Midyear Update

 

Filling the buckets of life long learners with enriching opportunities that promote: 

Curiosity, Creativity, Connection, Autonomy, Innovation & Collaboration 

Hello RES Families,

What a great first semester we’ve had! I want to share with you what has been happening in Enrichment and where we are headed into the second half of the year. 

Start to the year for all grades and the Olympics:

We started the year using domino chain reactions as a vehicle to build our patience, planning, analysis, communication and collaborative skills, all while learning new building strategies along the way. We will further our work on establishing project based work expectations through playful, developmentally appropriate centers designed to develop skills and ideas such as: time management, problem solving, agenda setting, follow through, flexible thinking, independence, experimentation, executive function, metacognition and community responsibility. These centers harness learners’ unique strengths, interests and differences in learning styles. Examples of centers include: the Creation Station, map making, computer science, river ecology, scientific drawing, engineering, cause & effect and many more. Once expectations and mutual trust in one another were established, individual grade levels began diving into different deeper studies. If there is something interesting happening in the world like the northern lights, meteor showers, rocket launches, deep sea discoveries etc, we pause our regularly scheduled program to discuss and learn more about these events. Many activities are designed to build upon the concepts they’re learning about in their classrooms. Speaking of which…time will be taken with all grades to discuss the Winter Olympics, the cultural and historical significance of the games as well as the science and technology behind the sports played.

Kindergarten & 1st Grade - we have explored space, map making, building designs, city planning, river ecosystems and snow science so far. We will begin our Physics and Fiber study in the coming weeks. Owl’s Head Blueberry Farm has graciously donated this year’s wool. We will be washing, carding and spinning the wool, observing its natural properties, exploring the uses of the fiber and learning about energy & physics through the use of drop spindles and the spinning wheel. Late in the winter we will explore the science of sound. 1st grade revisits many of the same topics that kindergarten covers and goes deeper with them building on our understanding, adding new elements and concepts as we go. 

2nd Grade has further developed their map making skills, designed mazes, and researched how board games are made. They are currently in the thick of a collaborative project creating their own board games, thinking through the logic of the game, beta testing, analyzing, making revisions, writing instructions, and designing the packaging. When they are done these games will go back to their classrooms and be a choice during indoor recess. Much of their work translates into process and executive functioning skills, order of operations, logic and even basic coding. We will explore magnets and circuitry in the weeks to come.

3rd Grade and 3/4 Multiage have dabbled in computer science, optical illusions, and have been working with Tinkercad, a 3D design program. It is a kid friendly version of AutoCad, a design & drafting program used in the construction industry. They have experimented with designing cars. Mr. Langevin, one of district technology experts, will walk us through designing bubble wands to be printed using a 3D printer. Not only are we developing knowledge and skills relating to design and technology, but learners are developing their skills coaching and seeking out sources of information needed to be independent. They are encouraged to independently use the resources available to them and advocate for what they need as unique learners. We will be diving into some hands on math soon focusing on measurement and fractions.

4th grade Ms. Wood, the Librarian and I team up each week for a longer collaborative block. During our time together we are working on an interest driven class project called Project Citizen. Through the year, each class is working collaboratively to investigate the strengths of our community and the problems facing it. They are learning and employing research strategies, communication skills as well as gaining knowledge about the systems of government and how change is affected. They are examining their role as citizens in the world with a lens on their voice, responsibilities and rights. Project Citizen is a project based curriculum where students learn through relevant, hands-on, minds-on, problem solving, consensus building with the opportunities for real world outcomes. The curriculum focuses on identifying a challenge in the community and going through the process of researching, problem solving and promoting changes in policy as a means to fixing it. 

Family S.T.E.A.M Night

Mark your calendars! Plans for this year’s S.T.E.A.M night are already in the works for the evening of Wednesday, March 25th. Be on the lookout for information after the February break. If you have expertise in the fields of science, technology, engineering, art or math and would like to host a station, please contact me!

You can find out more information about the Enrichment Program, a program wish list at the website enrichmentRES.blogspot.com. 

Thank you for sharing your learners with me! It is an honor and a privilege to be on the team with you as part of their journey. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or ideas for future activities! 

With Great Care,

Harmony Lanen Roll, Enrichment Teacher

harmony.roll@mmuusd.org