A Picture’s Worth . . .
Dear Families,
This week’s sixth grade Medieval Pageant and fifth grade Egyptian tomb were wonderful culminating activities to units of focused study that were carried out across several subjects. As the quarter draws to a close and I reflect on my varied interactions with students and teachers, I am continually struck by the richness of our integrated curriculum. The value of an integrated curriculum, which connects traditionally-separate subject areas, and its particular relevance at the middle school level, is something that has been a core value at LREI from the very beginning. As Agnes De Lima notes in The Little Red School House: “We are, then, concerned in our curriculum to make sure that it affords the kind of experience and the kind of activities which will help children grow normally and naturally. The old-line pedagogue was continually asking, what must a child know, what knowledge is of most worth? We ask instead, What should a child be like, what ways of acting and what habits of repose are most worthwhile…. We take the child as he is and where his is, try to understand him, and then seek to help him understand the kind of world in which he lives and the part he is to play in it (p. 16).”
The interesting thing is that through this process students learn an incredible amount of what we traditionally consider as subject area knowledge. More importantly, they learn how to use this information to solve authentic problems and to assess critically this knowledge. Through our integrated curriculum, inquiry occurs in a thematic and holistic manner. In this way, the curriculum empowers our students to see connections and to generalize and transfer knowledge to a variety of problem-solving situations. As we celebrate Founders Day tomorrow, I have no doubt the Elisabeth Irwin and her colleagues would be pleased with the current state of affairs here at LREI. Here are a few images from the Pageant and Tomb that capture this spirit. The images go quite well with this piece composed by the students for the pageant.
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Last Saturday’s competition, which ran from early in the morning until late in the afternoon, was the culmination of several months of hard work for the members of LREI’s Middle School Robotics Teams. What follows is an update from team coach and middle school science teacher Sherezada Acosta:
This weekend marked the end of a great season! I was proud of the great work all the students put in to get us here and how hard they pushed themselves throughout the competition day. It was a very long day, but they did an incredible job representing our school! I am happy to report that out of the 72 schools at the event, which represented the top performing teams in the New York City area, the LREI Knights Team received a perfect score in every aspect of the teamwork category, earning them a 4th Place for the Teamwork Award!
Teamwork Award:
“Teamwork is critical to succeed in FIRST LEGO League and is the key ingredient in any team effort. FLL presents this award to the team that best demonstrates extraordinary enthusiasm, an exceptional partnership, and the practice of the FLL values.”What the judges had to say:
“Great enthusiasm!” “Good group collaboration”
“Good innovative solution proposed”
“very proactive and high awareness”
“Research extensive!”The LREI Squires were not far behind getting incredible feedback from the judges as well:
“Informative, polite, well spoken large team with excellent teamwork.”
“Most out of the box solution”
“Demo was very creative”
“Great job dividing and sharing roles to design robot”
“Very enthusiastic presentation”
Well done all!
Be well,
Mark