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Welcome!

1/29/2020

Creating a Problem-Based Learning unit in any classroom is no easy task. Helping learners figure out how to identify a problem, do field work, get adequate research from the outside world, and present a polished presentation to a community adult panel is pretty intimidating. Now add KINDERGARTENERS to that equation. They are perhaps the most diverse learners of all grade levels. Some kids can read, others can't. Some kiddos are writing, others still don't know their letters. There are learners who can sit and do the tasks at hand, and others who simply cannot. They are easily distracted and developmentally represent a wide spectrum of abilities. That's why PBL looks completely different at this level – which is also why we decided to create this website to share our journey. We hope that what we learn about PBLing with Kinders can help you with what you are doing as well. Welcome!

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PBL Planning Part 1

1/28/2020

kinder_pbl_planning_template_2019.pdf
File Size:	138 kb
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Today Ms. Shannon and Ms. Miranda met with Principal Terry Schmalz, the campus PBL Learning Coach Aubrey Hoffman and district PBL Resources planning member Alisha Etcheverry. We spent three hours honing our kindness problem statement that we had written during a fabulous week-long D51 District PBL training last June with MindSpark Learning out of Denver.

We've attached a PDF copy of our PBL Planning Template that we used last summer with MindSpark and again during our Jan. 28th planning session.

The biggest issues for us this time were:
1. Solidifying the Problem Statement that the learners would address We didn't want it to vague or too specific.
2. What kind of field experience would we try to do to kick off the unit -- something suggested that we do in our MindSpark Training? and
3. What LENSES would we use to organize our kinder teams for their presentations?

1.After about an hour of revisiting it, the Problem Statement ended up being: New Emerson learners need to know how kindness affects them mentally, physically, and socially so that they can better impact the world around them. We were very comfortable with this, and ended up using the three ways kindness affects us to drive what kinds of speakers and research the kids would do.

2. A recurrent theme was that things were going to look different in Kindergarten. Going to visit a homeless shelter to witness the kindness being demonstrated by the shelter's workers was thrown out, as was going to the Senior Center. But we were also concerned that this might confuse the kids -- that it would be hard for them to connect what they were going to learn from this field experience, and that a better idea might be to have them go AFTER they had done research on the effects of kindness. And so, we decided to kick off the event by having our principal, Ms. Terry, come speak to the kids about recent campus-wide Panoramic data that showed only 46 percent of our school's K-3 learners felt that students were respectful (Kind) to teachers and others.

3. Lastly, when we left that meeting, we thought that a good way to let them do their presentations would be in the lenses of kindness on the PLAYGROUND, in the CAFETERIA, HALLWAY and CLASSROOM.

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What is PBL?

1/21/2020

By Miranda Bailey

Our campus is in its sixth year of the implementation of Problem-Based Learning (PBL) Units. We have done these units school-wide and at individual grade levels. But what exactly is PBL?

PBL is a way of approaching authentic learning by incorporating MANY curriculum areas into one real-world project. For example, students can learn math, science, social studies, writing, and public speaking skills and standards all while addressing an authentic problem on their campus or in the community.

Often times, the learners themselves come up with the issue that needs to be addressed, and then teachers organize a unit of learning around the problem topic. A PBL can involve students going on field trips, listening to guest speakers and then doing their own research on the problem. After the field work and research components, learners are asked to come up with a solution(s) to the problem, and then finally, they present their findings and solution ideas to an outside-of-school panel of community members for feedback.

These solutions are often implemented campus-wide or community-wide and can have long-lasting effects for the learners as well as those stakeholders impacted by the suggested solutions.

In doing a project like this, students can easily see the fruit of their learning labor, so to speak. It is a way to learn meaningfully and tie together standards from many subject areas, while partnering with the community at large and impacting schools and communities. It's a win-win for everyone.

So far, New Emerson's PBL units have resulted in the design and renovation of a new Library/Makerspace, an outside Art Mural being designed and painted, campus-wide recycling changes, and engaging eco-centric learning about Colorado and the local Grand Junction community.

This month, Kindergarten will embark on a learning journey about kindness and its potential impact on our school and community as well.

It will be interesting to see where this PBL path leads.