This winter, the five older students in grades 7-8 participated in a unit on engineering a better paper airplane. First they had to choose three different types of planes to make (they couldn’t all be based on the basic dart) and then decide what constraints they would put on making the planes. As they searched Read More >>
Worms
This fall and spring our K-2s have been learning about Earthworms. We began by digging for real worms outside. We found some. We observed their behavior and drew them. We learned about what worms need to survive, their external features,their internal body parts, and their importance in our ecosystems. We have drawn and colored representations Read More >>
Local History
Towards the end of the year we started a unit to learn about Syracuse’s past. We started with learning about how the development of the Erie Canal in the 1800’s impacted our city, bringing economic prosperity and immigrants to our region. In class discussions and games helped us learn about the people who both were Read More >>
Electricity
At the end of the year the students started learning about electricity. They were challenged to figure out how to light a lightbulb when given only a lightbulb, battery and one wire. In the process they learned about complete circuits, and the important parts of a battery and bulb. After lighting the bulb they were Read More >>
Book Club: Where the Mountain Meets the Moon
Students read the book Where the Mountain Meets the Moon. Each week they were responsible for reading a set of pages and writing 5 sticky notes. Each sticky note had a fact they learned about Chinese culture from the book. Students were also required to participate in a discussion about the book. Each book club Read More >>
Ancient China for Middle Students
At the beginning of our Ancient China unit, the class filled out a KWL (Know, Want to know, and What I Learned). They were only able to fill out the K and W parts, however most of what people knew was about the Great wall of China. So the unit began by learning about the Read More >>
Pixie
Pixie is a language arts and reasoning program that focuses on “sharpening” the thinking skills of children. It does this by giving them scenarios and asking them how they would react in that situation, or what does this truly mean. We read Pixie during snack once a week. We read the episode and then discuss Read More >>
Layers of the Earth
We began our layers of the Earth class by asking ourselves, “How many layers of the Earth are there?”. That is when everyone learned that there are four layers of, and that it is impossible to dig all the way down to the center of the Earth. We did many hands-on experiments with this class. Read More >>
Math Word Problems
Learning to read word problems for young children has many aspects. We began with the four children by having them recognize possible, impossible or incorrect number sentences such as: ? + 5 = 7, 7= 5+?, or 5+3 = 7 or 7+2=5. This was often tricky and took a while for kids to see that Read More >>
Ancient China for Youngers
We started our Ancient China unit for the youngest students by learning about the Chinese Zodiac and having a New Years celebration at school. Students learned about how the zodiac signs were formed with a folk tale about a race called: Cat and Rat : The legend of the Chinese Zodiac written by Ed Young. Read More >>