Tag: Project Based Learning
Kindergarten Project to Help the Homeless
April 1, 2015 by
In the Gan Tmarim class, we are learning about people who are homeless. When we learned that homeless people may not have a job, money, clothes, food or toys, we were surprised and sad. To learn more, we read a book about a girl who lives in a shelter and doesn’t have any toys, so […]
Second Graders Transform their Classroom into the Human Body for the Art & Science Expo
March 1, 2015 by
The Art and Science Expo is a special night at JPDS-NC, when children and parents come to learn in a fun and exciting way! In second grade, we focus on systems within us and around us. One of the systems we learned about is the human body. For the Expo, we decided to transform our […]
First Graders Conduct Research and Present their Oceans Studies
February 25, 2015 by
We came up with “big ideas” that we wanted to learn about: the human body, technology, recycling and the ocean. We took a vote to see what we should focus on, and the ocean won. We read books and decided to research ocean animals. We chose to focus on sharks, dolphins, fish, jellyfish, silver gulls, […]
The Role of Parents in the Learning Process
February 12, 2015 by
Twice a year we invite our families to join us on South Campus to actively participate in our learning process. To make the learning visible, teachers and students transform the Kikar or Ulam (our shared spaces) into environments that showcase their projects. Over the past two months, the batim p’tuchim (open houses) provided an opportunity […]
First Graders Script and Perform a Play about Endangered Gorillas
February 11, 2015 by
We started learning about endangered animals. We decided to learn about mountain gorillas. There are only 700 mountain gorillas left in the whole world because of the wars surrounding where they live and poachers. We wanted to make a play that showed our feelings about mountain gorillas and other endangered species. We voted about doing […]
Kindergarteners Create a Code for their Secrets Time Capsule
December 24, 2014 by
Our Kindergarten class has been interested in the idea of telling and sharing secrets. We thought about the Harry Potter book called Chamber of Secrets, and that gave us the idea to make a time capsule for our class. We are burying a box and the box will hold the secrets we want others to […]
Fifth Graders Re-create a Colonial Village in School
December 3, 2014 by
The fifth graders just wrapped up our Colonial America unit. We wrote essays about Jamestown, performed skits about a colonial child and a modern-day child meeting, and debated a freedom of the press case from the 1700s. The two culminating events of that unit were a field trip to Mount Vernon, and transforming the school […]
Second Graders Visit a Corn Maze, Then Build Their Own Math Maze
October 29, 2014 by
The JPDS-NC 2nd grade went on a class field trip to Sharp’s Farm. We went to the farm because we are learning about mazes and the farm had a huge corn maze! While on the farm, we learned about bees, fed animals, and picked pumpkins and popping corn. We also saw a peacock and took […]
Messy Learning, Clear Objectives: Fifth Grade Teacher Published in ASCD Express
October 27, 2014 by
Our own Lisa Schopf recently published an article about Project-Based Learning in ASCD Express, a professional publication that highlights innovative solutions and best practices in education. In her article, “Messy Learning, Clear Objectives,” Lisa uses a recent project from her Fifth Grade classroom about the American Civil War to examine project-based learning as a valuable tool for engaging […]
Third Graders Build Their Own Shofars at the Shofar Factory
October 1, 2014 by
On Monday, all the third graders went on a special field trip to the Shofar Factory. We learned a lot about making a shofar and even got to make one of our own ahead of the Jewish high holidays. A shofar is a ram’s horn that some Jewish people blow in synagogues on the holidays […]
