Nearly all students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education.
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We are giving our students the experience of synthesizing multiple sources of information in order to build background knowledge on a research topic. As many of our students struggle academically, our goal is to provide project-based learning experiences so that they can see the transferability of skills. During the holiday season, we allowed students to choose a flock of birds the y could donate through Heifer International. While we've been studying nonfiction, we shared a read aloud of a story about a young girl in Africa that benefited from this organization. We spoke to students about synthesizing the sources with their own background knowledge, in order to demonstrate that they can build background knowledge on any topic independently. Through organic discussion, the students were asking about how chickens are raised. One student called out, "We should have our own chickens!" and our project was born.
We are excited to purchase an incubator and fertilized chicken eggs to hatch in our classroom. The students will be working to research information regarding the incubation and hatching process, putting their nonfiction reading strategies and synthesis skills to use in order to accomplish a goal. Students will be grouped and given responsibility for one egg per group. We hope that demonstrating this process for them will inspire them to seek out new projects on their own. Not all of our students will go to college and be required to write long papers that require them to consult multiple sources of information. But, they will all find something that they want to accomplish in life. If we equip them with the skills to research and execute a project, the sky is the limit for them!
About my class
We are giving our students the experience of synthesizing multiple sources of information in order to build background knowledge on a research topic. As many of our students struggle academically, our goal is to provide project-based learning experiences so that they can see the transferability of skills. During the holiday season, we allowed students to choose a flock of birds the y could donate through Heifer International. While we've been studying nonfiction, we shared a read aloud of a story about a young girl in Africa that benefited from this organization. We spoke to students about synthesizing the sources with their own background knowledge, in order to demonstrate that they can build background knowledge on any topic independently. Through organic discussion, the students were asking about how chickens are raised. One student called out, "We should have our own chickens!" and our project was born.
We are excited to purchase an incubator and fertilized chicken eggs to hatch in our classroom. The students will be working to research information regarding the incubation and hatching process, putting their nonfiction reading strategies and synthesis skills to use in order to accomplish a goal. Students will be grouped and given responsibility for one egg per group. We hope that demonstrating this process for them will inspire them to seek out new projects on their own. Not all of our students will go to college and be required to write long papers that require them to consult multiple sources of information. But, they will all find something that they want to accomplish in life. If we equip them with the skills to research and execute a project, the sky is the limit for them!