Design for Deeper Learning

Build a better first aid kit. Students will research first aid kits and figure out what needs to be in a modern home first aid kit vs a school first aid kit.

🧠 My 3-Addend Math Reflection 1. Show Your Math Thinking: • "Here is an equation I solved: ___ + ___ + ___ = ___" (Tip: Have students take a photo of a whiteboard where they solved a 3-addend problem, drawing "helper lines" or carrot paths to group their first two numbers). 2. Choose Your Strategy: • "To solve this problem, I was responsible and looked for: • Friends of 10 (like \(7+3\) or \(8+2\)) • Doubles (like \(4+4\) or \(5+5\))" 3. Step-by-Step Responsibility: • "First, I added my friendly numbers together to get ____. • Then, I added the third number. • My total sum is ____." 4. Responsible Learner Check: • "I showed responsibility in math today by: • Circling or linking the two numbers I added first. • Counting on carefully so I didn't forget the third number." 💡 Ideas for the Inkwire Post: • The "Math Voice" Recording: 1st graders love to explain their math thinking out loud. Have them tap the audio record button on Inkwire and talk through their picture: "I saw 4 + 3 + 4. I responsibly looked for a strategy and saw a double! 4 plus 4 is 8, and then 3 more makes 11." • Concrete Artifacts: If you use ten-frames, double-sided counters, or linking cubes in class, have them take a picture of their physical math tools showing how they grouped the first 10 or the double before adding the rest!

I want to create a mini unit of rational numbers for math 6, where students get some financial literacy and negative numbers represent debt or losses not just the basic notions of negative degrees or below sea level 6.NS.C.5 Understand that positive and negative numbers are used together to describe quantities having opposite directions or values (e.g., temperature above/below zero, elevation above/below sea level, credits/debits, positive/negative electric charge); use positive and negative numbers to represent quantities in real‐world contexts, explaining the meaning of 0 in each situation. 6.NS.C.6a Understand a rational number as a point on the number line. 6.NS.C.6c Extend number line diagrams and coordinate axes familiar from previous grades to represent points on the line and in the plane with negative number coordinates.

Research the Students will make mud balls from the soil around the school to conduct a geological investigation.

Project: The Mountain Lion Project Grade: Kindergarten Duration: Approximately six weeks, with flexibility to follow children’s emerging interests. Educational approach: Progressive, constructivist, inquiry-based, and inspired by the project documentation practices of High Tech High and Reggio Emilia. Initial project question: How can mountain lions live so close to us without our seeing them? Project description: Our kindergarten class, called the Mountain Lions, will investigate the mountain lions living in Southern California. We want children to develop their understanding of these animals through observation, scientific inquiry, physical experiences, mathematical investigations, drawing, writing, construction, and discussion. We are particularly interested in children’s developing understanding of habitat, animal adaptations, evidence, scale, and the relationship between human communities and wildlife. We want to incorporate authentic scientific information and local resources, including the mountain lion research conducted in the Santa Monica Mountains. Important design considerations: * Begin with children’s existing ideas and questions. * Avoid predetermined conclusions. * Emphasize hands-on investigations over worksheets. * Incorporate drawing and model-making as tools for thinking. * Include opportunities to revisit, critique, and revise earlier work. * Integrate kindergarten mathematics, literacy, and science naturally. * Document changes in children’s understanding. * Develop an authentic final exhibition or collaborative product. Design request: Help develop this investigation using High Tech High’s Kaleidoscope framework. Suggest meaningful experiences, essential questions, community connections, documentation strategies, and possibilities for a public exhibition. Keep the work developmentally appropriate for five- and six-year-olds, intellectually engaging, and flexible enough to respond to children’s emerging interests.

Project: The Mountain Lion Project Grade: Kindergarten Duration: Approximately six weeks, with flexibility to follow children’s emerging interests. Educational approach: Progressive, constructivist, inquiry-based, and inspired by the project documentation practices of High Tech High and Reggio Emilia. Initial project question: How can mountain lions live so close to us without our seeing them? Project description: Our kindergarten class, called the Mountain Lions, will investigate the mountain lions living in Southern California. We want children to develop their understanding of these animals through observation, scientific inquiry, physical experiences, mathematical investigations, drawing, writing, construction, and discussion. We are particularly interested in children’s developing understanding of habitat, animal adaptations, evidence, scale, and the relationship between human communities and wildlife. We want to incorporate authentic scientific information and local resources, including the mountain lion research conducted in the Santa Monica Mountains. Important design considerations: * Begin with children’s existing ideas and questions. * Avoid predetermined conclusions. * Emphasize hands-on investigations over worksheets. * Incorporate drawing and model-making as tools for thinking. * Include opportunities to revisit, critique, and revise earlier work. * Integrate kindergarten mathematics, literacy, and science naturally. * Document changes in children’s understanding. * Develop an authentic final exhibition or collaborative product. Design request: Help develop this investigation using High Tech High’s Kaleidoscope framework. Suggest meaningful experiences, essential questions, community connections, documentation strategies, and possibilities for a public exhibition. Keep the work developmentally appropriate for five- and six-year-olds, intellectually engaging, and flexible enough to respond to children’s emerging interests.