We asked our 5th grade to share what expedition they have been working on. Our wonderful 5th grade teacher Ms. Steab wrote the following post.
When we use the term “expedition” in an Expeditionary Learning school, we are referring to an in-depth and rigorous study of a specific topic. 5th grade is doing our first, of two, expeditions on: Being an agent of positive change. We will be looking at US history and finding examples of how our Founding Fathers and others made the world a better place. We are excited to have some local examples of people who have made a positive change in our community. 5th grade had a wonderful time at the Leonardo museum in Salt Lake. We got to do a workshop in simple machines, examine the exhibits, and students filled out a fieldwork guide as they explored the human rights exhibit on the “Green Revolution”. This “kick-off” activity highlighted how people today are trying to make changes that will better our world.
After debriefing the fieldwork, we discussed what might be some positive changes we can make as a 5th grade. The students presented their ideas to their 5th grade peers and the grade then voted to that the positive change they want to make this year is improving the school grounds. After some brainstorming and more voting, they have now narrowed it down to three areas of improvement: planting more trees and flowers, getting more playground equipment (particularly for indoor recess), and painting a map of the USA on the blacktop. We then let the kids tell us their top choices of which task force group they wanted to be in and we were happy to able to give most of them their first choice. We are now dividing into our task force teams a few times a week to create a plan of how to make this positive change, to do research, to write persuasive essays, etc.
As teachers, we have been proud of our students and are excited as they progress toward making a lasting improvement in our school community!
You can be apart of the excitement, too! We are also hoping to have a few guest
speakers talk to the kids about examples of people who have made a positive
change in our community or from history.
Do you know of anyone who is a history buff or who is an example of
making our community a better place? If you know of anyone (including
yourself!) who would be a good expert for our kids to work with, or guest
speaker on positive change, please let me or the other 5th grade teachers
know. If you would be willing to try to
find someone to work with us as an expert, or speak on positive change, that
would also helpful.
Thank you for all you do in supporting our 5th grade as we STRIVE FOR EXCELLENCE!