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The Roman Empire is falling again and again in Ms. McGuire’s 6th grade World Cultures classes. Working in the Lighthouse Makerspace room, Students are designing and creating their own board games that capture the crucial components of the decline and fall of the empire. Students must include political, economic and social factors along with environmental factors such as geography and weather. Feather boas, strips of plastic, and are being re-purposed and refashioned into Uno and Pokémon Gladiator cards. An excited student explained, that “In our Pokémon game the goal is to get everyone else’s cards. We are learning that good weapons and shields, and lots of practice made the armies strong. When the Romans didn’t have any of those things any more, that’s when the empire started to fall.”
Throughout the second unit of Social Studies the 5th graders learned about the events leading up to and during the American Revolution. Throughout the lessons students were engaged and motivated by the opportunity to role play, discuss and write about what they were learning. In light of the mannequin challenge trend we decided to create a Revolution Mannequin Challenge. Groups of 5th graders designed props, created sceneries, and directed their classmates to pose and represent the event they were assigned. Each group also wrote a narration to accompany their mannequin challenge scene. The final product will be a complete retelling of the Revolution. Here is what students had to say about this project:
History came alive this year for students in Windsor Mill Middle School social studies classes. Department Chair, Rick Kline, transformed desks into super pods and designed inquiry-based projects for his classes. In March, students ran an election campaign to elect the most effective leader for ancient Rome. Students selected candidates and created Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, and commercials to garner support leading up to the final debate and vote. In April, students researched the role of the Roman Catholic Church in the Middle Ages to determine if the price of the church’s influence was worth the cost. Students vigorously defended their positions with textual references during a lively Philosophical Chair. In May, Chelsea Bracci from the Maryland Historical Society beamed into the classroom, leading a virtual lesson on National Anthems using the Star Spangled Banner original document as a primary source.
Submitted by Brenda Workmeister S.T.A.T. Teacher, Hawthorne Elementary Hawthorne Elementary first grade students researched U.S. Symbols on Pebble Go. Each class researched four symbols and worked collaboratively to put together a script and illustration to transform their learning. |
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June 2018
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