Peek at Curriculum – Feb 2023
Peek at Curriculum – January 2023
Peek at Curriculum – November 2022 Newsletter
End of the school year Peek at Curriculum – Summer 2022
Second and Third Grade: Innovative Learning
by Mr. Coady
In the Rose Rock School grades program, we focus on providing what we refer to as a “high economy” content. What this means is that we deliver a curriculum that addresses multiple discrete areas in a single lesson or activity. One example of this is the recent building activities of the Second and Third Grade. This was taught during a block focusing on man made shelters– a block being a three or four week period during which the students engage intensively in a single area of focus. Our study culminated with the actual building of a full sized tipi. Here are the particulars:
The underlay of the shelter block began with me orally introducing various stories about how different peoples have created varied types of shelters out of what the environment offers. From this starting point, the students also discovered that shelters are created to support a particular lifestyle—perhaps nomadic or farming– and are especially well-suited for the weather in a particular region. On the day after a new shelter was introduced, the students recalled the story to me. I evaluated them for understanding and misconceptions, correcting any errors and deepening what they understood. They learned very well through the imaginative story, because images engage their inner feelings, and this causes them to take interest, to understand, and to remember. From this point, they recorded what they had learned by creating a composition for the lesson book that they themselves have been creating throughout the school year. For this particular block, building a tipi was chosen as the culminating experience of all this work.
From the narrative above, I will tease out all of the discreet aspects of learning that occurred during the high economy Main Lesson, and do so in the terms that were used when I myself was an elementary school student:
1. Social studies and local history– the Kiowa, a tribe of often nomadic people needed collapsible structures to move about. One of the main reasons to move was in pursuit of bison, which supplied them with much of what they needed in life, including the materials for the structure itself. Diversity was also addressed by showing with dignity and respect the way that different people lived in different places and times.
2. Science- A round structure makes sense in a windy environment. The practical understanding that a tipi makes sense on the windy great plains will be enlivened into intellectual comprehension when, in Eighth Grade, the same students recall their Third Grade experience in light of the facts of aerodynamics.
3. Language arts– The class wrote about topics relating to shelters, and in this case, practiced cursive, spelling, mechanics, grammar, etc. They were motivated to do so because of how interested they were in tipis and the Kiowa people.
4. Geometry– using beeswax, they created a cape-shaped two dimensional model, and then rolled it into a cone-shaped tipi. This exercised the comprehension of how a two-dimensional shape becomes a three dimensional shape. This is a very potent activity for stimulating an imaginative comprehension of the mathematical.
5. Home Economics– The children sewed up over 30 linear feet of canvas. They used saws, scissors, and drills.
6. Practical mathematics- during the building of the tipi, they measured with tape measures, and had to use a giant compass in creating a circle when transforming the tipi canvas from a rectangular shape to the aforementioned cape shape.
7. Citizenship– they had to be able to follow concrete instructions, and cooperate with each other in order to build and raise the tipi.
8. Counseling– this content was presented to eight and nine year old students because we have observed that the psychological threshold that they need to mature through is well supported by practical skills and an understanding of the world.
What is innovative in this approach is that if the students learned all of the above in separate classes, one would risk that some of the students would miss various aspects and be unable to weave all of those parts into a whole. However, by going from the whole presentation of the Kiowa tipi, and then following the trail to educate them on all of the various parts, every student received the full lesson insofar as they were able. And of course, when students understand things in true nuanced complexity, they themselves learn to generalize the ability to comprehend complexities regarding things not necessarily presented to them at school.
Peek at Grades Curriculum
Early Childhood (ages 2-6) — Mama Shanah
Winter is the general theme for these littlest of Rose Rockers. In our “Woodsman” Circle, we sing songs while joyfully working to chop, haul, and stack our wood. Last week, it was super cold, and we built a fire, wherein the children experienced the practical but magical experience of gathering, sawing, and stacking wood. Of course, many sang the song as they worked!
Our Story features a dear and resilient duck named Shingebiss, who always manages to find food and keep himself warm no matter how Old Man Winter howls.
Why do we choose to play outdoors when it is cold?
Handwork (Grades 1-3) — Mrs. Ball
We have finished making our knitted bunnies. Many of the students were amazed that we could make a round soft thing from a flat square of knitting. Setting our knitting needles aside we are moving to hand sewing. Our first project is a drawstring project bag made from upcycled tshirts.t-shirts. This project is meaningful work that teaches our children practical life skills as well as to see the potential to give objects a new life.
