Additional Tasks

Kindergarten

This project generates a deeper understanding of art, and the student will gain a basic knowledge of artistic styles. Students will explore background information on three artists from the past and the styles of their art. The students will discover how the artists created their masterpieces and developed their own styles. Students will display their art in a classroom exhibition.

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• An original work of art—the student will talk about the work using specific vocabulary

Kindergarten

In this task, students will explore seasonal weather changes as well as extreme weather and natural disasters. Students will examine weather patterns and use charts and instruments to track changes over time. They will compare and contrast different kinds of weather and the different seasons. Their learning will culminate in a “weather report” in which they predict what the weather will be like in the near future.

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• A weather report—the student will take the role of a meteorologist and offer predictions

Grade 1

This project generates an understanding of various family traditions, beliefs, and customs through the study of our own traditions and traditions from other cultures. Students will investigate the origins and evolution of different traditions. In their research process, students in groups will create new traditions and present them to the class or community.

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• Each group will create a new tradition. The students will decorate an exhibit to represent the tradition and present the significance of the tradition’s attributes.

Grade 1

Students will study different animals to learn about their basic needs and ecosystems in which they live. Students will choose an animal to observe, describe, and research, determining its basic needs and how they are met. Students will then discuss different outcomes for their animals if their needs are not met (e.g., become extinct, adapt). Their learning will culminate in an “animal report” in which they will predict their animals’ future if their needs are not met and present their predictions to the class.

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• An animal report identifying key findings including the animal’s strengths and its likely future

Grade 2

In this interdisciplinary/language arts unit, students explore and gain knowledge of famous people and how they used their gifts and talents to overcome challenges and become successful. Students compare/contrast biographies of several people. In their research, they will choose a figure to study and create a timeline of the person’s life.

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• An original form of biography—the student will tell about the person in a genre that is appropriate for that person (e.g., a student who studied an artist may create a piece of art that reflects the artist’s biography)

Grade 2

Students will learn about the properties of water and issues surrounding the quality and quantity of water sources. Students will investigate a local water supply and discuss ways to conserve water and limit pollution. They will conduct a study of their own water usage in order to develop a solution for preserving the local water supply.

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• A public service announcement that addresses specific issues with water
• An invention for conserving water or containing water pollution

Grade 3

This project generates an understanding of marketing, consumer awareness, and business models by studying the games and toys industry. Students will learn about the making and selling of their favorite toys. Then in small groups, students will found their own toy companies. Each group will develop a prototype of a new toy, along with one of the following: a business plan for a toy/game company; marketing campaign to sell the toy/game; or plan to mass produce the toy/game.

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• A business plan for a toy/game company, including a budget and a marketing-research plan
• A marketing campaign to sell the toy/game including the creation of at least two of the following: a slogan, jingle, commercial, advertisement, billboard, or brochure
• A plan to mass produce the student's product including a way to sell the product, take and fill orders, and manage inventory

Grade 3

For this project, students will examine mathematical patterns found in nature, such as tessellations, the Fibonacci sequence, the golden ratio, and pi. For example, the students can create a tessellation jigsaw puzzle. Each student draws a tessellation pattern on a sheet of paper, cuts it out, jumbles up the pieces, and passes the pieces to another classmate for reassembly. In this way, the student looks at tessellations from two different perspectives: once, when constructing his or her own, and from a different perspective when putting together a classmate’s tessellation jigsaw puzzle. Similarly, Fibonacci puzzles can be constructed using hexagons as in a beehive, or bricks as in a wall. Examples of these types of puzzles can be found at http://www.mcs.surrey.ac.uk/Personal/
R.Knott/Fibonacci/fibpuzzles.html.

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• A class fair in which other students from the school come to learn about symmetry and nature. Each student creates an activity or a display to be part of the fair. The product should have an interactive component so that the viewers can explore the pattern as well.

Grade 5

This lesson focuses on collectibles and how they retain, lose, or gain value. (Are they a fad, or a fortune?). In each round of a trading simulation, students will learn more about the value of their collectibles and discuss why items gain or lose value. For each round, they will record and reflect on their strategies for assessing value of the collectibles, as well as their strategies for trading the collectibles. Students will discuss trading strategies and predict which collectibles will become a fad, and which will become a fortune. Students will discuss the factors that make a collectible a fad or fortune.

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• A class trading fair in which students bring their collectible to show and possibly trade. Each student will create a graph showing the approximate value of their collectible in the past, its value today, and the expected changes in the value of their collectible in the future.

Grade 5

This project generates an understanding of the relationship between history, quilting, and storytelling. Students will explore the stories told by quilts, how narratives can be represented through the art form of the quilt, and the relationship between story and history. In designing their own quilt, students will apply geometric principles.

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• A quilt that tells an original story. The student also writes the story.

Grade 6

This task provides an introduction to mediation and the ethics behind it by way of examination of historical and contemporary conflicts. Students will learn various mediation techniques and apply their new knowledge and skills. In their investigations, they will consider political and historical conflicts and derive alternative solutions. In their independent research, students will participate in a group simulation of a current conflict of local, state, national or international interest. Students will then reflect on the process and what the future might hold.

