Literacy Now

Project-based learning is one aspect of the Common Core’s with extra buzz. PBL engages students in purposeful ways by providing opportunities to develop a laundry list of 21st century skills in areas including critical thinking, research strategies, collaboration, communication, and literacy. If your head is spinning and you are wondering how you are going to make time for and create appropriate PBL opportunities for your elementary students, don’t worry! The good news is there are many ways to incorporate practical project-based learning into your elementary classroom.

Some quick and easy project-based learning opportunities include fourth-graders cruising the playground interviewing students about their after school snacks for the posters they will make to promote healthy nibbling; second-graders learning about chickens and read books to raise funds to provide chickens for families in third world countries; fifth-graders working in teams to write letters to the city council to promote better citywide recycling; and kindergartners baking and wrapping healthy dog treats for an animal shelter as they learn about taking care of animals.

Haven’t we always offered engaging hands-on projects in our elementary classrooms? Yes, but PBL is different. Rather than assessing student knowledge by grading the final product or administering a quiz on the text material, PBL involves “along the way” formative assessments and observations to evaluate how students are progressing in their research and collaboration.

The process for PBL may last several weeks and includes these steps:

• Start with a driving question or issue for students to consider (recycling, safety, healthy eating, the environment, school rules, etc).

• Research using multiple resources to address the issue and collaborate with others.

• Work together to create a project to share with an audience.

• Reflect on the process.  

 The celebration is in the experience, not just the end product! To ensure that you are including all the elements that make a project a true PBL experience check out the free resources on bie.org.

Here are some practical ways to get started or keep going with PBL in the elementary classroom:

Start with Read-Alouds to Inspire PBL Projects

Many wonderful read-aloud books can inspire students to think about ways they can get involved and is a way to find an interesting problem to solve or issue to explore. Here are some books that can serve as a base for projects. Thanks to Booksource for compiling this list.

Endangered Animals
Dobson, David. (1997). Can We Save Them? Endangered Species of North America. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge Publishing.
Hirsch, Rebecca. (2010). Helping Endangered Animals. Mankato, MN: Cherry Lake Publishing.

Water Use
Frost, Helen. (2000). Keeping Water Clean. Minneapolis, MN: Capstone Press.
Strauss, Rochelle. (2007). One Well: The Story of Water on Earth. Toronto: Kids Can Press.

Environment
Williams, Rozanne Laczak. (1998). Let’s Take Care of the Earth. Cypress, CA: Creative Teaching Press.
Sturm, Jeanne. (2009). Our Footprint on Earth. Vero Beach, FL: Rourke Publishing.

Recycling
Barnham, Kay. (2007). Recycle. New York: Crabtree Press.
Green, Jen. (2005). Why Should I Recycle? Hauppauge, NY: Barron’s Educational Series, Inc.

Helping Others
Ring, Susan. (2005). Helping Hands. Minneapolis: Capstone Publishing.
Sundem, Garth. (2010). Real Kids, Real Stories, Real Change: Courageous Actions Around the World. Minneapolis: Free Spirit Publishing.

Exploring Your Neighborhood
Smith, David J. Illus. by Shelagh Armstrong (2011). If the World Were a Village: A Book about the World’s People. Toronto: Kids Can Press.
Sweeney, Joan. (1998). Me on the Map. New York City: Random House.

Safety
Meiners, Cheri J. (2006). Be Careful and Stay Safe. Minneapolis: Free Spirit Publishing.
Greathouse, Lisa. (2011). Emergency! Be Prepared. Huntington Beach: Shell Education.

Healthy Eating
Sohn, Emily and Diane Bair. (2012). Food and Nutrition: Eating to Win. Chicago: Norwood House Press.
Rockwell, Lizzy. (2009). Good Enough to Eat. New York City: HarperCollins Publishers.

