Roanoke Avenue Elementary School) The invitation read, "Rooms 303 and 307 have been hard at work all year and would like to share some of our finished projects with you. We have some science, social studies and math to share with you."
Work Expo from Sandra Kolbo on Vimeo. Team Teaching in Third Grade
"Sharing" is a learning experience in and of itself, but third grade teachers Donna Verbeck and Gary Karlson took it to another level this year -- team teaching their third grade classes. Mr. Karlson took on the mathematics component and Mrs. Verbeck is shouldering the content areas of science and social studies. They both teach their own English Language Arts classes. "The challenges include finding common planning time, scheduling and finding teachers who work well together and are excited about doing so," explained Roanoke Principal Thomas Payton. "Mr. Karlson and Mrs. Verbeck came to me and asked if they could try teaming. Because we have fewer classes at each grade level--only three third grade classes, we were able to make it happen. As you can see by the display of their students' work, it appears to be working well and the students are very engaged and excited about their experiences in class." |
The Work Expo included exhibits:
Working in a Group - Students researched countries (Mexico and China) and kept notebooks in social studies and science. Their handmade cards detailed lessons on the study of rocks and minerals, the use of the scientific method to determine if it makes a "paper bridge stronger to fold the paper" and how to design a paper airplane. Inquiry groups - Teams worked on estimating amounts by weighing rice using metrics, designing and measuring the square footage of a dream house, using concepts from Minecraft (renamed Mathcraft) to understand and explain fractions and designing Lego cars. One young designer explained, "We read about wheels and axles and we made cars with Legos. Then we pushed the cars one by one and measured the distance." Another explained, his team used the biggest wheels on their car thinking that it would need fewer rotations. It did go further. Click on the photos below for an enlargement of each.
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