Education Commons^™

A Museum-Based Curriculum For Middle School Students In New York City, Nayantara Mhatre

Graduate Student Independent Studies

India Inquiry is a museum-based curriculum designed for middle school students in New York City. The curriculum is organized by the following themes: Geography, Wildlife, Culture and Crafts, and Religion. Within each theme there is one out-of-classroom trip, including three visits to the American Museum of Natural History, and one to the Ganesh Temple in Flushing, Queens. In addition there are seven lessons that compliment and support the organized field trips.

The curriculum was developed to appeal to the social, emotional, and intellectual needs of students emerging from the latency period of late childhood and approaching early adolescence.

India Inquiry …

A Reflective Look At The Writing Process For Both Children And Adults: A Memoir Study, Jessica Block

Graduate Student Independent Studies

In order to teach the writing process, one must be a writer. This independent study explores the writing process from the inside out. It investigates the writing process from an adult perspective while also examines the writing process that developed for individual student writers within a second grade classroom. Over the course of three months, the students in my second grade classroom and I developed personal memoirs about a "small moment" from our lives. This study includes a comprehensive breakdown of lessons which scaffolded the memoir writing process.

It also includes a strong reflective component which reveals how we all …

Reflections On A Third Grade Social Studies Curriculum, Laura E. Gerrity

Graduate Student Independent Studies

This curriculum study is a narrative account of a teacher and the social studies curriculum she uses with her third grade class. The curriculum is divided into two main parts. One is a study of the students' culture and family history which involves interviews with the children's parents, an examination of maps and literature from those cultures, and a description of the way the students experience the study through their writings, drawings, and conversation.

The second part of the study is an investigation of the students' neighborhood and community. Through interviews with community members, neighborhood walks, and their own observations, …

Basic Needs: A First Grade Curriculum Study, John Heffernan

Graduate Student Independent Studies

The following first grade curriculum study is an investigation of food, shelter and services in the neighborhood surrounding the school. The activities incorporate hands-on research, discussion, and expressive materials to offer opportunities for children to discover the interdependence and relationships that exist in their immediate environment. The three units of food, shelter and community services have specific goals, and they are:

Food -Investigate how markets, stores and restaurants provide food for the neighborhood, where the food comes from and how it gets to Park Slope.

Shelter - Investigate how and where people house themselves in the neighborhood and what are …

The Hudson River Museum And The Foxfire School : A Museum/School Collaboration, Leslie K. Butler

Graduate Student Independent Studies

I was hired by the Hudson River Museum during December, 1995 to develop a museum component for a brand new school in Yonkers, New York. This new school was named the Firefox School. It was given this name because of the method of teaching which is based on the Firefox Program, a method of teaching developed 30 years ago in a small community located in the Appalachian Mountains.

From Bulbs To Flowers, Elizabeth Vazquez

Graduate Student Independent Studies

In this thesis, I first developed the notion of a bulb as a means of introducing science to young children (ages five to eight).

First, bulb experiments were implemented. After a literature search, it was discovered that few books introduce scientific concepts with a storyline for young children. Therefore, I developed such a book in the process of writing the thesis. Lesson plans on bulbs for teachers were also developed and can be used in conjunction with the book or independently.

The National Mall: Becoming Correspondents, Chronologers, Autobiographers, And Biographers, Marion Mccorkle Bradford

Graduate Student Independent Studies

The National Mall curriculum for seven and eight-year-olds is a child-centered, literacy and social studies-based series of units.Recognizing the need to connect reading and writing with the students'real life experiences, this study utilizes the prior knowledge which students bring to the curriculum and extends that information with activities which build a common experience for all of the children. Developed for inner-city students in Washington, D.C., the study incorporates teaching and learning about letter­ writing, timelines, autobiographies, and biographies with history, geography, economics, and political science which is pertinent to the National Mall.

The Post Office : A Social Studies Curriculum For Seven And Eight Year Olds, Carol Ribner

Graduate Student Independent Studies

This paper presents a curriculum that I have developed and used with my class of second graders over the past three years. The curriculum is the study of the Post Office as part of a study of the neighborhood, and the subsequent planning and running of a schoolwide post office.