Practical PBL Projects for Elementary Students

Work with your class to brainstorm a project that will address a central question regarding an issue or problem. Here are some projects:

• Writing letters

• Creating a collection—a museum or display

• Producing class books

• Conducting interviews

• Producing various media presentations—slideshows, video

• Writing articles for local papers or online school website

• Creating posters or brochures for local businesses or community organizations

• Writing procedural texts such as cookbooks or how-to guides

• Designing game boards

• Producing videos or plays

Inspire Projects with Hand to Heart/Paw/Earth

The Time for Kids nonfiction series has three really great texts by Jessica Cohn to inspire many different service projects on every page!

Hand to Heart: Improving Communities: Some ideas from the text include writing letters of thanks to firefighters, sending care packages to soldiers, writing to newspapers or politicians, planting a garden, and making bookmarks to donate.

Hand to Paw: Protecting Animals: Some of the ideas for projects include: making homemade dog biscuits for a dog shelter, writing letters on endangered species, collecting pet food for a shelter, and putting a pet show and donating earnings to a pet shelter.

Hand to Earth: Saving the Environment: Some of the ideas for projects include: cutting down on water while brushing teeth, reusing plastic cups, unplugging appliances, recycling, and crafts from recyclables.  Students can research and measure their carbon footprint. 

Teach Students to Ask Questions/Research Across Texts

One easy way to help students research their topics and issues is to create a chart to display their questions and then answer the questions across several texts.
As the students read at least two texts (or more), they enter the information gained from each text.  Students use the information gathered to write letters, articles, or make a presentation.

Try Ready-Made Books and Projects with Heifer

Currently, I am working with preK—fifth-grade students to learn about chickens and we are raising funds to buy flocks for the Heifer Project.  We read the Heifer picture book, The Chicken and the Worm by Page McBrier to learn about chickens. Check out the many ready-made project-based learning suggestions on the Heifer Project website including the popular Read to Feed program as well as fabulous picture books you can order to read aloud to your class.  I keep coming back to Heifer Project because the PBL project possibilities are endless!

Lori Oczkus (loczkus52@earthlink.net) is an independent literacy consultant and author. Lori’s latest book is Just the Facts: Close Reading and the Comprehension of Informational Text (Shell/IRA, 2014). Lori can be reached at loczkus52@earthlink.net.

Primates: The Fearless Science of Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Biruté Galdikas (First Second, 2013)
Written by Jim Ottaviani, Illustrated by Maris Wicks
Grades 9-12

In science and in life, there are always new mountains to climb. With humor, expressive illustrations, and engaging dialogue and narration, the graphic novel Primates will engage adolescent readers in the scientific accomplishments and life stories of three greats in primatology: Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Biruté Galdikas. Through dedication and hard work, the main characters illuminate professional accomplishments and persevere through personal struggles. The book addresses conservation as well as facts about primate behaviors and the process of scientific inquiry. Sprinkled with anecdotes of mischievous chimps, exotic insect bites, dung swirling, treks through swamps, and the occasional barfing illness, this graphic novel is sure to keep adolescent readers turning pages. The book is a perfect complement to the move to develop literacy in the content area and to include more non-fiction texts in the classroom. The multifaceted themes in the book pair easily with complex project-based learning (PBL) lessons.

Cross-Curricular Connections: Science, Social Studies

Project Based Learning (PBL) Ideas for Classroom Use:

Essential Question: What problem in my community can the scientific method address?

PBL Activity: Primates is divided into three sections, one for each of the three scientists highlighted in the book. Assign one of the scientists to each student, and direct students to read and take notes on their assigned section individually. Students should focus on the question, “How does a scientist work?” After students have completed this individual task, divide them into three large groups–one for each scientist. Using their notes, each group should discuss and collaborate to create a streamlined version of their supporting evidence within the text of how their assigned scientist conducted research. Once each group is finished, the spokesperson of each group will share with the class. After a class discussion of the key concepts of the scientific method, present news articles (newspapers, local news sites online, blogs, local environmental agencies, etc.) and allow students to choose one topic of interest. Working in groups of three or four, students will find a problem to evaluate, and will use the scientific method to study it. Students will then conduct their research and present their findings to the class.

