So what's the big idea?

As our team began the planning session, we first had a discussion regarding the best ways to plan for the school year.  This planning session included the 5 Fourth Grade teachers, Media Specialist, and 2 Intervention Specialists.
Looking through the Fourth Grade Course of Study is well, overwhelming.  The technology standards alone  include pages and pages of expected learning outcomes.  Therefore, we looked for trends, patterns, and BIG IDEAS to integrate many standards across the curriculum.  We kept looking at the big picture: Ways to keep the topic relevant, authentic, and to kill "many birds" with one stone.  Here is our thinking and planning:
WHY OHIO?  Our essential question for many of the conceptual themes comes back to the core question... WHY OHIO?  Our fourth grade social study standards include very specific learning outcomes, as does the science course of study.  To make our planning focused, smart, and effective, the team kept coming back to the essential question: Why Ohio?   Here are examples of  leading questions which come back to our core question, and hit many of the learning objectives listed.

• Why did native peoples come to Ohio?  (landforms, geography, resources, migration)
• What kind of resources come from Ohio and why would businesses be created here? (business, factors of production, supply/demand, farming and technological changes, geography)

As we continued our planning, we looked for many overlapping ideas and ways we can maximize our day to include these themes across the curriculum.

By the end of our planning session, we created 7 Overarching Themes we believed were conceptually large enough to act as an umbrella to all the desired learning outcomes.  They include:

1. Migration and Culture
2. Government
3. Geography and Landforms
4. Weather
5. Matter -physical and chemical change
6. Plant Systems
7. Innovation/Inventors

These overarching themes will always be led back to our essential question: WHY OHIO?  Our hope is employ critical thinking and independent problem solving skills in our students so by year's end, they will tackle a 21st Century Researching Project which will ultimately be a compilation of the year's learning.  Our team will build 21st century skills in our students so they can reach out beyond the classroom walls to LEARN, MAKE A DIFFERENCE, and PUT THEIR STAMP on SOCIETY.