Monday message 02.07.2022

Dear Families,

As a Project- Based Learning (PBL) school, our facilitators are working extra hard to formulate Driving Questions that are engaging, rigorous, and authentic. The questions drive the project and help to make the curriculum they are learning applicable to their world. We want to ensure that all our learners have the tools they need to be successful.

As explained by PBL Works: “PBL blends content mastery, meaningful work, and personal connection to create powerful learning experiences, in terms of both academic achievement and students’ personal growth. PBL leads to deeper understanding and greater retention of content knowledge. Students are better able to apply what they know to new situations. A great project can be transformative for students. Seeing a real-world impact gives them a sense of agency and purpose.”

PBL is quite different from traditional methods and understanding the why and how, will greatly benefit you and your child. Each facilitator will send home a project design guide. Please read it thoroughly to know all the details. If you have any questions, please reach out to your child’s facilitator.

Here are our current Driving Questions:

• TK/K/1st (Mrs. Ortiz and Mrs. Ward) – How can we use our knowledge of life cycles to support our animals on campus?
• 1st/2nd (Miss Quan, Ms. Rhonna and Miss Rivera) – How can we as zoologists create and maintain sustainable habitats?
• 3rd (Mrs. Wells, Ms. Gallegos) – How can we use data to convince others to reduce the impact they have on the environment?
• 4th (Ms. Sprute) – How can we keep our community safe in/during natural hazards?
• 5th (Mrs. Steese) – What makes mystery readers keep turning the pages?
• 6th (Mr. De Los Reyes, Mrs. Rogers) – What is the effect of microgravity on living and nonliving things?
• 7th and 8th (Ms. Sonia and Ms. Benedetti) – How can we use data to optimize our school community health?
• 9th (Dr. M) – How can our understanding of Mycology support wellness for humanity and our Earth?

Lisa Latimer

Director, iLEAD Agua Dulce