Essential Question: What is the definition of intelligent life?
PBL Activity: Engage students in an opening discussion of “the definition of intelligent life.” While students brainstorm/popcorn out ideas and examples, take notes in clear view of the class. The class-generated notes will be displayed and modified throughout the next two PBL activities. After the discussion, direct students to silently read an assigned section (divided by featured scientist) of the book. Students should cite evidence of intelligence displayed by the primates within the text while reading. After students complete their reading section and notes, place students in jigsaw groups of three—each group member having worked with a different section of the book to discuss their unique reading experience related to each scientist’s story.

Next, each group of three students should conduct research on other animals not discussed in the book, focusing on characteristics including communication and tool use to develop a list of intelligent animals. Each group should develop a wiki to record their findings. Groups should include pictures as well as lists of the traits each animal uses that show intelligence. Students should be encouraged to post hypotheses and responses about the essential question throughout the project. Each group must include their comprehensive group list of essential traits on the wiki. In addition to lists of intelligent life, students must include information on unintelligent life, and why their choices are classified as such. Students should begin to explore how intelligence affects the value and/or richness of the experience of life.

Essential Question: Should primates be used for medical testing purposes?

PBL Activity: Building on their research on intelligent life, students in each group should collaborate to discuss and produce one group list to describe their definition of intelligent life and how primates fit within that definition. Using this list, the groups of three students will conduct research and create an argument in response to the essential question. To accommodate diverse learning styles, allow students to chose how they present their argument, e.g. creation of a pamphlet, a billboard, online presentation, podcast, etc. Each group should use their notes to create a chart comparing and contrasting the different types of primates within the book: chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans. Students should focus on what each group of primates does differently to display their intelligence. All arguments must clearly support or refute the use of primates in medical labs with evidence-based data and discuss the impact animal testing has on Earth’s biodiversity.

Extension Activities That Can Be Done With Primates:

After reading the novel or a selected excerpt, direct students to research the accomplishments and life of a respected scientist not discussed in the book. Create a storyboard that could be a-day-in-the-life of the selected scientist. Students could create and share their storyboards as posters or by using cartoon software.

Additional Resources:

Goodall, Jane. (2013). Jane Goodall: 50 Years at Gombe. New York, NY: Stewart, Tabori & Chang.

Montgomery, Sy. (2009). Walking with the Great Apes. White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing.

Shumaker, R. W. & Beck, B. B. (2003). Primates in Question: The Smithsonian Answer Book. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Books.

Gibson, Karen Bush. (2014). Women in Space: 23 Stories of First Flights, Scientific Missions, and Gravity-Breaking Adventures. Chicago, IL: Chicago Review Press.

Keller, Michael. & Fuller, Nicolle Rager. (2009). Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of the Species: A Graphic Adaptation. Emmaus, PA: Rodale Books.

Miller, Ron. (2014). Curiosity’s Mission on Mars: Exploring the Red Planet. Minneapolis, MN: Twenty-First Century Books.

Ottaviani, Jim. Illus. by Lelan Myrick. (2013). Feynman. New York, NY: First Second.

Ottaviani, Jim. Illus. by Zander and Kevin Cannon. (2009). T-Minus: The Race to the Moon. New York, NY: Aladdin.

Shultz, Mark. Illus. by Zander and Kevin Cannon. (2009). The Stuff of Life: A Graphic Guide to Genetics and DNA. New York, NY: Hill and Wang.

The Jane Goodall Institute

PBS page about Biruté Galdikas

Judith A. Hayn, professor of Secondary Education, her colleague Karina Clemmons, associate professor of Secondary Education, and students in the Masters in Secondary English Education program at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock prepared these classroom suggestions.

As a 35-year veteran of the International Reading Association, Judith Scott has seen a lot come and go. What have been constants, however, are themes close to her heart, like the building of vocabulary and the establishment and use of mentorships in the education field.

Scott wanted to be a teacher since elementary school and has spent more than a decade educating educators and researching topics, in addition to working as a member of the educational review board for Reading Research Quarterly.

