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Fourth Graders Take Classes In The Upper School!
In social studies, the fourth grade group has been learning about the California Gold Rush and the teachers are using project based learning to extend students’ knowledge on this topic.
Fourth grade teachers, Gail Peddie and Melissa Geoghegan posed a guiding question, How did the discovery of gold change life in California?, and had students research and investigate further. The teachers collaborated with the upper school colleagues and took the students on “field trips” to the upper school to learn more about various topics. Our upper school science and engineering department chair and Arnie Benn, an upper school science teacher, taught the fourth graders about the environmental damage done to California as a result of mining methods used during the Gold Rush. Curtis Hartman, an upper school history teacher, taught students about the constitution of California and how California became the thirty-first state.
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In addition to environmental damage and California statehood, our fourth graders have also chosen other interesting topics to research, such as asteroid mining, the development of transportation, growth of cities, the development of women’s rights, development of schools and education, the growth of the economy in California, racial discrimination, displacement of Native Americans, and arts and entertainment. We are all looking forward to the creation of their final products and the presentation of their work.
Project based learning is a tool for students to acquire knowledge and skills through depth and complexity. The teacher poses a complex guiding question that creates a problem and a challenge for the students. Students spend time investigating to find something that really interests them. They conduct research and find information that will enable them to answer the guiding question. Students then choose their own final product to demonstrate how they answered the question. On completion of the final product, students present their findings to the faculty, to their parents and to their peers.
Lower School Campus
Upper School Campus
TVT Community Day School is a TK-12 Independent Community Day School in Irvine, CA
