The students at Community School in grades K-5 will work on code.org, a website dedicated to expanding access to computer science.  This will begin the beginning of January.  As students watch instructional videos and solve online puzzles, they are actually creating code.  While working on creating code, code.org endorses the idea that boys and girls are enhancing their problem solving skills, exhibiting persistence, developing their creativity, learning collaboration techniques, and advancing their communication abilities.  

Why Learn to code? Please watch the video below.

What Most Schools Don't Teach Video 

In order for the students to have as much practice with computer coding as possible, we will continue with these lessons until the end of April.  

Please note that we are saving the specific curricular lessons for in-class sessions.  The students have been made aware of this.  If, however, students would like to complete coding enrichment activities they are welcome to utilize 

• Click here to access: Hour Of Code

• Click here to learn more about Hour of Code Calling All Teacher's Worldwide Video 

Samples of Success Criteria and Learning Intentions:

Grade 1 

Grade 2 

Grade 3  

Grade 4 

Grade 5 

Dash Robotics:

Who is Dash? Click to find out! Dash 

Dash Robotics Learning Intentions 

CoDrone Mini Robotics:

What is the CoDrone Mini? Click to find out! CoDrone Mini 

CoDrone Mini Learning Intentions 

Community School

  Digital Citizenship Instruction

Beginning in September, we will start working on digital citizenship with all students in grades K through 5.  The goal is to empower students to think critically, behave safely, and participate responsibly in our digital world.   Students in grades K-5 will participate in three grade level lessons from the Common Sense Media Digital Citizenship curriculum.  Through these lessons, students will learn how to stay safe and be responsible when online.  Lessons will be conducted based on lesson plans provided by Common Sense Media. Strategies will include whole class instruction, presentation of videos, exploration of websites, discussion, and activities.  Students will learn that digital citizens protect private information for themselves and others, respect themselves and others in online communities, stay safe online by listening to their gut feelings, and balance the time they spend using media and doing other activities.

Lessons will focus on staying safe online, keeping private information private, and following their digital trail.  As well as focus on being responsible to themselves, their family and friends, and the community; distinguishing between private and personal information; and learning about the power of words in their communication with others.

Below are the core lesson topics:

• Kindergarten:

1. Media Balance is Important  

2. Pause for People  

3. Safety in my Online Neighborhood 

• Grade 1:

1. Pause and Think Online

2. How Technology Makes You Feel

3. Internet Traffic Light

• Grade 2:

1. We the Digital Citizens

2. That’s Private

3. Device-Free Moments

• Grade 3:

1. Rings of Responsibility

2. Password Power-Up

3. The Power of Words

• Grade 4:

1. My Media Choices

2. Private and Personal

3. Our Online Tracks

• Grade 5:

1. Digital Friendships

2. You Won’t Believe This!

3. Is It Cyberbullying?

Community School

Engineering

Engineering has come to the Cumberland School Department's Library/Media/STEM Centers!

What is the Engineering Design Process?

• Hands-on learning, collaboration, critical thinking, logical reasoning, creativity, and creating as students attempt to identify and solve problems.

• Students are assigned "jobs" in grades 2-5 in small groups in which students are presented with a challenge.  Students will work collaboratively to solve these challenges using materials that are available to them.  This will enable an environment of creativity to be developed and embraced in our media centers.  

It is imperative for students to have a balance in their education to learn the core subjects of math, reading, and science.  However, it is equally important to develop creative thinking and problem solving skills in an environment that is a safe place to explore, design, and even make errors.  The Engineering Design Process was developed by the Boston Museum of Science in their Engineering is Elementary program.  As described on the Boston Museum of Science's Engineering is Elementary website, the steps are as follows:

• • • Ask questions to determine what the problem is.

    • Imagine and brainstorm about ideas and possible solutions.

    • Make a plan of how to solve this problem and determine which materials you will need.

    • Create your idea by following your plan.

    • Test the design for validity.

    • Improve on your creation by making it better and perhaps test it out again.

As Laura Fleming explains in her book entitled Worlds of Making: Best Practices for Establishing a Makerspace for Your School (2015), libraries are still places where people go to do research, to read, to write, and to gather information.  Now, however, they are also places where students can go to explore and create.

In addition to, Alice Baggett, in her book entitled Making in the K-3 Classroom: Why, How, and Wow! (2016), explains that children benefit from going through the process of creating things.  They learn together, make plans and revise them, come to see that making mistakes is a good thing as long as they learn something new from those mistakes, and believe in their ability to solve problems. By creating a safe environment in which to make mistakes, students will learn that persistence is a valuable tool to have when solving problems in the real world.

Engineering Design Process 

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Please Click: LEGO Bricks In The Making

The lego brick is an old invention by now. The first plastic brick was molded in

1949. New and unique lego elements have been developed since then. Pick a lego brick from a box today and it will fit with any brick that was molded decades ago.This is the result of great precision and commitment for more than 50 years. The lego group has factories across the

world.

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The Cumberland Land Trust: Educatiion of the Beaver.  

The Cumberland Land Trust is a private, non-profit, charitable, conservation organization aiming to educate elementary students to learn about the growing population of Beavers in the town.  

The Cumberland Land Trust protects 1020 acres of land in Cumberland!

K-2 Learning Intentions 

Learn more about The American Beaver here: National Geographic Kids-The American Beaver 

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Please Click: How Crayons are Made 

When crayon production started in America back in the 1900's, a lot of

different companies competed for the

incredibly lucrative art supplies and schools.  However one company

emerged as the market leader in 1903. Almost 120 years later they are still at the top of the orange tree! Everyone who has ever used crayons knows the Crayola brand. The name itself was coined by Mrs. Alice Binny, the wife of one of the Founders.  According to statistics, the Crayola company produces an average of 3 billion crayons per year. That is 8 million crayons per day! 

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How Play-Doh is Made: Click here to find out! Play-Doh 

Play-Doh is a cultural phenomenon with its own unique texture and even a special perfume! Over 2 billion cans of Play-Doh have been produced - that's 900 million pounds!