How did you begin your career, and what led you to your current position?

My third grade teacher inspired me to become a teacher and circumstances fell into place that led me to become a professor.  I had come back to university to get an MA and Reading Specialist credential at the University of California, Davis with Linnea Ehri when my then boyfriend (and current husband) decided to get his MA in Recreational Administration. The Center for the Study of Reading (CSR) was in its heyday at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, which had the program he wanted to attend.  At the time, they were laying off teachers in the local school districts so I entered the doctoral program and became a graduate student researcher with Dick Anderson working on Becoming a Nation of Readers.  The rest is history.  I was an associate professor at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia when this position opened up in 2000.  My family is in California and, with aging parents and two young children, I decided to return home.  I've been here in the department of education at the University of California, Santa Cruz for 14 years.

How long have you been a member of IRA? How has membership influenced your career?

I've been a member of IRA for about 35 years.  I joined as a student teacher following the advice of my teacher supervisor. IRA has had a profound impact on my career.  My decision to move to Illinois was strongly influenced by an IRA preconvention institute presented by CSR researchers in 1983. Then, when I moved to Canada, I became heavily involved in the Lower Mainland Council of the International Reading Association (LOMCIRA) where I served on the executive committee for many years.  My position as a member of the RRQ Editorial Review Board allows me to help maintain the high standard of outstanding research for this journal and to mentor new authors. I've presented at numerous IRA conferences and preconvention institutes, and I've served on several IRA committees, including a position as the co-chair of the IRA publications committee.

What do you consider to be your proudest career moment?

My proudest career moment was when I received the 2006 IRA John Chorlton Manning Award for Outstanding Public School Service.   This award was developed to “encourage and support reading professors by recognizing the importance of integrating teacher preparation, professional development, and related research with the work of public schools, classrooms, teachers, and students.”  I was particularly honored that the teachers and district personnel with whom I worked initiated the process, solicited letters, and put forth my nomination. 

Vocabulary is such a hot topic. Why is that and what discoveries in your research have surprised you?

Vocabulary is a hot topic because knowledge of word meanings is a cornerstone of all communication. The words a speaker or author choose makes a difference in communicating meaning. Word choice becomes particularly important in written language because the words an author choose carries the weight of meaning when people are removed from each other in distance and time.
Learning words is often a difficult, frustrating struggle, particularly for English Learners, and vocabulary lessons in schools are often tedious, uninspired, and boring. I've been surprised at how easily this can turn around in word-conscious classrooms when students develop a sense of purpose for learning words and ownership of academic language.  We've had students spend their play dates looking for cognates and interesting words. When word learning becomes a fun activity for meaningful purposes, classrooms sparkle.
What role does mentoring play in your career?

I believe learning is sociocultural, and all people learn best when they are involved in communities of learners.  The strong mentorship I received as a graduate student was incredibly important, as neither of my parents went to university and I was the first female in our large extended family to get either an undergraduate or an advanced degree. 
I have tried to develop communities of learners in all of my research projects, with doctoral students, practicing teachers, leaders in professional development, and university colleagues. Each of us adds expertise of value to the collective projects, and part of my mentorship style is to bring people together in joint ventures so that we can learn from one another.

What are you reading (personal, professional, or even children's/YA)?

I teach an undergraduate course on using multicultural children's literature in K-8 classrooms from a critical perspective.  One of my great joys is finding books with themes of social justice that I use to let undergraduates experience literature circles. Current books include Ryan's Esperanza Rising,  Alexie's  The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Curtis's The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963, Erskine's Mockingbird, Howe's Totally Joe, Jimenez's, The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child, Nye's Habibi,  Resau's  Red Glass, Uchida's  Journey to Topaz, Williams-Garcia’s, One Crazy Summer and Yang's American Born Chinese.  I'm always on the lookout for these types of books.

What advice would you give a new teacher that either you received or wish you had?

