2.1 Instructional Rigor, Relevance & Quality

Through their Arts & Letters curriculum, Kindergarteners explore what's on a farm, receive a visit from a neighboring farmer, take a trip to a farm, and use a story map to write a beginning, middle and end for their own story of a farmer growing and crop and raising an animal.

Kindergarten students investigate the question: what is nature? as they kick off their PBL on how to be good stewards of nature at CLES. They participate in a nature walk and discussions on how to take care of nature on our school campus.

Students count and graph the number of plants in their garden at the beginning, middle, and end of the year. Together, they plan for additions to the garden to increase the number of plants and make the garden more inviting. 

1st Grade Students Research Two Different Animals and Create a Venn Diagram with Their Similarities and Differences

1st Graders Research an Animal to Write an Informational Paragraph and Build a Habitat Model That Meets its Needs

1st Graders Create a Model of the Parts of a Plant: Roots, Stem, Leaf, Flower

2nd graders create a model of a pollinator using 3 dimensional shapes from their math standards.

2nd grade students build a model of Marin Luther King Jr.'s podium, and write a summary of Dr. King's dream. 

Based on an Arts & Letters story, 2nd graders research Earth Lodges and learn how changes in the weather affected seasonal migration and housing for the Hidatsa tribe.

After researching pollution in our waterways, students design a model of a device that might be used to clean up water pollution.

Students research household waste. They create a list of ways to reduce waste and share with their peers.

As an extension to their Arts and Letters module, third grade students research their favorite planet. They create a presentation highlighting the planet's key features.

Students read about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Students become interested in microplastics and how their effect our bodies. They conduct research on how microplastics enter our waterways, bodies, and their harmful effects.

Fifth graders investigate the amount of sugar consumed in common beverages. They learn how to read food labels, and work in teams to find out how much sugar is consumed in milk, orange juice, soda, Capri Sun, Gatorade, and water per day, week, month and year if one serving is consumed per day starting with grams and converting to kg for their yearly total. Students then wrote a reflection on their own drink choices.

Fifth grade students investigate how much salt is consumed in a store-bought Thanksgiving meal versus a homemade thanksgiving meal. They then work as a team to create a healthy Thanksgiving meal menu with lower sodium.