Engaging Students in Labs Activities
One thing I love about our EL education curriculum is the expedition class. Instead of students taking the whole school year to learn about a broad overview of history and science, expedition allows students to zoom in on one topic for an entire term and become experts on the content. This term my 6th graders are becoming experts on the Ancient World by learning about Greek mythology. How fun!! But, sadly, I’m not their expedition teacher. I’m their math teacher.
I love teaching math and would never want to teach anything else, but that doesn’t mean I don’t get jealous of ELA teachers doing fun, innovative activities with students that just don't work with a math lesson. That’s why I love teaching my labs course!
Labs is an extension of expedition where students do aligned activities with their math teacher to continue engaging in their expedition topic. For 30 minutes a day students get to do some hands-on learning to deeply engage them in their expedition topic.
Labs has four activities sets: Engineer, Create, Research, and Imagine. Here are examples from my favorite activities we did last year:
Engineer: Shrinky Dink Cells
During the Under The Microscope unit, students used shrinky dink paper, sharpies, and colored pencils to construct and accurately label either an animal or plant cell, then I shrunk them in my oven to make keychains!
Create: Japanese Cherry Blossom Vases
During our expedition unit on Japanese Internment in the US, students learned about Japanese culture and created vase art and cherry blossoms using construction paper, markers, and pink tissue paper.
Research: Greek Mathematician Poster
During our Ancient World unit, students work in pairs to research an ancient Greek mathematician, then use their art skills to create an eye-catching poster, complete with a bust of their mathematician.
Imagine: Reader’s Theater: Rocks and Minerals Game Show
During the Rocks and Minerals unit, students complete a reader’s theater script in groups where the plot is game show with contestants named things like Ignee Us, Seddy Mentary, and Dr. Meta Morphic. It's a super fun way for students to learn facts about different rocks!
