Life Among the Elms

The Plot Thickens (Consentio Lucus)

One of the best things about teaching fourth and fifth graders is being there as their ability to understand their world explodes.  In earlier years, social "studies" often focus on the daily life and culture of a different place or different time.  Students are able to compare their world to that of others but are not yet ready to understand abstract ideas around governmental systems, the impact of religious perspectives, or historical causation.  Then, suddenly, right around age 10, they're able to make sense of so much more.  

Of course, they need a rich context in which to construct their understanding.  We've been building that over the past weeks -- learning about the daily life, the world views, the class systems and the technology of our Roman world.  Now, it's time to act on that stage.  

Already, the knowledge they've accumulated has crept into their "play."  Tuesday's dinner party (hosted by the gracious Rutilia) was crashed by a mere equites!  Several members of the class sat at a table, uninvited, and grumbled about the unfairness of the class system.  (As Cassius says to Brutus, "Why should that name [Caesar] be sounded more than yours? Write them together, yours is as fair a name...")  A week ago, we all supped happily together.  But now, after a lesson in Roman food and the art (and purpose) of the dinner party, things aren't so easy.

This week, students will be re-living the big historical moments in the Roman empire.  In one of our  first papers the Punic Wars are discussed (you can download the PDF by clicking on the link).  When we read this together last Monday, students were divided.  Some were frustrated because the war might disrupt the trade they depend upon.  Others were ready for the adventure that such a war might give them.  Characters react to the news of the day in debates and in their diaries.

Developmentally, having a character and a strong understanding of the life of that character enables students to push themselves in understanding some very complex situations and concepts.  Just as we support their math understanding with hand-on manipulatives, learning in a theme like this allows the "real world" connection students need to learn in a deep and lasting way. 

Rome Wasn't Built in a Day (We've Got a Month)

"Burn!  Burn!  Kill, kill, kill!" so the Elms chanted on a recent morning as we ended our reading of Julius Caesar.  Once again, I was glad that a school tour wasn't wandering by.  Everyone in the class read through modified versions of Plautus's The Ghost and Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.  The Ghost, is billed as a "mythological burlesque" and is the Roman version of a screwball comedy.  Elizabeth has done a great job modifying it for the Elms and they've loved the non-sensical humor of it.  Our version of Julius Caesar ends about midway through the third act, retaining most of the famous lines and cutting a lot of the political intrigues (which are not all that intriguing to most elementary audiences).  We really had no intention of staging both plays.  Perhaps we should have known better.  There is a huge amount of energy around performing and, when we asked for volunteers who were willing to memorize parts and do some extra work to put on the play at our culminating event, everyone signed up.  So two plays it is.

It's that kind of enthusiasm which carries a project like this into learning I could not predict at the outset.  I walked into lunch a few days ago to find a dinner party in progress.  Togas had been donned, lounges constructed and slaves summoned.  I picked up a note addressed to "Pompey" the other day -- characters were writing back and forth to each other about the rights of the plebians.  Our gym time has turned into gladiator training with spirited games of Trigon and Pila.  It's only a matter of time before someone brings in chickens for our augur.

I do begin with objectives.  In this case we wanted all children to understand or begin to understand these things:

 

• There are a wide variety of human experiences – the “historical perspective” is a construction.  Sometimes you have to search harder in the records to find it.
• Individuals see events in very different ways.
• “Never Monkey with the Middle Class” (Williamson's (Elizabeths middle school social studies teacher's) first law)
• Life circumstance affects one’s perspective.
• Political systems change over time.
• Technology enables societies to be stable and extend
• What constitutes culture – buildings, art, clothing, food, etc.

We are learning these things in the context of Ancient Rome.  Patricians, plebians, liberti, the republican system of government, the construction of roads, arches, aqueducts, religious beliefs, slavery, the baths, theater, markets, food, the military, chariot racing, the Punic wars, the rise of Caesar, the Empire, trade, and the eventual collapse of the Empire are the details which will bring these objectives to life.  While I know that some of what the students learn will stay with them for many years (garum anyone?), those factual details are not nearly as important as the deeper understanding about the process of history making, governmental development, and economic forces.  After all, for these children, facts will only be a mouse click away.  Understanding will be far more elusive.

