Driving Question:

How do marginalized communities express themselves through literature?

Project Summary:

What is better than a grade Project Based Learning Unit??? When TWO grades collaborate to make that PBL project even more powerful!!!

This year the fifth graders at Asbury Elementary have been answering their PBL question, "How do marginalized communities express themselves through art?" As the students learned about many visual artists, expressive artists, and writers who express who they are and what they want us to know about them and their journey, the students also began asking themselves, "How do we spread this information? How can we make sure that others hear these artists' stories?"

That's when Ms. Baker gave an article about Little Free Libraries to the students to read. They learned that many books in the average little free libraries in communities around the country rarely represent different abilities, religions, races, and experiences. With this information, the students decided that they would share others' stories by choosing and getting books donated that represent all different journeys.

In the meantime, the fourth graders were learning about how different school districts around the country were banning beautifully written books just because they share about other's lives that are different from their own. That's when fourth and fifth grade decided to team up! The fourth and fifth graders collected books that they felt others needed to read. If the book was on a potential banned book list, the students placed a "We love Banned Books" sticker on it to make sure that the reader knew. These books were then distributed to little free libraries throughout our community. If you come across one of these books, don't forget to look for the book plate that tells you why the student chose that specific book to add to the free library.

Standards:

Literacy

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.2

Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text, including how characters in a story or drama respond to challenges or how the speaker in a poem reflects upon a topic; summarize the text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.6

Describe how a narrator's or speaker's point of view influences how events are described.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.9

Compare and contrast stories in the same genre (e.g., mysteries and adventure stories) on their approaches to similar themes and topics.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.10

By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poetry, at the high end of the grades 4-5 text complexity band independently and proficiently.

Social Studies

Analyzing primary and secondary sources such as artifacts, documents, photos, and newspaper articles to examine and explain U.S. historical events; identifying multiple perspectives and diverse cultural groups that were important to events in early United States history.

Original Article that started the PBL: