CLASS BLOG

Class 2: Big6 Task Definition (especially the essential questions) refocused Sally and I to structure the rest of the year around our Maine/government studies. The important thing we need to remember is to not do the thinking for the students. Stepping back far enough leads you to the essential questions; keeping one finger on the progress report benchmarks tells you if your essential question(s) will lead you in the right direction.

So here's the task for us 4th grade teachers at Kaler: How do we cover the following Social Studies progress report benchmarks while still letting the students decide what's important to study and then present it in a way that's both meaningful and authentic?
- Social Studies Benchmarks:
-> Understands the function of government (Maine focus)
-> Demonstrates an understanding of major events and people (in Maine)
-> Compares current and historical life (Maine focus)
-> Can label and identify specific features of a map (Maine focus)
-> Explains how the economy (of Maine) affects families and communities

The following is a rough draft of an idea:
WHY MAINE?
Students need to develop a presentation that would convince businesses, residents, and/or vacationers to visit/move to Maine.

This is a big task to define, with many parts, but we should be able to walk along with them to define the parts, help them decide on presentation formats, and create a rubric to score each piece.