Grant Proposal
We would first like to introduce you to our team. We are a team of three teachers and one special education teacher. We are currently teaching fifth grade and since we loop with our students we will have the same students next year. Our team currently has 86 students, 21 of those students qualify for special education services. We split our team into 2 groups. One group will have Language Arts instruction while the other group has instruction in Math, Science and Social Studies. Two of us are experienced teachers and two are just beginning their careers.
We have been looking for an opportunity to create a project that is cross-curricular and requires use of technology. With the new Common Core State Standards there has been a push toward students using inquiry and research to learn new concepts. After looking at the Math, Science and Language Arts curriculum, we found that all three areas stress many of the same ideas. In the area of Math students are asked to collect, organize, analyze and present findings through mathematical data. They are expected to recognize statistical questions and anticipate variability in the data related to the questions and account for it in the answers. Students are expected to include measures of center and discuss the overall spread and shape of the data. Along with these expectations the Eight Mathematical Practices also require students to construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others and to use appropriate tools strategically. In Science students are asked to generate scientific questions based on observations, investigations and research. Students are asked to analyze information from data tables and graphs to answer specific questions while defending findings. Good Science students also evaluate data, claims and personal knowledge through collaborative Science discourse. In the area of Language Arts, students are expected to gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, assess the credibility of each source and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and providing bibliographic information for sources. Students are also required to use technology, including internet, to provide and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others. Students adept in the area of Language Arts can introduce a topic; organize ideas, concepts and information using various strategies.
After looking at the multiple areas where these subject areas are linked, we decided to enhance a project our sixth graders have done in the past. For the past two years, our sixth grade students have created a Wonderopolis Project. The Wonderopolis project has students come up with a series of three related questions to research. After conducting research, the students create a digital response to their findings. We would like to change the project to one that is more inquiry based by having students come up with a science question in one of the four areas taught in sixth grade. The areas are; Composition, Properties and Changes of Earth, Plate Tectonics, Ecosystems and Matter and Energy. Once they have developed a question, the students will not only conduct research, but they will develop their own experiment and collect data that they will analyze and present. Instead of only analyzing the data of others, they will have authentic data that they will organize and present in a multi-modal format. Inter dispersed throughout this project students will be utilizing various digital skills in writing, speaking, thinking, viewing, representing, and listening.
With the help of the technology institute we would hope to enhance and deepen knowledge in cross-curricular education as well as provide students with experience in screencasting, weebly, google docs, citelighter, graphing programs and other various technologies.
We have been looking for an opportunity to create a project that is cross-curricular and requires use of technology. With the new Common Core State Standards there has been a push toward students using inquiry and research to learn new concepts. After looking at the Math, Science and Language Arts curriculum, we found that all three areas stress many of the same ideas. In the area of Math students are asked to collect, organize, analyze and present findings through mathematical data. They are expected to recognize statistical questions and anticipate variability in the data related to the questions and account for it in the answers. Students are expected to include measures of center and discuss the overall spread and shape of the data. Along with these expectations the Eight Mathematical Practices also require students to construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others and to use appropriate tools strategically. In Science students are asked to generate scientific questions based on observations, investigations and research. Students are asked to analyze information from data tables and graphs to answer specific questions while defending findings. Good Science students also evaluate data, claims and personal knowledge through collaborative Science discourse. In the area of Language Arts, students are expected to gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, assess the credibility of each source and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and providing bibliographic information for sources. Students are also required to use technology, including internet, to provide and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others. Students adept in the area of Language Arts can introduce a topic; organize ideas, concepts and information using various strategies.
After looking at the multiple areas where these subject areas are linked, we decided to enhance a project our sixth graders have done in the past. For the past two years, our sixth grade students have created a Wonderopolis Project. The Wonderopolis project has students come up with a series of three related questions to research. After conducting research, the students create a digital response to their findings. We would like to change the project to one that is more inquiry based by having students come up with a science question in one of the four areas taught in sixth grade. The areas are; Composition, Properties and Changes of Earth, Plate Tectonics, Ecosystems and Matter and Energy. Once they have developed a question, the students will not only conduct research, but they will develop their own experiment and collect data that they will analyze and present. Instead of only analyzing the data of others, they will have authentic data that they will organize and present in a multi-modal format. Inter dispersed throughout this project students will be utilizing various digital skills in writing, speaking, thinking, viewing, representing, and listening.
With the help of the technology institute we would hope to enhance and deepen knowledge in cross-curricular education as well as provide students with experience in screencasting, weebly, google docs, citelighter, graphing programs and other various technologies.