Fall 2022 Showcase

DQ: How can learning facts about spiders take us from fearful to fascinated? 

Interdisciplinary Studies: Science and ELA

Instructional Skills Discovered:  activate prior knowledge, compare/contrast, fact/opinion, & draw conclusions

Life/Career Skills Enhanced: Communication, Collaboration, Creativity

Task: Students worked as scientists and took a look at different species of spiders’ traits and adaptations. Students explored the world’s biggest spiders and discovered that maybe we don’t have to be so scared of these amazing arachnids after all! As an extension, students were asked to choose their favorite spider from the lesson, observe the photograph closely like scientists do, and recreate it on paper. In a step by step active listening portion, students were to work together to make their paper spiders climb up a string. As a result of the lesson, we closed with a question storm via “think, pair, share.” All further questions were charted and displayed to encourage the importance of staying curious! 

DQ: How can we budget successfully? 

Interdisciplinary Studies: CTE (Business), ELA, and Math

Instructional Skills Discovered:  activate prior knowledge, compare/contrast, problem/solution, draw conclusions, make inferences

Life/Career Skills Enhanced: Communication, Collaboration, Creativity

Task: Students worked as financiers and created a Google Slides presentations on budgeting. They had to purchase many items, like: a house, car, streaming services/cable, cellphone, router, and groceries. They had to research a dream home and a realistic home and utilized the mortgage calculator to see see how much they would pay monthly between each of the homes. Then, they would realize the huge price difference after comparing and contrasting between the two. They would do the same thing for the cars while using the auto loan calculator. 

DQ: How can we help farmers keep crops from damage?

Interdisciplinary Studies: STEAM and ELA

Instructional Skills Discovered:  activate prior knowledge, problem/solution, vocabulary development, making predictions, compare/contrast

Life/Career Skills Enhanced: Communication, Collaboration, Problem Solving

Task: Students worked as engineers on building a structure to keep the pumpkins on the farm from being eaten by pests. After creating the structures, we tested if it held a "pumpkin" two inches off the ground. The students then had five minutes to revamp their structure to withstand the "windstorm" that was forecasted to come. 

DQ: How can social media affect your digital footprints? 

Interdisciplinary Studies: CTE (Business) and ELA

Instructional Skills Discovered:  activate prior knowledge, compare/contrast, fact/opinion, draw conclusions

Life/Career Skills Enhanced: Communication, Collaboration, Creativity

Task: Students worked as marketing developers, in groups of 2-3, to present their social media company. The social media company was assigned to each pair/group where they had to brainstorm and create a Google Slides presentation. The following layout was: When was the social media website founded, history of the logo, purpose of the social media site, main target market, pros vs. cons, safety concerns of utilizing the application, plus their opinion of the application. Therefore, this will lead students to research and discover how the internet is not always a safe place, especially on social media applications. 

DQ: How do scientists use tools to measure?

Interdisciplinary Studies: Science, Math, and ELA

Instructional Skills Discovered:  activate prior knowledge, compare/contrast, & vocabulary development, draw conclusions

Life/Career Skills Enhanced: Communication, Collaboration, Problem Solving

Task: Students were tasked with determining the largest pumpkin based on characteristics of size.  Students explored various tools scientists use to measure.  Students recorded and observed during the science rotations to determine the largest pumpkin.

DQ: What's the Matter? Can solids also be liquids? 

Interdisciplinary Studies: Science and ELA

Instructional Skills Discovered:  activate prior knowledge, making predictions, drawing conclusions, making inferences, vocabulary development

Life/Career Skills Enhanced: Communication, Collaboration, Problem Solving

Task: Students worked as scientists to determine changing states of matter.  Students explored what happened to biodegradable packing peanuts when placed in a bowl of water.  Many students' predictions were correct and they recorded observations were shared with classmates.

DQ: How can we work together and agree on a design and construction of a shelter?

Interdisciplinary Studies: Science, ELA, Math

Instructional Skills Discovered:  activate prior knowledge, developing vocabulary, understanding different perspectives, connections to self, others, and world, 

Life/Career Skills Enhanced: Communication, Problem Solving, Collaboration, Cooperation

Task: Students were tasked with being engineers and learned the importance of cooperation and compromise while constructing a house for their pumpkins.  Students designed and created the structure ad worked throught he STEAM process.  Students later worked on their own at recess to create homes for their stuffed animals.

DQ: How do scientists use the scientific method in their profession? 

Interdisciplinary Studies: Science, ELA, Math

Instructional Skills Discovered:  activate prior knowledge, cause/effect, drawing conclusions, making inferences, predicting, and developing vocabulary

Life/Career Skills Enhanced: Building Self and Social Awareness, Problem Solving, Communication, Collaboration 

Task: A chemist came to present how she utilizes the scientific method and what her life looks like as a scientist. The scientist described her job, what she does, lab safety, and her experiences as a scientist. She discussed how she uses the scientific method every single day to do her job. She then modeled an experiment where she walked them through lab safety and the scientific method. After her presentation and questions, the scientist assisted each classroom in performing their own science experiment where students had to use the scientific method as well as lab safety.