Every Vote Counts

Since the day after elections, I've been trying to figure out a way to help students understand how amazing the Coleman/Franken election results are.  2.9 million votes cast and a margin of 206 between the winner and loser!  That's insane.  But how to help the Elms share my wonder and awe?

Today Cathy collected all of the "Base 10" blocks we could find in the school.  These are centimeter cubes, "longs" of 10 cubes, "flats" of 100 cubes, and then 1,000 cubes.  We had boxes of them.  I challenged the Elms to show me 2.9 million cubes -- each cube would represent one vote in the senate election (we reviewed that 2.9 million=2,900,000 using what we had learned earlier.)

They began by creating a "10,000 long" with 10 of the thousand cubes.  Good enough.  I subtracted  10,000 from 2,900,000.  They were undaunted.  They began stacking hundreds flats 10 high.  When those ran out, they gathered 100 ten sticks to make a thousand.  Elms were scouring the school for more blocks -- some grabbed centimeter grid paper to make more blocks out of paper.  When someone yelled, "I'll dump all the ones out so we can count out a thousand!" I stopped them.

We looked at our work.  We'd gotten to 50,000.  Some students were still convinced we were close -- if we could just find a few more blocks.  Several students suggested that we make a "one" cube worth something else like 2, 5, or even 100 votes.  It was a great idea -- but one that the rest of the class wasn't quite ready to absorb.  Instead, we visualized what 100,000 would look like.  I got some meter sticks to help us (it's a square meter).  We then counted up 10 of giant flats to make a million (this is a cubic meter).  We contemplated just how many blocks we would have needed to create this.  Then we constructed a second meter cube.  We'd run out of meter sticks but we imagined another, almost complete millions cube.  

Then I held up those two hundred flats and 6 one cubes.  They were absolutely dwarfed by our three giant millions cubes. "Sometimes people don't vote because they think their vote doesn't count -- look at how few votes this race depends upon."  Insane. 

Viper Fish on the Abyssal Plain

My son, James, has recently been fascinated by deep sea animals.  He's read books with us.  He's watched some of the BBC "Blue Planet" series.  He's gone to the aquarium.  But mostly, he's played.  A typical transcript:  "Mom, now you're the Momma Viper Fish and I'm you're baby.  It's night time now!  We have to go up to the twilight zone [the area between the sunlit upper sea and the pitch black deep sea that has a lot of the food for deep sea animals].  Quick.  Look at all this food. Shrimp!  Squid!  A football fish! (gulping noises).  I'm so full.  I have a stomach ache.  Uh oh.  Sunrise!  Back to the abyssal plane.  C'mon Mom."  I've come to believe it's because when he plays, these facts help him inhabit his world.  Conversely, the play helps him remember the facts by literally bringing them to life.

I've been watching the phenomenon unfold in the Elms this week.  On Monday, each child received  a Roman persona - a name, class, occupation, and family.  Throughout the week, we've been filling out the details of this person.  Where did they live? (there's been a lot of discussion about the benefits of various hills and neighborhoods)  What did they wear? ("Can my tunic have big purple stripes or just thin ones?")  What was their favorite food? (check out garum)  Who is their favorite god?  (S.C. wisely decided not to offend any gods by picking a favorite.)  We've taken a virtual tour of ancient Rome, trying to see the sites that are by our various homes.  Several students have begun writing diaries, sending letters to other Romans, or agitating for their freedom.  When we learn Roman numerals or greetings, kids exclaim, "Oh!  That's so useful!"

Why is it useful?  Because they are playing.  Children are so able to lose themselves in their imaginations and, as they become older, they are able to apply "reality" to that imaginary world, texturing it with facts and details they find in their research.  It's a symbiotic relationship.  Role play is a great way for children this age to learn in a deep and lasting way.

