What is PBL in Elementary School?
Why Critique?
Critique is an essential part of our curriculum. Students utilize kind, specific and helpful critiques to improve their work and the work of their peers. Revision and multiple drafts are important components of our process. Students learn how to be kind, specific, and helpful when giving critique to their classmates. The critique process is an important part of student growth. Students learn how to critique their own work and other students’ work.
Why Home visits?
Home visits provide an opportunity for one-to-one interaction with the family, at a time that suits that family. They should enable an exchange of information between parents, school staff and children, and may also provide a starting point for practitioners to understand family background, including the cultural background.
For children, a visit carried out by ‘their’ teacher shows that they are important, and means that some faces will be familiar when they start school.
For parents, a home visit provides an opportunity to talk about their child and the school, to voice concerns, to clear up misunderstandings, and to lessen worries and fears.
During a visit, teachers can discover what learning activities are already taking place in the home – whether the child has favorite books, likes particular videos, goes out on visits, cooks regularly. And information may be gathered on who else might be able to support home learning – fathers, grandparents, older siblings, other relatives.
Home visits typically last about 30 minutes long and can be conducted at home or another off-campus location. Your teacher will contact you to schedule and time and place for the visit.
What are Student Lead Conferences (SLCs)?
Student led conferences (SLCs) are our alternative to traditional parent-teacher conferences. SLCs are an opportunity for students to share their academic and social progress with their families. SLCs will last about 20 minutes with a 5 minute break between sessions.
If you are not familiar with the student-centered approach, here are our reasons and goals for using this approach:
● To teach students the process of reflection and self-evaluation
● To increase parent-child communication and encourage honest conversation among teachers, the student, and the parents
● To allow students to take ownership of their academic performance and to do their own goal setting
Here is what to expect at the Student-Led Conference:
● Your child will do most of the talking
● Your child will discuss his/her progress
● Your child will discuss his/her goals
● Parents will be able to ask further questions of the student and teacher
How can I stay updated with what my child is doing in the classroom?
You can stay updated with what your child is doing week to week by checking in on the classroom blog. Ms. Lance will updating it every other week to reflect what we are learning and exploring.
- Watch this Prezi from a senior staff member Stacey Lopaz about what Project Based Learning is in the Elementary setting.
- Read an article from Edutopia about PBL at HTH.
Why Critique?
Critique is an essential part of our curriculum. Students utilize kind, specific and helpful critiques to improve their work and the work of their peers. Revision and multiple drafts are important components of our process. Students learn how to be kind, specific, and helpful when giving critique to their classmates. The critique process is an important part of student growth. Students learn how to critique their own work and other students’ work.
Why Home visits?
Home visits provide an opportunity for one-to-one interaction with the family, at a time that suits that family. They should enable an exchange of information between parents, school staff and children, and may also provide a starting point for practitioners to understand family background, including the cultural background.
For children, a visit carried out by ‘their’ teacher shows that they are important, and means that some faces will be familiar when they start school.
For parents, a home visit provides an opportunity to talk about their child and the school, to voice concerns, to clear up misunderstandings, and to lessen worries and fears.
- Give families a chance to welcome you, in their space
- Establish early, positive contact
- See children in their own familiar settings
- Meet other family members, people and pets who are important to the children
- Understand the problems that children might encounter at school, and also to appreciate the wealth of learning that goes on in the home.
During a visit, teachers can discover what learning activities are already taking place in the home – whether the child has favorite books, likes particular videos, goes out on visits, cooks regularly. And information may be gathered on who else might be able to support home learning – fathers, grandparents, older siblings, other relatives.
Home visits typically last about 30 minutes long and can be conducted at home or another off-campus location. Your teacher will contact you to schedule and time and place for the visit.
What are Student Lead Conferences (SLCs)?
Student led conferences (SLCs) are our alternative to traditional parent-teacher conferences. SLCs are an opportunity for students to share their academic and social progress with their families. SLCs will last about 20 minutes with a 5 minute break between sessions.
If you are not familiar with the student-centered approach, here are our reasons and goals for using this approach:
● To teach students the process of reflection and self-evaluation
● To increase parent-child communication and encourage honest conversation among teachers, the student, and the parents
● To allow students to take ownership of their academic performance and to do their own goal setting
Here is what to expect at the Student-Led Conference:
● Your child will do most of the talking
● Your child will discuss his/her progress
● Your child will discuss his/her goals
● Parents will be able to ask further questions of the student and teacher
How can I stay updated with what my child is doing in the classroom?
You can stay updated with what your child is doing week to week by checking in on the classroom blog. Ms. Lance will updating it every other week to reflect what we are learning and exploring.