Red Foxes Curriculum 2010-2011
The simultaneous questioning of and celebration of life will pervade this year in the 5th-6th grade class at Mountain Road School. Academic and creative excellence, ethical and spiritual development, knowledge of self, the building of community and the expansion of perspectives will be cultivated in the 5th and 6th grades.
The curriculum has many components that are directed by student needs and interests (an emergent curriculum). Learning will take place in countless ways, including project work, thematic units, individual and cooperative learning, self-directed learning and the teachings life brings us each day. Students will have opportunities to interact with the community and spend many Wednesdays outdoors, interacting with and building awareness of the beautiful land surrounding our school. Throughout the year students will be offered various techniques to build awareness and concentration.
Community/Learning Skills: Community and learning skills are an essential part of the safe and caring environment at Mountain Road School. Developing essential learning behaviors and social skills largely influence our joy and academic success. Thus far students signed a Community Compact with Respect, Responsibility and Relationship formulating the main tenants. Students have investigated and practiced group decision-making strategies, including the consensus process. The Red Fox Clan has begun studying and using Nonviolent Communication to further help us express our feelings and needs, as well as relate to ourselves and each other with more presence and compassion. In the fall students set goals for themselves in Community/Learning Skills as well as every discipline. Empowering students by providing tools and methods with which students can increase awareness of who they are and the world around them is among the main missions of Mountain Road School.
Reading: We began the year with a significant focus on independent reading. For each independent reading session, students were taught and subsequently expected to record thoughts and questions in their independent reading journals. Reading is thinking, thus we practiced growing our awareness of our thoughts while reading to enhance our abilities to talk about what we read. In late fall and early winter the book groups that met included The Phantom Tollbooth and Wood Song. Reading Gary Paulsen’s passion for dogs inspired many, and Juster’s clever writing had students discussing what lies under the surface of the world. Students focused not only on higher level thinking questions and vocabulary in written responses to literature, but gave significant attention to making connections to their experiences through discussion. Red Fox Clanners used thoughts and questions they recorded while reading to facilitate additional discussion during book group meetings. Active listening and building on others’ ideas are among the skills practiced that have yielded productive book meetings. The Red Fox Clan has investigated Ancient China, Ancient Greece and Rome by reading extensively from The Story of the World, Exploring our World, and other trade books. Students also engaged in the reading of newspapers, nonfiction texts about the history of kites as well as nature field guides. Various types of graphic organizers were used to analyze, synthesize, and categorize information and then utilized in the writing process.
Writing: Students have been working with the 6 Traits (idea development, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency and conventions) while going through the writing process of prewriting, drafting, revising, editing and publishing. Red Fox Clan students have responded a great deal to both fiction and non-fiction texts, as well as researching and writing a report on the history of kites. Free writing, writing prompts, script writing, nature journal entries (animal/plant studies), reflections and other forms of non-fiction writing are among the genres we have practiced. Students have utilized strategies to categorize related information, form outlines, write topic sentences, and construct paragraphs. Feedback has been gained through peer and teacher conferences throughout the writing process. Other focuses for the first part of the year include writing introductions, sentence fluency and presenting ideas in the most persuasive order. Students have grown fond of sharing their writing during author shares, as well as honing their story telling skills both outside at Flying Deer and during circle within the walls of the school. Children have been using the Spelling Connections program. Each week students work on a unit that focuses on a common spelling rule or principle. Red Fox Clanners have been studying conventions through the means of Daily Oral Language. Students correctly write sentences full of errors into a notebook and then share their corrections with a student facilitator. We have brought this practice to our own reading journals, spending time editing grammar and conventions.
Mathematics: Mountain Road School has adopted the Singapore Math U.S. Edition curriculum this year. Singapore Math uses an approach that teaches concepts beginning with the concrete before moving on to pictorial and then finally abstract. It encourages an active thinking process, communication of mathematical ideas and problem solving. Singapore Math also emphasizes mental math and model drawing throughout its curriculum. When necessary, Mountain Road School supplements mathematical instruction to maintain alignment with the recommendations National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and New York State Learning Standards.
Social Studies: Our social studies curriculum can best be characterized as the history of flight. Kite flying is the earliest known human endeavor in the world of flying, thus we began with an investigation of Ancient China. We surveyed the geography, climate and history by interacting with the texts The Story of the World and Exploring our World. We utilized other trade books, including If I were a Kid in Ancient China to gain a sense of the culture. Red Fox Clan students branched out and completed research projects on the history of kites of various countries of Southeast Asia. Steps of the research project were recorded in students’ Flight Logs, which is also where the answers to higher level thinking questions were recorded by students. The Red Fox Clan then turned its attention towards Ancient Greece, the home of the first hot water rocket engine/steam engine/jet engine. Although this invention, the aeolipile, would impact the history of flight at a later time, we delved into topics including the Greek alphabet and the stories of Homer before comparing and contrasting Athens and Sparta in our travel films. Students turned a venn diagram into scripts and completed additional research to produce fantastic shows. Upon the completion of our study of Ancient Greece, we turned our attention to the rise and many contributions of Ancient Rome. We will make our way through the Renaissance and will begin learning about many of Leonardo da Vinci’s inventions involving flight.
Science/Flying Deer/Wilderness Studies: We have touched upon many facets of air. Children built and flew kites while learning some basics of aerodynamics. We used our Flight Logs to draw diagrams and reflect on how to adjust tow points and reinforce cross spars. We felt the power of air by flying kites built by a special guest. To cap our visit of Ancient Greece, the Red Fox Clan learned about the aeolipile. This hot water rocket/steam engine/jet engine marked the start of engine invention, which proved valuable in later flying apparatuses. During our time with Devin Franklin at Flying Deer, we collected six weeks worth of data about weather at the weather station and recorded animal sightings. Students sorted through data, finding connections between weather and the number and even kinds of species seen. Students formally documented various hypotheses, the procedure, observations, and discussed their findings and new questions in a conclusion. We learned about bird language by listening to Jon Young’s teachings on Universal Language and through bird sits and other direct experiences in the woods. Red Fox Clanners completed several levels of a game created by Devin called Bird Chaser and have created a life list on which students have recorded bird sightings or hearings.
