Building Community Partners
                                            By:  Kara Vargas and Sarah Ambrose

Project at a Glance :

This project is designed to establish a positive classroom culture.  It can be used at the beginning of the school year - or mid way through to re-establish classroom culture.  It was written with lower elementary students in mind and could be adapted to other grade levels as well.  The length of the project is 1-2 weeks.
       
 
Driving Question:

How do we build a community of learners that work well together?           

Standards:

• Teamwork
• Collaboration

• Presentation Skills

Team / Culture Building:

• Hopes/Fears/ Norms protocol
• Icebreaker activities
• Four Corners
• Would You Rather activity​

Entry Event:

• Scavenger hunt​​

Stakeholders:

• Students
• Teacher

Empathy Building:

• Create empathy maps, second step empathy lessons, literature about empathy
• writing prompts
• Wrinkled heart activity​

Inquiry / Need to Knows:

•  Explore other classrooms (ie pictures, second step, videos)
• Create empathy maps for stakeholders

Incubation:

•  Use the Think - Pair - Share protocol to generate ideas​​

• Give prompts/questions to further thinking​

• Read books/research related to the driving question

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Solution Building:

• Idea Quota - 100 Ideas on sticky notes
• Saturate and Group like sticky notes
• Dot Voting (using Seesaw for each child voice) 
• Gallery Walk - Sharing ideas with other groups for feedback
• Naming your idea (naming rule/expectations)

Critique and Revision: 

• Seesaw
• Fireside Chats
• Maitre D’
• Talking Chips
• Get feedback from other teachers and 4th grade book buddies

Authentic Audience:​

• Principal
• Parents
• School staff

Final Presentation:

•  Students will design a poster with their “rule” and share through a visual presentation (either video or in person).​

Click here for teacher's full plan.

​Reflection and Feedback:

• Use Seesaw and Flipgrid to provide feedback​​

​Click here for the  teacher's Journey through PBL on Padlet.

Meet the Educator:
Kara Vargas teaches 2nd grade and Sarah Ambrose teaches 1st grade at Rosy Mound Elementary, Grand Haven Public Schools.  
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     "We love that it engages students and gives them a voice in their learning." ~ K. Vargas & S. Ambrose