Helping Our School's Wildlife

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Second grade students will explore their school site in order to understand the basic needs of the animals on our campus. Through that exploration they will learn challenges animals may face raising their young without proper resources and a safe environment. They will work collaboratively in groups to come up with a plan to improve our school site, asking school leaders and members of our community for help. After engaging with others to join in, students will use those resources (possibly funds) to help make our school site more animal friendly.

Material Type: Unit of Study

Authors: Brittany Watkins, Katie Stephenson

Fair Versus Equal

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Students explore different abilities of characters in a literature study of five different novels. Students select their own novel based on interest and readability, conduct research, and create a presentation on the disability of the character(s) in their novel. In addition, students visit an adaptive special education classroom to observe, interact and participate in learning with differently-abled peers. Students collaborate to communicate results of their research with peers, parents, and staff. They are visited by representatives from an organization such as Canine Companions for Independence to learn about how their organization works to improve the quality of life for individuals with disabilities.

Material Type: Unit of Study

Authors: Alison Brown, Carmen Young, Selena Miracle, Stephanie Caviness

Plastic Pollution

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Students work collaboratively to transform their experiences and understanding of plastic pollution into a product that encourages other community members to reduce their single plastic usage. Students work together to research the effects of single-use plastic on plants, animals, and the environment. Reading skills are strengthened by reading numerous nonfiction articles and websites about the effects of plastic; students then use these sources to write opinion pieces about plastic use. Students interview staff members, participate in Zero Waste Week, and create a sculpture from discarded materials.

Material Type: Unit of Study

Author: Candace Swain

#SstormSquad

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This project-based learning unit is a great opportunity to bring relevance to the students while learning about severe weather prediction and prevention, maps, graphs, coordinate planes, and informational reading. Students will plan and execute an emergency plan and kit to be used in case of severe weather in their community with their own families.

Material Type: Unit of Study

Authors: Ezequiel Donado, Marines Betancourt

Gingerbread Market

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The Gingerbread Market is Project-Based Learning for Social Studies Economics. Students learn what it means to be a consumer and a producer by supplying goods and services for a donation. All earnings are donated to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and the American Cancer Society.

Material Type: Unit of Study

Authors: Kara Lillie, Tammy Todd

The Indian's Moral Compass

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Students collect data within their school about current social issues and create graphs to display and analyze the data. Students simultaneously read and write fables based on the prevalent social issues. Students then make 2D illustrations for their fables and practice reading their stories aloud with fluency. The culminating event is a Meet the Author showcase for parents to hear the stories and get autographs from the new authors.

Material Type: Unit of Study

Authors: Laura Skoczylas, Sigourney Wells

History Mystery: The Lost Colony of Roanoke

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Students are presented with an opportunity to investigate one of North Carolina's great mysteries, the Lost Colony of Roanoke. They are tasked with an application process to research various theories. Throughout the study/unit, students gain an understanding of a key event in their state's history. They are able to share and teach others about this mysterious event. They develop the understanding of looking for key details and clues to make connections with various theories, relating to the work of a CSI detective/forensic scientist.

Material Type: Unit of Study

Authors: Cheryl Brown, Dawn Cunningham

Bats Help Our Community

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North Carolina experienced major flooding in 2018 due to Hurricane Florence. As a result there has been a huge increase in the amount and size of mosquitoes in our state. Mosquitoes are known for carrying diseases like Zika, Malaria, and West Nile. We must do something to help our community. Bats can be an answer to this problem. A single bat can eat up to 1,200 mosquito sized insects every hour and each bat can usually eat up to 6,000 to 8,000 insects per night. To help alleviate a massive amount of mosquitoes in our community we will build bat boxes and share them with our community.

Material Type: Unit of Study

Authors: Lisa Lewis, Lisa Skillern, Stacey Sharron

Keep It Calm

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Rationale - Many students today come to school not knowing how to handle their emotions and conflicts. Through this project, students will gain knowledge and the tools they need throughout the school year. Overview - Students explored different emotions through stories, videos, and experiences. They learned about rules and their importance for safety. Students learned about calming techniques such as: breathing, going to a safe place, and expressing emotions appropriately. Students designed and implemented a safe place in the classroom by making posters, sensory bottles, stress balls, and breathing pinwheels.

Material Type: Unit of Study

Authors: Lu Harvison, Sandy Bledsoe

Which Pet Should I Get?

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This project is launched at your local pet store. Students gather information about various pets by exposure of visiting the pet store, class family pet visitors, a local vet, pet adoption agency, classroom literacy, etc. Students then choose a pet they would like to promote to sell at the pet shop. The students build brochures/posters/web videos to promote which pet a customer (the audience) should get. The concluding expo entails the audience listening/viewing student research and collected data so that they would choose which pet they would get.

Material Type: Unit of Study

Author: Courtney Dean

Harvest Festival

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Students help our school's PTA decorate for the upcoming Harvest Festival. The student's responsibility is to design and create a decoration that will enhance the theme of the Harvest Festival. Students learn about 2-D and 3-D shapes in the classroom. Then they use their knowledge to create a decoration of their own to share with the community.

Material Type: Unit of Study

Authors: Courtney Andrews, Karen Wood

Bridge Over Troubled Water

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First grade students will work in small group settings to discover how to become an architectural engineer. They will research and demonstrate their knowledge of bridge designs through STEM and drawings. Finally developing a strong infrastructure that will collaboratively fit onto a created setting. Allowing them to present a model of their findings.

Material Type: Unit of Study

Authors: Courtney Andrews, Karen Wood

Nutritious Party Planning

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Fourth grade students learn about the importance of living a healthy lifestyle through a variety of experiences. The goal of this unit is for students to apply what they learn in class to help transform their life to a healthier lifestyle. To begin this unit, students watch a clip from the movie WALL-E to get their attention about the importance of eating healthy and exercising. What would life be like if we all lived a WALL-E way of life? Students then dive into their learning by completing a nutrition pathway. Students independently learn about the different food groups, why vitamins and minerals are important, and the importance of exercise. Students then apply what they learned to interview our school’s Cafeteria Attendants. Through this process, they learn the “ins and outs” of what goes into planning lunch for our 1,100 student body. To close out the unit, the students work in small groups to plan a nutritious class party. Each group creates a “company” and presents their plan to the class at the close of the unit. Students must include the five important food groups while staying within a $60.00 budget. Once each company presents their party plan, students vote on which company to “hire” to throw our class party. Students then close out the year with a more nutritious party while still having fun.

Material Type: Unit of Study

Author: Laura Veling