Classroom Environment
​By:  Kari Brose

Project at a Glance :

This is a project for 4th grade students to create an EPIC classroom environment at the beginning of the school year. Student explore and create ways to have an epic classroom experience and build a positive and welcoming classroom culture/environment. Additionally, the project focuses a variety of English standards including writing, and speaking standards. This unit is roughly 1-2 weeks. 

​Driving Question:

How can we make 4th grade the best year EVER in our classroom?

Standards:

• W.4.10: Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.
• W.4.8: Recall relevant information from experiences or gather relevant information from print and digital sources; take notes and categorize information, and provide a list of sources.
• SL.4.1: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 4 topics and texts, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.​
• SL.4.6: Differentiate between contexts that call for formal English (e.g., presenting ideas) and situations where informal discourse is appropriate (e.g., small-group discussion); use formal English when appropriate to task and situation. (See grade 4 Language standards 1 here for specific expectations.)

Team / Culture Building:

• ​Me Cubes - Students answered questions to determine their creative DNA. They used this to help for groups.​

• Creative DNA
• Bug List

Entry Event:

• Each team was given a puzzle piece and then the whole class had to work together to create the puzzle, revealing the Driving Question.

Stakeholders:

• Students - peers in the classroom
• Classroom teachers, specials teachers, interventionists, and school staff.
• Administrators - all office staff
• Parents - parents of kids in the classroom.

Empathy Building:

• Stakeholder Map​​

• Empathy Map​

Inquiry / Need to Knows:

• Create a Need to Knows list​

• Conduct Interviews

Incubation:

• Raining Ideas - Students wrote one of their top ideas about making this the best year ever in our classroom on a sticky note. We then sat in a circle and passed the notes to music. The kids read several of their classmates ideas as they passed the notes. 
• Crazy 8's - After students participated in Raining Ideas, they had 8 minutes to come up with 8 different solution ideas.

• Thank you cards - Students wrote thank you cards to our classmates, community members and critical friends.
• Glows and Wohs - similar to Pluses & Deltas​

• Fireside Chat - as a check incheck out strategy.

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Solution Building:

• Poster Projects -Students took the top 5 votes from Crazy 8’s and did group posters to share the idea. 

• NUFF Test - Students voted on a scale of 1-10 if each ideas was new, useful, feasible and fun. They they decided how they could change it based on the ratings.

• Critical Friends - The students invited some of the stakeholders into the classroom to get some feedback on their posters. The stakeholders shared their “I Like and I Wonder” with each group. 

Authentic Audience:

• Students
• Teacher

Final Presentation:

• Pitch - Groups chose how to pitch their ideas. Pitches included slide presentations, skits and posters. 

Click here for teacher's full plan.

​Reflection and Feedback:

• Dance Party - After earning enough compliments, the students chose their idea of a dance party to celebrate!

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

Meet the Educator:

​Kari Brose teaches 4th grade at Oakwood Intermediate in Allendale, MI.

     "PBL allows me to bring an excitement for learning and student-led thinking into my daily classroom lessons.”