I've been wanting to see what fourth and fifth graders do with school blocks for a long time.  We have a group that likes to build anyway and I often come back from lunch to find pattern blocks used in amazing constructions.  This afternoon, we experimented with Google Earth's Ancient Rome layer (http://earth.google.com/rome/index.html) and then a group of kids and I brought up blocks from the basement.  I went back to get some more blocks as a few students began to build the Circus Maximus.  By the time I returned, Insula Tiberina (the island in the middle of the Tiber), Cirucs Maximus, the Coliseum, and several temples were erected.  By the time we  went to PE, just over a half hour from when we started downstairs to get the blocks, the Baths of Trajan were built, an aqueduct brought it water, and Pompey's theater had a stage that included a pulley for the "Deus ex Machina."  Students were working together, sharing ideas, gently critiquing ("that's a great front of the building -- let's build the inside, too"), and checking references for ideas.  S.H. was still exploring with Google Earth so he would offer ideas and details from time to time.

In their capable hands and minds, Rome came to life.  As they built, they explained their creations block by block, teaching each other more.  None of us was quite ready to leave The City of Seven Hills when the bus came.

What a Scientist Does

When a student asked if we were done with gourds, I answered we were.  Then a vigorous debate broke out about how to best preserve one's gourd.  Theories abounded.  Many included using one's bin to control temperatures for your gourd.  Several students insisted that a layer of paper would make the gourd warmer -- others felt that it would be cooler, "because plastic is cold." It was clear we were not quite finished with gourds.

The next day, I walked the class through a simple experiment to gather more information about their ideas.  We decided to put a thermometer under the papers in a middle bin ("hot air rises so the upper bins will be hotter" reasoned one student, "the window side is colder than the other" reasoned another.)  A control thermometer was placed on a stool and a thermometer was placed under my coat.  More than half the class felt that the temperature under the coat was bound to go up.  We placed all the thermometers at the same time since several students pointed out that it wouldn't be the same if we put them in at different times.  I used the opportunity to introduce the word and concept of "variable."

It is our job as teachers to listen to conversations and tease out the threads that will enable us to teach in a meaningful way.  When we analyzed our data, we found there was no difference in temperature for the three thermometers.  Further conversation helped the students flesh out why there was no difference (no pun intended).  We then extended the learning into a brief conversation of insulation and mamalian heat production.

The next day I followed up with a quick experiment I learned from Nancy Dennis.  Groups of students  filled a film canister with three objects from a set of nine possible objects.  They sealed their canister and then, using a second canister and a fresh set of objects, tried to determine what was in the other students' canisters.

At the end of their work, I asked them to describe what they had done as it related to what a scientist does.  This is what they said (in their own words).  A scientist:

• makes hypotheses
• base hypotheses on what you know 
• observing 
• compare 
• takes notes, gathers data 
• records data 
• applies past knowledge 
• talks! 
• uses language to describe 
• works in groups 
• works with real things 
• explains things using the information you have  

  The last comment was given by a group who was missing an object in their set of testers.  "We didn't even know that a pop top could be in it!" a student exclaimed.  Others saw the connection right away.   Scientists never have all of the information -- they are always seeking more.  We can use what we know, observe and learn from experiments to explain what we see but we are always refining that explanation based on new evidence.  For a long, long time, humans believed that the sun traveled around the earth.  Then tools got better, some scientists took risks with their thinking and we revised our understanding.  Funny where a pop top can get you.

  

And the Winner Is...

On Wednesday, Ovi gave her concession speech to a very gracious Alata.  We had a great opportunity to talk to the class about the theme of reunion that is central to such speeches and national moments.  I hope that, through this unit, students have come to realize that there is never a single completely correct candidate.  Every side believes passionately that their solutions are the best for the nation -- and every side believes in doing what's best for the nation.  Many students felt uncomfortably ambivalent at points during the unit, evidence that their gourd life was mirroring many of our own.

I thought you might enjoy the text of my press release, it doesn't look like we're going to make it into the Northfield News (you can see pictures of us on their website):

The Seedy Side of the Election -- Students at Prairie Creek Dig into Politics

The basket of gourds didn’t look like a civics lesson at first.  Students in the fourth and fifth grade class at Prairie Creek each chose a gourd, named it, and interviewed it as part of a creative writing assignment.