DQ: How can we create and deliver an effective elevator pitch to gain investors?

Interdisciplinary Studies: CTE (Business), ELA, 

Instructional Skills Discovered:  activate prior knowledge, developing vocabulary, understanding different perspectives, connections to self, others, and world, 

Life/Career Skills Enhanced: Critical Thinking, Collaboration, Problem Solving, Cmminication, Professionalism, Technology

Task: In Mr. Ketterer’s SUNY Virtual Enterprise course, business students are tasked with running their own company. Although the students work within different departments including Accounting, HR, Management, IT, Sales, Marketing, Finance, and Design, they each play an important role in the company’s overall success. Currently, the students in the VE Firm USecure, developed a company elevator pitch as part of a National Competition.

DQ: How does repeating text help the reader?

Interdisciplinary Studies: ELA, Math

Instructional Skills Discovered:  activate prior knowledge, analyze text structure, main idea & details, making predictions, developing vocabulary 

Life/Career Skills Enhanced: Communicate, Collaborate, Creativity, Critical Thinking 

Task: The students in Mrs. Perretta's reading classes were given the driven question "what is repeating in the text Brown Bear, Brown Bear?" Students used their prior knowledge of books that were read prior to the lesson to guide themselves through the repetition in the book. Students were able to use a variety of strategies throughout the lesson. Higher level thinking questions encouraged students to think in new and different ways about the content. After interactively reading the book on the Smartboard, students worked on their own to create a page for the "First Grader, First Grader What Do You See" book. During this activity the students took risks by being creative and unique as to what they see. When the book was completed, students were able to read their page to the class. The students work is currently presented in the hallway at Norwood. 

DQ: How can we make students in our school aware of healthier eating alternatives? 

Interdisciplinary Studies: ELA, Health, PE, Science

Instructional Skills Discovered:  activate prior knowledge, problem & solution, developing vocabulary 

Life/Career Skills Enhanced: Communicate, Collaborate, Creativity, Problem Solving, Critical Thinking, Life Management - time, risk, stress, Self and/or Social Awareness 

Task: The students were tasked to research, prepare, educate and offer others how to eat healthier snacks in our school. 

DQ: How can we successfully understand our personal Holland Codes? 

Interdisciplinary Studies: CTE, Fine Arts, ELA

Instructional Skills Discovered:  activate prior knowledge, compare & contrast, point of view, developing vocabulary 

Life/Career Skills Enhanced: Communicate, Collaborate, Creativity 

Task: Students will learn about the 16 different career clusters and take Career Aptitude tests to see what career path is right for them. Along with that, they will learn about the Holland Code theory and discover their own Holland Code. Since students have different personalities, they will have different Holland Codes. Therefore, they will be given a random object to create (Example: snowman) with playdoh. Here's the twist: they will end up switching their object with the person next to them and make either improvements or rearrange the snowman to it's entirety. Thus, students will realize how their Holland Codes are either going to be really similar or really different. 

DQ: How did the ancient civilizations contribute and help shape our lives today? 

Interdisciplinary Studies: SS, ELA, Math, Science, Fine Arts

Instructional Skills Discovered:  activate prior knowledge, author's purpose, analyze text structure, cause & effect, compare & contrast, connect themes, arguments, perspectives, draw conclusions, fact & opinion, main idea & details, making inferences, making predictions, point of view, problem & solution, sequencing, using text evidence, making text connections - to self, text/media, world, developing vocabulary 

Life/Career Skills Enhanced: Communicate, Collaborate, Creativity, Problem Solving, Critical Thinking, Life Management - time, risk, stress, Self and/or Social Awareness 

Task: The students worked in groups to become experts on a civilization of their choice through research and inquiry. Students had to connect the contributions of ancient civilizations to their lives and society today. 

DQ: What is a parade a float? How are they made?  

Interdisciplinary Studies: SS, ELA, Math, Science, Fine Arts, Engineering

Instructional Skills Discovered:  activate prior knowledge, compare & contrast, making text connections, develop vocabulary

Life/Career Skills Enhanced: Communicate, Collaborate, Creativity, Problem Solving, Critical Thinking, Self and/or Social Awareness 

Task: The class first watched the one of the first Macy's Day Parade followed up by a present day parade. The class discussed the similarities and differences of the two parades. After listening to the story and discussing the students were tasked with collaborating with their peers to design their own Thanksgiving Day Parade float. Students were first asked to brainstorm ideas before implementing and designing their own float. 

DQ: How do scientist make discoveries for phenomena that cannot be directly observed? 

Interdisciplinary Studies: ELA, Math, Science

Instructional Skills Discovered:  activate prior knowledge, compare & contrast, draw conclusions, fact & opinion, main idea & details, making inferences, making predictions, problem & solution, sequencing, developing vocabulary 

Life/Career Skills Enhanced: Communicate, Collaborate, Problem Solving, Critical Thinking 

Task: Students were able to indirectly and accurately determine how many pennies are inside a series of sealed containers using math, logic, and a triple-beam balance. Scientist often rely on indirect evidence to learn about the world since they cannot always directly see or observe the materials they are investigating.