Emily Barnshaw September 25, 2012

V. Intergraded Project-Based Learning Tasks: Relationships/Community A. Open with a discussion about who the students best friends are, and why. Discourage the students from talking about physical attributes, and tangible reasons why someone is their friend, and we will list the reasons on the board. Ask about different adults in the community that have that characteristic, and make a list of those roles. Students will write a letter to their friend explaining why they like being friends, and why they like their friend. Students will also draw a picture that explains their friendship, and they will write a letter of reflection seeing in there is anything they could do to become a better friend. The letters will be collected, and the selfreflection letters will not be opened until the end of the school year, so students will be able to look at their letters, and mark their progress. In small groups students will pick a characteristic, and a community member, (for example brave firemen) and demonstrate to the class a movement, gesture, poem, or short skit that represents to the class what that means, and why they chose it. B. Looking at different kinds of relationships Study ecosystems, and food chains within the ecosystem. Have the students in their small groups draw an ecosystem, and a food chain within the ecosystem, Take notes, and discuss with the class, the role of relationships within nature. Also study the family structure for families, people and animals. C. Why friendship is important internationally/ friends around the world Students will use the website http://www.sts-international.org/pen_pals.html to build an international relationship, writing letters, drawing and taking pictures, etc for their correspondences. D. Students do a word study of the word cooperation and talk about what strengthens the community when Horton hears a Who. Students will be given a word on a card from the text to raise as they hear the word read. After their reading, students will group the words in to families to see chunking. After reading the text, discussion will follow about what the moral of the story is and how that relates to strong communities.