Main Lesson (Grade 1) — Miss Varasteh
For the past month, 1st Grade has moved from their understanding of numbers from their previous mathematics block of “Quality of Numbers” to the applicable and practical practice of “the Four Processes.” Initially, the class was presented with a story about four characters: Queen Adelaide residing in her queendom; Linus Minus, who gives alms to the poor; Multi of Plier, who plants numerous seeds at a time for a fruitful harvest; and Divya, the chef, who emphasizes fairness in the serving of her dishes. When the idea was presented of combining two queendoms together, Queen Adelaide held up her scepter for the other queen to embrace, thus symbolizing her gesture of “the more the merrier” (and also interestingly, looking an awful lot like a plus sign…) As the 1st Grade heard tales of each character and their moral (and potentially even temperamental) qualities, they then moved into using manipulatives (gems) to practice various scenarios: Queen Adelaide wanting 7 more guests to come to her party of 5; Linus Minus starting out with 12 alms, and giving away 8; Multi of Plier wanting to plant 4 sacks with 3 seeds in each; Divya wanting to serve 12 slices of cake to 6 guests. These types of activities allowed students to practice the various mathematical processes fluidly, fluctuating between one process and another, thus imbuing the sense that mathematics is not fixed but ever-flowing.
Morning circle activities helped promote this, including verses to emphasize addition resulting in even numbers, as well as in odd, and a song about frogs hopping into a pond to emphasize the multiplication of eyes and legs! (2nd and 3rd Grade frogs even came to visit the pond one day!) The math subject class on Tuesdays had the students practicing where numbers are in order (in increments of 10), what numbers are higher or lower than the one at hand, the partnerships of what makes 10 (1 and 9; 2 and 8; etc.). A continuous project in Projects & Excursions is the creation of an official, royal scroll to document all numbers from 1 to 100. Stay tuned to see the 1st Graders’ progress! Meanwhile, throughout the Four Processes block, the students continued to hear stories from the Magical Wonder Tales book, practiced their form drawings, and deepened their exploration of color while painting.
Peek at Curriculum – Nov 2021
Peek at Grade 1– by Miss Varasteh
While quantitative mathematics is continuously developed throughout the grade school curriculum, exposing the students to the qualities of mathematics helps the students relate to the world of numbers in a way that is accessible to them, and thereby connects math to the perceptible world, thus causing the children to take interest in the subject and aspire to excel in it. With this truth in mind, it is now official; First Grade has completed their first mathematics block: Quality of Numbers! In this time, the students heard a continuous story of a king who sent his twelve knights out on a journey to find the greatest number. Each knight returned to the kingdom with confidence and certainty that their number must be the greatest! (See some photos from this story below.) Throughout this time, the students explored the various ways in which five could be five, for example; five fingers on one hand, five toes on one foot, five seeds in an apple star, and so on. Each number has an inherent quality about it, a feeling. As the students became acquainted with each, up to twelve, they practiced writing the numbers and exploring what made up each. Eight could be one and seven, but it could also be four and four, not to mention five and three! Lastly, this block incorporated a great deal of counting and seeing which situations called for counting by twos, counting by fives, and lately the most helpful for large quantities, counting by tens. If you have a child in first grade, feel free to ask your child what they think the greatest number is, and why!
Peek at Grade 2/3–by Mr. CoadyLast week we completed a math block. The theme of the block was “Math Magic” During this month-long study, we reviewed and strengthened previously learned math facts while laying groundwork for those times tables that need to be strengthened. However, this was not done solely in the “rote” sense. Instead, the children’s interest was engaged by inviting them to find the beauty in math. For instance, students discovered for themselves the patterns that exist in the times tables; that geometric shapes can be formed using number patterns (see picture below); that even and odd numbers relate to the different times tables; and that add and subtract are opposites, as are multiply and divide. In my opinion, the most important result of this block was not the significant leap forward the class took in arithmetic. What is more impactful is the fact that the children feel enthusiastic about math, and also that their attention towards searching for patterns has been awoken. These two characteristics will impact their orientation towards math and the world for a lifetime.
Peek at Handwork–by Ms. Ball
With much excitement the grade school students began knitting in October. Before we started to learn how to knit, the class made knitting needles using dowel rods, 3 grits of sandpaper, some lovely beads, and bee’s wax. The children were then told a story as a means to learn how to knit.
Father Tomten lived in a cozy home under the floorboards of the barn with all his children. He had so many that nobody knew quite how many there were. The tomten children were very good and helpful children.They made hats and socks out of wool the sheep left on the fences. The Tomten children had one bad habit, they liked to play pranks on the animals in the nearby forest. One day they teased the Fox who lived in the tall, tall tree in the middle of the forest one time too many. Mother Tomten thought there were fewer children at the table each evening, until suddenly one day there were no children at the table. Mother and Father Tomten went to find the children. Finally Father Tomten heard a cry from beneath a tall, tall tree. He reached under the root and over the dome shaped rock, but he just couldn’t reach the children. Finally, with the help of some kind woodsmen, Father and Mother were able to carry a very big log and get the children out one at a time “under root, over dome, catch the tomten and bring him home.“
The children learned this rhyme to help them to remember the process of making a single knit stitch. “Under root, over dome, catch a Tomten, bring him home.”
