Welcome to The Solar Flares Class Page www.mrvandkate.com

San Diego Cooperative Charter School, Multiage, ages 6 - 8

Home     Curriculum     Class Calendar     Newsletters     Parent Information     Homework     Links for Students     Volunteer     Site Map     Links      
Book Projects     Cooking     Multiage      

  
Integrated Thematic Instruction

            We have organized the curriculum for the multiage program in a two-year cycle to ensure that our students have a unique learning experience each year. For each year, we have developed six integrated thematic units. These units each have a social studies and science focus, and serve as a framework for mathematics, literacy, art, and personal development curricula. The units are designed to provide challenging, high-level content, which is accessible to all students with a wide range of skill levels. Specific literacy and mathematics instruction is differentiated to meet individual needs of each student within the larger theme.

The thematic unit exploration structure is constructivist in nature: students are encouraged to explore the themes, complete individual projects, and construct their knowledge about the subject matter. We hold a strong belief that our role as teachers is to organize and provide experiences to support students in learning and developing as critical thinkers. We also believe that our role is to expose students to a wide range of experiences and curriculum that they may not select on their own. The thematic units provide exposure and a framework for students to explore a variety of topics and develop skills to become active in the learning process.

 

The units we have developed for this year are as follows:

  • Where Are You? (Making sense of the world through maps, graphic organizers, charts, exploring neighborhoods, communities, families, and the human body. )
  • Changing Earth (Exploring geography, geology, weather, water, sun and how they connect to effect the world.)

  • Holidays (Investigating traditions and celebrations in our community and around the world.)

  • Motion (Physics, engineering and inventions)

  • People & Purpose (An exploration about individuals their motivations to make the world a better place.)

  • Biology of the Rain Forest (Animals, habitats, adaptations, environment.)

  • Passion Projects

 

Unit Culmination Celebrations

Throughout the year we will have six evening events for families and students. Each will be the culmination of the study of each unit. Students will present their thematic unit projects, and we hope you will join us in celebrating their great learning and exploration. Our events usually take place on the following Thursday evenings at 5:30:

 

  • October 9th Where Are You? (Couple with the school's open house, this will be an “tour the room” style celebration—we invite you to come take a look at work your child is doing in class following the first few weeks of school.)

  • November 12th Changing Earth

  • December 17th Holiday Party
  • January 28th Motion (Also Science Night)

  • March 18th People and Purpose

  • May 6th Biology of the Rain Forest

  • Monday June 14th Passion Projects 

 

Unit Projects

Within many of our units, each student will complete an independent or small group investigation project. In a typical six week unit, the first three weeks will provide students with information and experiences across the curriculum. During the third week, students will begin to think of a topic, and work with us to develop a learning plan for their independent project. During the final two weeks, students will have time in class and at home to create a final project which they will present at the unit culmination night.

The goals of the independent and small group project process are to develop research, writing, and presentation skills. Initially, the projects will likely be more teacher-directed in their form and content. Over the course of the year, students will become increasingly independent in the ways in which they approach their individual projects—leading up to their final “Passion Project.”

 

Writer’s Workshop

Our units of study in writing this year will be:

September: Beginning the Writer’s Workshop

October-November: Narratives

November-December: Writing For Readers

January-February: Revision

February-March: Authors as Mentors

March-April: Nonfiction

April-May: Poetry

 

Math Instruction

Students participate daily in either math centers or math groups which address a variety of mathematics applications at individual skill levels. We work in small groups, and on individualized math pages, so instruction varies student to student. This year our overarching units of study in math this year will be:

Number Love

Data/Statistics/Probability

Geometry

Place Value

Fractions

Measurement

Multiplication and Division

Money

Time

The units we have outlined will provide exposure in the different mathematics strands. We plan to complete these units around April, and use the remainder of the year to revisit all of the strands and develop a deeper understanding of mathematics applications.

 

Book Projects

Throughout the year students will have the opportunity to respond to literature and create a wide variety of individual and group book projects. This year your student will complete 8 book projects. There are 30 different book projects that we have designed (a copy of the book project menu is attached). These projects are intended to be fun and open ended, while addressing grade level standards for reading comprehension and literary response and analysis. The structure of these projects also aims to expose students to a variety of different kinds of print information: newspapers, magazines, posters, etc. For the first 5 book projects, students will choose one project from 5 different categories. The last three will be free choice. To keep our celebrations interesting, different students will be working on different projects in a given period of time.

Our first book project celebration will be the last week of October. We will provide practice and instruction for students in class, as well as additional information to parents (via the home folder) in mid-October.

  

Specials

...

Please make sure your child has suitable PE shoes on Monday and Wednesday.

 

Special Specials

            Special Specials are a wonderful opportunity for our students to engage with families and members of our classroom and school community. We invite parents to sign up to offer a “special special” on _TBA____ afternoon—4 rotations of about 20 minutes each for approximately 10 students at a time.

 

Cooking/Science Rotations

Throughout the year, we will be working on cooking projects, compiling recipe books, and learning about food as it relates to culture and the environment around the world. We design cooking lessons to fit with our thematic units, with math and literacy skills in mind. We would love volunteers to help with cooking projects in the classroom. We have decided to work on group cooking projects every other week, and work on small group science experiments on the opposite weeks. TBA    is our Cooking/Science coordinator