Drumroll please....I applied for, and received, an Education Foundation of Baltimore County grant for a research project with my 3rd through 5th graders. We will be studying the past and present of our community and making predictions about the future. Also known as authentic research based learning.
Specifically, the 3rd graders will be creating a visual timeline of our community's past using images from our school archives and community archives.
My 4th graders will be making predictions about the future of our community.
And, lastly, the 5th graders are going to be conducting oral videotaped histories of our community.
Oh, and did I mention that this all has to be completed by May? Piece of cake! (which may be the only part of the cake left after I finish my stress eating)
So far since the beginning of 2017, I have:
-met with the amazing Fran Glick (Office of ODL), Alex Wolf (also ODL) and my principal to discuss technology needs and implementation and timeline
-met with Amy Farrell (librarian at Sparrows Point Middle School) to plan how the middle school can help with 5th grade editing of interviews
-attended the Sparrows Point High School Alumni Association meeting to get their support and approval to use their archive center to gather materials (oh...and I became a lifetime member of the alumni association but, proudly, did not volunteer to complete any additional projects - YAY ME! Although I may attend more meetings because I dearly do love being the youngest person in a room-made me feel like I was fresh out of high school!)
-arranged to speak at the North Point Peninsula Council Meeting on February 2nd
-gave the amazing Mrs. Brewin (my first every library volunteer!) a contact list for boxes (you will read more about these in a bit)
-ordered our new TV studio equipment to be used for the interviews (yipee!)
-met with Geri Otto from the Office of Social Studies to see what type of support her office may be able to provide
-arranged for Mindy Basara (reporter from WBALTV) to bring a camera man and speak to the 5th graders about interviewing (thanks to my principal Jennifer Lynch for arranging this awesome opportunity)
-ordered official reporter notebooks for 4th and 5th graders (shhh---there are just bulk mini notepads from Staples but they are super excited!)
-arranged to visit the high school archives and meet with a historian at the Dundalk-Patapsco Neck Historical Society and Museum to see if they have resources they can offer for our project
Student Progress So Far:
3rd Grade - Given project overview and beginning to explore school archive photos
4th grade - read overviews of 5 geographical areas in our community and completed a Google Doc indicating their preferences. As a whole, they voted that they wanted to have representation of all 5 geographical areas in all of the 4th grade classes rather than each class having 1 or 2 groups that the other classes know nothing about. Students signed up for Edmodo groups for their assigned area and completed their first postings. Side note - they were thrilled to see that our assistant principal, Mr. Winaker, had posted in their groups!
5th grade - began to learn about questioning and interviewing techniques
To Do:
You know what, I have not the time to list the pages and pages of notes I have. Just take my word for it and know that every time I cross something off, I add 2 more things. I promise to type up a list to give you a future peek in a future post.
Until then...enjoy!
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