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Stonybrook
School WHOLE CLASS ENRICHMENT (All Students) Grades - Four and Five Monarchs in the Classroom Through a series of lessons related to the life cycle and ecology of the Monarch butterfly, students engage in the inquiry process, while planning and conducting investigations. Students use appropriate tools and techniques to gather data, think critically and logically about relationships between evidence and explanations, while they construct and analyze alternative theories and communicate scientific ideas. Students observe and learn about the life cycle and migration of the Monarch butterfly, while recording characteristics of monarch caterpillars, and then observing the metamorphosis from caterpillar to chrysalis to butterfly. They also feed and take care of newly emerged Monarch butterflies and nurse them until they are ready to be released. Students create Monarch crafts and activities. In conjunction with the Monarch Watch program of the Entomology Department of The University of Kansas students also tag, record and release the Monarchs to track their migration patterns from New Jersey to their remote over-wintering grounds in the Transvolcanic Mountains west of Mexico City, Mexico. With its foundation in life science, the curriculum incorporates concepts and skills in math, reading, writing, art and social studies. Mysteries Students will develop plausible theories about unsolved mysteries such as Stonhenge, The Lost City of Atlantis, Easter Island, The Great Pyramids, Lost Colony of Roanoke, Extinction of the Dinosaurs by using evaluating skills to determine; fact versus opinion, relevant versus irrelevant, inferencing and drawing logical conclusions. The core components of this cycle are geography, cultural impacts, historical period, and significance to today. In small groups students will research the unsolved mystery in books, magazines, encyclopedias and on the internet. They will analyze the research and form their own hypothesis based on the information. Students will then create a PowerPoint presentation based on their mystery that will include a title slide, and introduction, facts, opinions/theories, a logical conclusion using reasoned judgment formed from their researched facts and theories. Finally students will cite their sources and then make an oral group presentation while simultaneously showing their completed Powerpoint presentation. "Cool" Inventions Students will assess the impacts that various inventions made on their lives and on mankind in the past century, by creating a list of the most important inventions that effect their everyday lives, and imagine what their lives would be like without these inventions. They will research "Cool Inventions" at www.timeforkids.com . Students will then design and invent something new to solve a problem that they identify. They will then use their creative talent to illustrate their invention, and explain how it will affect our lives in the future.
Kinnelon C.S.I. By stepping into the roles of crime scene investigators students will learn about intriguing scientific techniques used by crime scene investigators. Students use their skills of observation, experimentation and logical thinking to collect fingerprints, fibers and more from hypothetical crime scenes. They will then study and interpret the evidence collected in order to solve a crime. What is it like to be a defendant, plaintiff, witness, lawyer, judge or juror? Students will participate in a criminal trial simulation based on a familiar story and act it out. Core components of this cycle are creative writing, logic, public speaking and acting. With the teacher acting as a guide, the students will go through all the phases of a criminal trial from the beginning through the verdict. In preparation for trial students will discuss communities and rule-making. Certain roles in the trial require that students do some pre-trial preparation prior to the schedule cycle class. This preparation may be done as homework, with some guidance. Consumer Awareness The core components
of this cycle are scientific method, psychology, research and economics.
Students become informed consumers by first discussing products
that they have purchased that they feel did not quite stack up to
the flashy advertisement that made them purchase them. Students
will test products at home and in the classroom, rate them, read
product reviews and analyze product advertisements. The use of critical
thinking skills will further develop their understanding of advertising
concepts and marketing techniques. Back to Curriculum Corner |
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