An Integrated Approach to Project-Based Learning

by Tawny Dovico and Renee Marcy | photos by Tawny Dovico

Throw the lever! Flip the switch! Spin the bobbin! Drop the hitch! Blast four weeks into the past. When the frothy smoke dissipates and the magic time travel dust settles you’ll find yourself in the second-grade classrooms among young mathematicians working in small groups of four. The young thinkers are hovering over elaborate oil paintings by Beth Peck from The House on Maple Street. Having learned that artists, like storytellers, use varied modes to share stories, such as picture, symbol, line, and color, the students attempted to interpret the paintings and sequence them from past to present. “Why is there a horse-drawn carriage and a car in this picture?” one curious mind puzzles. Such was the buzz and hum as students collaboratively problem-solved and negotiated their various notions of “time.” In the background, suspended at eye-level, was a newly hung, and still bare, timeline for future discovery.

The construction of the timeline in each classroom was deliberately interactive, tangible, pictorial, and dynamic. The kinesthetically friendly timelines provide a rich concept-developing experience.

The second-grade project-based learning this year revolves around America’s Family Stories. Not only do students explore and excavate their own family stories, but also learn, interpret, and discover others’ stories. We have titled our project-based learning as “Our Connections” because it is our aspiration that these second graders will utilize storytelling as a means to understand and interpret history, but also foster empathy for their future.

In math, we began exploring perceptions of time and experimenting with non-standard measurements of time. As a whole group we used a life-size Thinking Map to document our prior knowledge about “time.” Our classroom transformed into a “time laboratory” for days afterwards. Strings and weights, popsicle sticks, and measuring tape composed all of our makeshift supplies for handmade pendulums. Empty water bottles, bags of sugar and salt, rubber bands, masking tape, and more were strewn about while teams of two buddied-up to construct their own hour-glass sand timers. Each partnership calibrated their own timer, thought up tasks they could perform, and then timed each other. “I can draw 34 stars in 62 seconds,” Anthony concluded! The kids were tireless with time! “How many pendulum swings does it take for us to get lined up for lunch?” Mady asked one day. “I think 80,” Phillip estimated.

Concurrently alongside these explorations, we challenged our recent discoveries about 2-dimensional relationships with 3-dimensional figures, and began thinking about the possibility of 4-dimensions: width, height, depth, and time… time travel to be exact! Bringing both classes together, we drafted drawings of what our very own time machines might look like. We watched clips from the 1960 H.G. Wells’-inspired film The Time Machine. Students used their skills from Readers Workshop to think about setting as time and place, as well as make predictions and inferences based on their knowledge of the main character and events. Many burgeoning scientists borrowed ideas for the engineering of their own time machine.

Our timeline, both the tangible one in our classrooms and our intellectual conceptualization in our minds, is indeed still “under construction.” It was just last Friday that the students were taking a walking trip along the timeline, and one student chimed in, “I think that Martin Luther King, Jr. could’ve been alive during the first Hanukkah.” Hmm… if he had a time machine, maybe…

by Nancy Martorelli | photos by Megan Hirsch and Cynthia Smalley

For our first and second grade students the concept of fractions is being introduced and/or reinforced in dance class. And they are having fun.

What might a dance class that integrates math look like?

As in most dance classes, students begin with a warm-up activity to stretch and strengthen their muscles and to pump up the blood. The warm-up to prepare students for the Circle Dance begins with a practice of movements in 8 beats, then beats of 4 + 4, 2 + 2 + 2 + 2, and finally 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1. Students discover that all of the above are equal to 8 (the math concept of equivalency). Next, students practice moving “across the floor” in counts of 8, 4, and 2. Anyone who has studied dance formally knows the value of the “across the floor” segment of the dance class, in which students learn to synchronize their movements with a partner, observe other students performing, and move up in their line and get ready for their turn.

The Circle Dance is introduced through a visual – a chart of a circle divided in halves and quarters. The circle is also marked with hours of the clock, so that the symbols for time – another math concept – can be related to the fractional pieces. Students perform the dance by visualizing a circle around themselves on the floor, then jumping “quarter turns,” “half turns,” and “whole turns” in beats of 4. The “whole turn” is the most challenging because one must jump in the air and make a complete turn. You should see them having fun trying to do that one!

Dear Parents,
Congratulations to our entire school community! We have secured a location for our school within the greater Los Feliz area. We are now embarking on the next step of our exciting journey—creating the best independent charter school in California. With this crucial step behind us and the security of knowing that we will have a suitable site for our school in the years to come, we can have confidence in our continued success.

Throughout this exhausting process of finding and securing a location for our school, I have observed a small dedicated group of people make this happen through the sheer force of their energy. It is impossible for me to paint a clear enough picture of the personal sacrifices in time and effort these folks have made, but I want to tell you that in all of my professional experience, I have never seen this complex a situation resolved by volunteer efforts.

I want to personally thank George Abrams, President of our Board, for his energy, enthusiasm, and for the untold hours he has donated toward finding and securing this location. Without his dedication, determination, and drive we would not be in this position.

Additionally, I want to express my admiration and gratitude to Marta Alcumbrac and Kevin Mulcahy, who have tirelessly assisted George and taken the lead in shepherding this project through the obstacle course required by law. Kevin, our lead architect, has guided the process through all of the planning offices at the City level, gaining the necessary approval at each step of the process. Marta has worked closely with Kevin and serves as a liaison with City officials, maneuvering the City’s complex political structure.

Several other people deserving of special thanks are Wayne and Soo Choi, and Sanjiv Bajaj. Wayne’s commercial real estate expertise was so necessary throughout this process and Soo did an amazing job as our liaison to the New Hope Chapel. Sanjiv is also an architect working with the Site Committee and will assist with the actual construction of our portables.

Again, I can not overstate the gratitude I feel toward these amazing individuals and their dedication to education. We all owe them a huge thank you!!

Karin