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• For each issue, prepare to hold a conflict resolution meeting. Students should come to the meeting prepared to play the role they have chosen and researched, with talking points, background information, and decisions about what is negotiable and what is not negotiable.

Grade 6

This project generates an understanding of the relationship between fractions, decimals, and percentages. Students create and present a budget for a real school or class activity that requires a budget, estimating the costs and presenting their product graphically and tabularly. Then students will identify a dream/goal and conduct research using their identified resources and one million dollars to make a budget for completing this dream/goal.

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• Each student will create a poster showing graphically and tabularly how the million dollars will be spent. The table should show the category of expense and the amount with the relation to the whole shown in fractions, decimals, and percentages. Students will present their proposal to a panel/teacher who will determine who “wins” the million dollars.

Grade 7

Students will choose a Texas Native American or immigrant group and study that group’s rites of passage. They will compare and contrast those rites of passage with their own contemporary experiences. Then students will look at rites of passage across generations within their own families, including conducting an interview. In their final products, they will predict how rites of passage will be different 100 years from now.

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• A museum exhibit that shows rites of passage from the past, present, and future
• A journal from 100 years in the future—the student documents major personal events

Grade 7

This task will generate awareness of healthy lifestyle choices among students and community members. Students will begin by looking at a sport or a sports figure and analyzing the important aspects of math and science in that sport (e.g., the physics behind different pitches in baseball). Students will also investigate the social implications of participating in sports. Finally, they will conduct an in-depth investigation of a chosen health issue.

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• A brochure or article
• The creation of a new sport or game
• A learning center

English Language Arts, Social Studies

Students will begin by exploring a community somewhere in the world. As a class, students will become familiar with the culture, art, literature, leaders, and landmarks that are significant in that community. Then, independently or in groups, students will explore their local community and aspects of the local culture that are meaningful to them. As part of their study of the local community, they will host a classroom cultural event that showcases the culture of their community. Their final product will include developing a lasting contribution that will impact the community as a whole.

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• A contribution to the local community, such as conducting a service project or hosting an art show for local artists
• Neighborhood website or newsletter
• Documentary or awareness video about a local issue

English Language Arts, Social Studies

Students will explore the use of comedy as a means of social commentary throughout history. Students will learn about different types of comedy and its role and impact in other cultures and eras. They will choose an historic event/era and look at the ways comedy was used in society at that time and how comedy affected popular opinions and attitudes. The final product will be a comedic interpretation of an historic or current event.

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• A comedy about the historical era or event
• A satire about a contemporary issue. The student chooses the format (e.g., comic strip, play, sitcom, standup routine, op-ed piece)
• A comedy piece from the historical era or event, updated to make it relevant today

English Language Arts, Math

This unit encourages students to set up a proposal for an actual collaborative project which they can pursue. Students begin by developing a pre-proposal, and identifying stakeholders and potential funding sources. Finally, students will develop a real proposal and actually try to make the project a reality.

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• A proposal to present—the proposal should be similar to what would be given to a stakeholder group. It should include reasons the issue is important, changes that need to be made, and how these changes could be implemented

Science

In this task, students will explore the physical and historical impacts of disease. Students will begin by researching cells, bacteria, and viruses and the role of each in the body. They will then study different diseases (e.g., common cold, HIV/AIDS, bubonic plague) and their impacts on the body. Students will then choose one disease and track its history through time. They will determine the impact on the populations (including future populations) affected, as well as the impact on lifestyles of affected populations (including future populations) throughout the world.

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• A formal presentation as if students are experts on the disease they researched
• Students will be given X amount of money in order to research the disease they have been studying. Discuss how they will spend the money and the details of their plans

Social Studies

Students will begin by exploring an issue of relevance within the local community, such as school board elections, water conservation, or public funding of campaigns. As a class, they will explore the issue and make a recommendation to the proper governmental body. Then students—as a class or in groups—will choose a national, state, or local policy issue to investigate. Even though the issue they choose to investigate focuses on one level of government, they examine how it impacts others. They will consider pros and cons, as well as costs of various solutions. The exploration will culminate in a class debate. 

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• Policy memo including a cost-benefit analysis and recommendations and/or solutions.
• Public relations campaign featuring the students’ proposed solution to the policy problem
• A plan for implementing the student’s proposed policy, and what the policy would look like in practice
• A legislative bill--students write the language for a bill that includes the realization of the students’ policy recommendations or solutions

Technology

In this task, the student assumes the role of webmaster for a political candidate. Students should prototype a website design, using Photoshop or some other image manipulation program, and then carry out that design using HTML and CSS. The student will determine the content of the page. For instance, there could be biographical information, policy positions, a web forum, or a blog. There should be a page where users can “donate” money to the campaign fund, which will require interaction with a database and manipulation of data. There should be a page where users can sign up for a mailing list, which could also involve a back-end database.

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• A website—while the specific pages and functionalities of the site are up to the student’s discretion, the student should aspire to create an interactive, dynamic website with an attractive look and feel as opposed to a static website that merely echoes the candidate’s stump speech.