American History, Government and Economics

Using the CKLA curriculum - we wanted to create a project focusing on Plants, Farms, Seasons and Weathers, and finally taking care of the earth. At the same time incoporating science, social studies, math, and ELA kindergarten standards to the project.

Project Zero: The Modern Mirror (Diagnostic & Introductory Unit) Driving Question: How do the core tensions of the past continue to drive modern conflict, and why do certain historical arguments remain unresolved across centuries? Objective: Introduce the 6 overarching course themes (Social, political, economic, cultural, environment). Students conduct a research sweep to prove that 21st-century headlines are simply unresolved historical arguments. There will be a final project that this connects to at the end of the year that requires them to use their skills to analyze the change in more depth. The Front-Page Comparative Wire (Infographic Brief) Format: A split-screen digital front page or infographic comparing a 21st-century news item side-by-side with a historic archival front page or historical document excerpt. Student Experience: The student acts as a news editor pitching a "Then vs. Now" story arc to their editorial board (the class). In 3 minutes, they walk through the contemporary headline, unpack the chart/graph in the center, and explain how the underlying conflict mirrors the historic anchor. Why it Works: Directly bridges English text/media analysis with AP World History source comparison right out of the gate.

Students create an environmentally sustainable redesign for a community space, such as a park, library, public square, empty lot, or community center. Students visit the space; research the local context, needs, resources, and constraints; and investigate principles of environmentally sustainable design as they develop their solutions for presentation to key stakeholders.

https://codehs.com/editor/preview/module/29609

The junior's term-long project is to create a children's book with visuals. The book is supposed to help children with literacy. One of the ones a book can do this is if the visuals in the book show images of the words which are challenging for a young person to read. That way, the visual gives a clue about what the challenging word means. In their final project, they will be required to identify the most challenging word on each page and make sure that word is represented in the visual which goes with that page. For this one-day activity, I want to teach the students the concept of how to use visuals to show vocabulary and give them a chance to practice it.

Spanish project to practice writing letters to a friend