Meaningful
Relevant
Challenging
Explore
Collaborate
If you want student to excel in the world beyond the school walls, you must teach academics AND life skills:
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Problem solving
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Critical thinking
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Deep inquiry
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Innovative thinking
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Taking responsible risks
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Giving back to their community
What you DO with what you know is what matters
What Can Children Do
to Effect Change
in Government?
Our first project of the year focused on civic resonsibility. Children tend to feel powerless - what can they do to make a positive difference in their community, state, and world? We decided to find out! After reading to learn what patriotism and good citizenship is, we wanted to know how we could get involved.
Learning to determine importance when taking notes is critical when conducting research.
Representative Shelee Brim came by our classroom to visit with students about her role as a state representative in Topeka. She shared about her passion to work on the issue of puppy mills in Kansas.
We were hooked! Now we knew what we could do to create change in our state!
We would help Representative Brim by researching all we could find about Kansas puppy mills. We would be her research team!
The more we learned, we more we wanted to learn! The Bonner Springs Animal Rescue Center facetimed with us to share their knowledge.
After researching puppy mills, each student wrote a realistic fiction picture book and embedded facts into the story. Here is Cadence Peterson reading her book to a class of 2nd graders!
My Channel
Field Trip!
Representative Tom Sloan not only came to PRE to visit with students, he also invited them to his office during our field trip. Ashton Lyne shared her puppy mill book with him!
Students were invited by 2 Kansas members of the House of Representatives, Mrs. Shelee Brim and Mr. Tom Sloan.
They shared their research on puppy mills, books they've written, and discussed how schools can be better.
Here's a video of our day!
Phonics Focus
After students studied several lessons in the REWARDS program, they worked in teams to design and create a game to reinforce vowel sounds and affixes.
Students exhibiting reading accuracy/phonics deficits receive 30 minutes, 4 times per week of small group instruction using the REWARDS program.
