3rd Grade
Sharing the Planet
Central Idea: Location influences adaptations that support survival.
Driving Question: How can we, as storytellers, continue the Native American arts in our stories?
3rd grade students will explore how location influences adaptations that support survival. Students will reflect on the dependence of people on their location, classification of regions and landforms, human and animal adaptations, structure of geographical landforms. Students will learn about different forms of Native American storytelling. Afterwards, students are challenged to use a form of Native American arts to continue the tradition in their own personal storytelling.
Where We Are in Place & Time
Central Idea: Exploration leads to new understanding and change.
Driving Question: As ambassadors for conservation, how can we inspire the community to reduce, reuse, and recycle?
3rd grade will expand their knowledge about the importance of conservation by investigating how we can inspire our community to reduce, reuse, and recycle. After researching pollution and conservation efforts world-wide, students will work as a class to collaborate on different ways to improve our community and school's conservation efforts. For example, this year, one class focused the wastefulness of plastic water bottles, researched its impact on the environment, and came up with possible solutions for change. They decided our school needed water bottle refill stations on our school's water fountains. After cold-calling companies, we estimated the price and worked out a deal for our school. Lastly, students pitched the idea of using our school's ice cream money profits to add these water bottle filling stations to WTJ. They were approved and we look forward to the installation this March!
How We Organize Ourselves
Central Idea: Economies rely on interdependence.
Driving Question: How can we, as entrepreneurs, create a product that we can develop and pitch to consumers?
3rd grade students will learn about why economic entrepreneurship is important towards economic growth. Students learn about the function of economic systems, connection within economic systems, resources in economic systems, and present prototype ideas in real world setting. In cooperative groups, students will create business plans, build a prototype, and pitch the idea to a panel of community members.