But their gourds were citizens of the United States of Gourd – and a presidential election was coming up in a few weeks.  They feverishly began preparing, learning about the Declaration of Independence from King Gourd III, the three vines of government and, of course, the platforms of the two political parties, the Free Gourds and the Poligourds.

“Kids this age are very passionate about politics, but their understanding is often superficial.  I needed to teach about the election, but I needed to find a way to go more deeply without things getting personal,” said Michelle Martin, the class teacher.  “By creating a parallel country with a lot of humor, we were able to create a space for discourse.”

The presidential candidates were named for squash varieties: Ovifera Peponapsis, senator from the state of Squashington, and Crescentia Alata, goverrnor of New Gourdland.  Students prepared questions for a debate and took notes on the candidates’ responses.  “I went in as a Poligourd,” said Sam Hargis, a fifth grader, “But both candidates sounded really good so now I’m undecided.” Soon after the debate, campaign posters began appearing.

Now students are preparing to run an election for the whole school.  They’re presenting position statements to other classes, writing editorials, registering voters, and creating polling booths.  “We took a poll to see if the younger kids were ready to vote,” said student Lauren Wieber. The polling committee recommended that the kindergarten, first, and second graders vote for  fun, while third, fourth and fifth graders who register will have their votes “count.”

“It’s a paradox, but making the election about gourds has made it more real.  I listened to two children debate taxation for a half hour last Friday,” said Martin.  “They were able to listen to each other, and laugh together – if only all political contests could be as amicable.”

3.2 million

Last Monday I began what I thought was going to be a quick math lesson to explain a statistic that popped up in class, "80% of Minnesota's 3.2 million registered voters are expected to vote."  But wait a second...when I went to unpack all of the math involved this is what we ended up doing:

First, a review of big numbers and the base ten system.  You have to know what a million is and what a tenth of a million is.  Second, rounding.  Obviously, there weren't exactly 3,200,000 registered voters in Minnesota.  How do you create an appropriately precise number for your purpose?  Third, decimals.  Here we have three wholes and two tenths.  Students are often used to seeing decimal points but don't really know what they mean for anything other than money.  Even in money, their understanding is shaky -- very few can articulate "tenths" and "hundredths" at the beginning of fourth grade.  Fifth, using a place value chart to turn "3 whole millions and two tenths of a million" into a standard number.

All of that was for 3.2!  We moved on to 80%.  First I explained that "per" meant "for every" or "for each" and "cent" was Latin for 100.  Once students know that "percent" means "for every hundred" they begin to be able to see its connection to decimals and fractions.  We used base 10 blocks to further illustrate what 80% meant and then I very quickly exposed them to the procedure for finding out what 80% of 3.2 million is.

Whew.  All of that for 7 words of text.  It certainly reminded me of how much is involved in being numerically literate.

Not so Mini-Mercado

Our first big culminating event, the Mercado, was fantastic.  Props to all of the hard work that Amy did to get the kids ready -- she single handedly managed a project that it took three of us to wrangle last year.  During the last few minutes of the day we did a "whip share" in which each student shares a thought or two quickly.  Students were tired but content.  Their hard work had paid off.

These types of events are among my favorite moments at Prairie Creek.  There is no question in the students' mind that they own the work they are doing.  They also know that, without their classmates, there is no way they would be successful.  The authenticity of the experience, so important in progressive education, arises from the problem solving and decision making each group inevitably does.  If you ran out of change in the midst of the Mercado, it was your problem and you had to solve it.  You could go to the group next to yours, you could ask your customers to make a donation, or you could hunt down one of our many adult helpers to get change.  The children have real agency in events like this and it is key to their learning.

It takes a while to learn to function and flourish in the more open, intense environment of a culminating event.  We certainly couldn't do one the first week of school.  Students have to learn to trust one another and they have to internalize the expectations of the classroom.  In the exciting lead up to the event, students have to learn how to create and prioritize their "to do" list.  Nobody is doing exactly the same thing so we take time to create systems and charts that help students determine "what's next."  Our goal is to help every child feel comfortable directing his or her own work.

I sometimes liken teaching during these projects to being an invisible juggler.  It's our job as adults to see the ball that is about to fall and lightly toss it back up into the air.  Thanks to all of you who helped us juggle this past week!