Backyards. Everyone has one, or played in someone’s, but not to many have designed one. Which is what my fourth grade students are doing. To see a little information about what we are doing, check out my wiki.
Today was a great day with my 4th graders. They began their first drafts of their designs of backyards. They added the required parts (water, garden area [food or flower], a relaxation area, and a tribute area [religious, political, or personal in nature]), and put these on a large sheet of construction paper. They turned out pretty good.
After my students finished their first draft, they began to work on several smaller assignments that go hand-in-hand with their drawing. These assignments will be placed on a tri-fold that will be placed outside. They will give their presentations to classes as they walk down the hall past our classroom. I will blog about this in a few weeks after it has occurred. For example, they have to create a sign that is for a section of their backyard. I had some students create a sign that was for water safety that wold be placed by the pond or swimming pool in their backyard. Other assignments include creating a food chain of the water creatures in their pond, and collecting information for the right plants and vegetables to be planted in their garden due to the climate. There are several more as well. I will post some pictures of their tri-folds as they are finished.
Overall, it has been a great day. We have just a few more days left for my fourth graders. It is always a great day when they get to work and what they produce is really good.
The unit that we are doing is from the Envision grade 4 curriculum. This is one of the best and coolest curriculums for gifted that I have found. This is a curriculum that is for independent studies, and is for a whole year. I am only doing a small section of the whole curriculum.
Ramblings of a Gifted Teacher 