When you interview for a job, ask questions about the pedagogical orientation of the administration and support for new teachers at the school. Many new teachers drop out of the teaching profession because teaching is incredibly hard work, and both appropriate and sustained mentorship and a supportive network of colleagues and administrators can make the transition to teaching so much easier. 
Pay attention to students as people with lives, interests, and experiences beyond the walls of school.  Draw on these funds of knowledge in your classrooms and help students become apprentices in academic settings. Keep focused on the big picture in addition to the goals for each lesson. As a teacher, you don't need to know all the answers.  If you help students learn how to do the research to find answers, to think critically, to have compassion for others and the world, to read widely, and to write well, you are giving them a solid foundation for life.

April Hall is editor of Reading Today Online. She can be reached at ahall@/.

As a teacher I am always on the lookout for ways to motivate my students and finding new and exciting ways for them to synthesize and present information while meeting the College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Writing can be a challenge.  Then I learned about ThingLink, a Web-, iOS-, and Android-based tool, and my mind began spinning with ideas as to how I could incorporate the ThingLink interactive images with student work.

Before bringing the ThingLink idea to my students, I signed up for the free Education account, and explored the website.  Getting started is quite simple, as teachers can create groups for their classes by following the on screen directions. Once students are enrolled, they can log in and begin creating. To start, students need an initial image to “tag” or annotate. This can be a screenshot of their writing, a creative commons image pertaining to their topic, or any student created image, and can be uploaded from the computer or through a web URL. From there, students will begin adding tags including links to websites, videos, photos, or simple text boxes.

When I discovered ThingLink, my students were in the middle of their Olympic Research Unit, and were preparing a research report from an athlete’s point of view. I added another dimension to their presentation in the form of a ThingLink about their chosen athlete.  Based on their research findings, students were expected to create an interactive ThingLink that included text descriptions, photos, a video, quotes, and a Google Map with the location(s) of the Olympics the athlete participated in.  When completed, I compiled the Olympian ThingLinks on a Symbaloo Webmix for students and parents to view.

The ideas for integrating ThingLink are limitless, and include using ThingLink to demonstrate knowledge of a topic, keep a portfolio of writings, or an alternative to a Google Maps Lit Trip. Whether you are looking for a way to transform student research projects, or a unique opportunity for students to document their learning, try Thinglink and explore the many additional uses.

Stephanie Laird is an Instructional Coach in the Southeast Polk School District where she works alongside teachers to impact student learning through the areas of curriculum, instruction, and assessment.  She holds a M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instructional Technology from Iowa State University, and is the International Reading Association’s 2014 Technology and Reading Award Winner.

As a fresh batch of students began the school year, I shared with them previous projects I did with students in connection with space travel. They were intrigued and asked me if there were similar projects we could do. While searching for a program, I came across the International Reading Association (IRA), the International Literacy Day, and the partnership with NASA presenting the “Lift Off to Literacy” program for students. I read about Kjell Lindgren saying “Books have paved my path to space.” I realized this wasn’t exactly what the students asked for, but I could use 60-for-60 challenge as a jumping-off point for daily experiments and projects with a bigger goal of getting my students to read in non-traditional forms they wouldn’t dread.

With my Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) students (grades 6-8) I presented news articles related to daily curriculum topics. The students loved the opportunity to see the information and content in such a way that it wasn’t just classroom reading material (like a textbook). I often gave them a prompt to discuss or write an answer on our blog account prior to being shown the article of the day.

For example, we discussed rockets and space travel when I found a current article that Einstein’s Theory of Time Dilation had been verified. I asked the students to answer these questions prior to reading: “Would you want to travel to another planet, galaxy, solar system or star? Would you mind if someone you loved went without you?” After reading the article, we revisited their initial responses and many students said they changed their minds. Talk about conversation!

Here is some of the pre-writing:

“I would want to travel to another planet, galaxy, and solar system or star because you never know what’s out there, and I wanna see space! I love space it’s so pretty.”

