Complex Thinking Design Challenge

Thinking Inside of the Box
Guiding Questions: What is technology? What is an engineer? How do packaging engineers use the design process
to develop packages that meet the needs of the consumer and of the product? How can we improve a great design?

So you may be wondering why we’re asking students
to think INSIDE the box rather than OUTSIDE the
box...well we have been using the design process to
connect Science, Engineering, and Complex Thinking
to complete a challenge to design a plant package.
We've been looking at packaging and their functions.
Students use their knowledge of plants to ask
questions, imagine solutions, plan their packaging.
create the package out of recycled or used materials,
and then test it out and improve their designs.
Students have stretched their thinking about the
technologies around them, as well as, the work of
engineers.
To make our work even more authentic we are using
our parent resources to bring in some experts in the
fields of packaging and engineering. Mr. Eddie Gartland
from Cincinnati Container shared with 4th graders
the process of matching up the right packaging with
the product. He brought in all types of packaging
examples and described their functions. Also, Mr. Ryan
Pavlasek spoke with 4th graders about the career of
mechanical engineering. Ryan works at Honda
Research and Development America in the
motorcycle design department. He shared a visual of
the process engineers use to go from concept and
design to prototype and manufacture an all terrain
vehicle
A really important part of this project is to focus on
the 21st Century Skills of Complex Thinking,
Communication, and Collaboration. The teachers are
doing their best to document the process and to note
how students' thinking develops over time. Students
are helping to do this by reflecting in writing on their
work. Packages should be completed today and then
will be tested over the weekend to see how well the
package preserves the plant. Also students will
conduct tests to see how well the package protects
and carries the plant. Students will then have the
chance to improve their designs and make changes to
improve functions or to cut costs. 

Want to see more of our project? Visit the this project's wiki at

 http://scienceinua.wikispaces.com/Thinking+Inside+the+Box

Why Workshop?

William chooses a book from his book box and sits quietly on the couch.  Caroline raises her hand to signal she'd like to read with a friend, and Nancy moves across the room to sit down at the computers, puts her earphones on and listens to a story online, and what did the teacher do??? Smiled as her students made independent choices for Reader's Workshop,  then slid over to a round table, opened her Pensieve Reader's Notebook, and got ready to meet with children.  No redirection, no managing aimless walkers, no drinks to the water fountain, no silliness in the corner.  Just work: true-focused-smart-self-directed work.

So Why Workshop? Our Fourth Grade Team for years has "taught" reading!  We read aloud, listened to students read, guided literature circles, created book extensions, taught strategies inspired by Stephanie Harvey and Fountis and Pinnell, and the list goes on and on...but as we reflect on those practices, we saw the gap between self-directed learning & discovery versus teacher talking and planning.  Students were needy during reading time: many not focused, interruptions made during small group instruction, and some students who needed constant "check-in" to make sure they were really reading! So how could we transform our ways to truly create an atmosphere that "buzzed" with exciting literature, listened more to students talking than ourselves, and guided students to be responsible for their own learning? The answer: Workshop.


What does WORKSHOP look like, sound like, feel like?
It is the persistent, purposeful, planning of a MINILESSON, WORKTIME, and DEBRIEF. Most of the time given for the student's worktime (note: not teacher whole group instruction-hence, less teacher talk).

So how do we get students to be independent thinkers and learners in a workshop model?
TIME-STRUCTURE-ROUTINE-MODELING
The sisters, Gail Boushey and Joan Moser,  give excellent step-by-step ways in the Daily 5 resource book, to succesfully create a working workshop model.  Every day, the class works on what the classroom should look and sound like during Reading Workshop time.  Modeling what Read to Self, Read to Someone, Listen to Reading, and Word Work looks like (and does not look like) makes the class very clear on their expectations early in the school year.  Explicit, repeated, purposeful structure building is the key to successfully create the workshop atmosphere.   Samantha' Bennett, author of That Workshop Book, stresses routines, rituals, structures, and systems because when all four come together, there is something magical.  The little things that happen every day in the classroom add up to the great big thing: students doing the work of learning.


So where do we get the minlessons for our daily Reading Workshop time?  Several resources: CAFE, Guiding Readers and Writers (Fountis and Pinnell), and Strategies that Work (Harvey).  Minilessons are a focused teaching strategy, however the core of learning occurs in the worktime-- allowing students time to put the strategy to work, "catching" the students in their learning then "releasing" them for continued practice and application, and drawing them back in to reflect on what learning happened in the room.  With this constant teaching, application, and debriefing, we are cognizant of what the students need next to continue their journey.

That's WHY WORKSHOP!

It has begun...

The room is ready, the students desks are perfectly positioned, the bell ring and... the roller coaster ride has begun.  Our Fourth Grade Team spent many sessions preparing our literacy block, theme planning, and scheduling needs.  Now it's time to put it into action!

The first week of school was awesome!  As a team, we feel the Daily "3" Literacy Workshop Model established an excellent atmosphere for engaged readers.  Our three main goals this week:

• READ TO SELF- Build stamina for reading.  Students modeled effective ways to fill their book boxes with Good Fit books, found "smart spots" to read about the room, and kept their focus on: reading picture books!
• READ TO SOMEONE ELSE- This part of Daily 3 was a hit! Students learned KKEE (knee knee-elbow elbow), soft voice read alouds to gain fluency, and partner retellings.
• WORD WORK- Brainstorming session on What to Write during the Daily 3.

Our team feels creating this Reader's Workshop Model is essential for setting the foundation for individual growth and acceleration in Literacy.

Our Math Block was also an important time of the day to create a climate of wonder, structure, and set up routines with our Everyday Math series.  We assessed students on their knowledge of math facts, explored a resource called the Student Reference Book, played strategy games like the Countdown Game and NIM, and began with our instruction of geometry concepts.

Community is VERY IMPORTANT early in the school year, not only in our individual classrooms, but also with all of the fourth graders.  We led many community building activities including:

• clumping--characteristic sort by students
• shell sort- find new friends based on seashell attributes
• student hunt
• sharing Spectacular Student Surfboards
• Who Am I glyphs

Theme Time included activities:

• Biopoems--poems about themselves
• Locker Magnet mates
• Personal Letters to teachers

By establishing these routines and community early in the year, we hope to create an atmosphere where students are anxious to share their thoughts, feel secure about books they are reading, comfortable choosing new partners, and truly becoming independent in the classroom.

Here are a few photos of our classrooms...

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.

Caribou Collaboration

Today we met with a 4th grade teacher from Dublin Schools.  Mr. K. shared insightful ways he uses technology with his class.  We intend on communicating with his 4th graders throughout the school year.  We loved his take on using web applications to make social studies and science topics more relevant, including Google Maps for an Ohio Geography Project, using wikis to link students together in writer's workshop, and using glogster for student interaction.
Check out Mr. K's class website.

Getting Started

It is August 1st and by waking up this morning, we realized it's time to get in the zone! Bracing ourselves for August to zip on by and have our classes ready to embark on their Fourth Grade adventure, made us have extra cups of coffee this morning. In this post, our team will share Summer Team Meeting Notes which include:
1) Planning our literacy blocks-incorporating the CAFE workshop model.
 2) Ways to design our day to be most conducive to a workshop model geared toward creating independent thinkers and doers in the classroom.--using the resource: That Workshop Book.
3) Using Thematic Umbrella Questions to have the students connect Big Ideas under our cross-curricular needs.