“I would not like to travel to another planet. Many other places in the galaxy are dangerous. I would definitely mind (if someone I loved went), especially since they would probably never come back. I would probably miss them.”
Typical responses from middle school students, but then I had this one:

“No, I can't live without the people I love, I just couldn't go anywhere without them. Besides, it takes hundreds and thousands of years to travel to another galaxy or star, unless you travel as fast as a beam of light.”

These students had never heard of Einstein’s Theory of Dilation. Once we read the article, they all wanted to know if they could change their answers. The students talked about this article for days.

Each day is an experience of anticipation and excitement for the students and me. I can’t wait to introduce them to ideas, theories, concepts, inventions, innovations, and inventors in a way that isn’t a long, drawn-out story or lecture. I can use this to inspire the kids to read professional articles and documents on their own time. They often come in with articles scribbled in their engineering notebooks or on a tattered piece of paper asking if I will share that article immediately. And if they think I have forgotten to present the daily article, I am immediately hounded and reminded we need to do it. There can be no deviation in the game plan. The date, objective, mind puzzle, and “The Article.” It is forbidden that we should go in any other order. They also make sure that I assign reading articles for the weekend on our blog or that I make up the weekend days on Monday by doing an extra-long article or two articles. I am truly amazed, awed, and humbled by their hunger for this reading, writing, and discussion medium of just 60 seconds.

On one morning I planned to share an article about 3D printers which falls under every STEM category. The article was about cars being created with a 3D printer and I was fairly certain they had limited knowledge of this area. The first group of students burst into my room yelling “Did you see the 3D printer on the student morning news?” I had not, so they filled me in. It was the similar story to what I was going to present just in video format. We went on to read the article I had already selected. And these two events, occurring within 30 minutes of each other, lit a fire in their imaginations.

The first questions from them were centered on: “Why can’t we build our solutions and prototypes using one of those 3D printer things?” which led us in to the economics and financial ramifications of 3D printers, which led to “When can we get one?” They started researching the logistics and size requirements for the amount of space available in my room. The next day I found an article about a young boy who was given a prosthetic hand that resembled Iron Man’s hand. That article set off another round of “we can fix…” and then a technology assessment of 3D printers on the environment, economics, ethics, social, culture, and politics. These two days found me hard stretched to get my daily lesson in so I made a promise I would write grants to see if we can get one. I have been writing a grant about once a week.

In these 60 seconds I also like to note sometimes our history books and documents fail to give credit where credit is due. Many of the articles I present speak about these injustices and inspire many of what I consider underrepresented groups to be inspired, including women in technology. An example from the article is Ana Lovelace. After reading the article the students’ immediate response was “Did she have an engineering notebook?” or “Did she file for a patent?” or “Wasn’t that copyright infringement when they used her idea without giving her credit?” I was overwhelmed. I thought I was giving them the opportunity to see that females are often overlooked for their contributions and yes, they were indignant on that front, but they were mortified she didn’t have the social, cultural or technical clout to back up her work. All of this came from reading 60 seconds of a book review article.

I honestly did not realize what a difference just one or two minutes could make in the lives of these students. At first I was afraid the students would have already heard about the subject in the articles I was presenting through television, but quickly found the articles I utilize aren’t always mainstream or that the way an article is presented makes it totally interesting to them. Stumbling on the 60-for-60 challenge was serendipity at its best.

Thelma Kastl is a STEM educator at West Wilkes Middle School in North Carolina where she teaches grades 6-8. She holds a bachelor's in Technology Education from the Appalachian State University and a master's in Instructional Technology from Appalachian State University. She is North Carolina’s First Wind Senator. She has additional degrees and certifications in electronics, psychology and environmental studies and has taught Project Lead the Way engineering courses at Duke University and Seattle University. She has also taught technology education courses at Appalachian State University and Electronics at Wilkes Community College. She was Ashe County Career Center and Ashe County High School Teacher of the Year, in addition to the International Technology Education and Engineering Educators Associations Teacher of the Year and received Program of the Year. She can be contacted at kastlt@wilkes.k12.nc.us or technology.kastl@gmail.com.