Something Big is Coming!

Something Big is Coming!

(click on the video below) 

Productive Talk

Reading experts have long known that reading is a social process and that talking about text is an important tool for comprehending, learning from, synthesizing across, and generating new ideas. This kind of talk allows students to transform and deepen their thinking by reasoning together. When students in The Hive lead their own discussions about text and use talk to reason and respond together, they grow as readers and thinkers. This kind of talk goes beyond a teacher's interpretations of text and can reveal surprising new perspectives and ways of thinking. 

This week, we began our project-based learning exploration into the early civilizations of North America. Students were given opportunities to explore a variety of texts and ideas together by listening, questioning, sharing, discussing, building on and constructively challenging one another’s contributions, while sometimes working toward a consensus interpretation and other times recognizing the need to respectfully honor differing viewpoints. These collaborative discussions pushed students to reason together, rather than simply holding on to their initial beliefs or impressions. Some students even reconsidered or questioned their beliefs through these powerful discussions, and they were the most magical moments of discovery to observe. This week's guest bloggers reflect on the power of productive talk. Enjoy.

Doing the community sketchnote activity helped me deepen my understanding of Inuit culture because other people in my group were good about explaining things differently than the way I saw them. We all had different ideas which made my understanding of everything more meaningful.    - @Magician-of-IceCream

My participation in the community sketchnote collaboration helped deepen my understanding of Inuit culture. By having the whole group put together everything they knew about the Inuit people and put it into a big sketchnote, ours was chockful of information. Also, when we did a gallery walk of other groups' sketchnotes, it was basically an information exchange since every sketchnote was different. I was able to learn even more by seeing how differently other people thought.  - @JerrysApples

I now have a deeper understanding of Inuit culture because we shared our learning with each other. Discussing and sketchnoting what we learned as a group was helpful because if we only stick with our own way of thinking, we won't learn anything new or we might be wrong about something and never know it. We can learn more by listening to other people's ideas and thoughts.   - @ArcticFox

My group's discussion about Inuit culture helped to deepen my understanding and it gave me more details about things I already knew. For example, I did know a little bit about the tools they used for hunting, but now I know that when they caught a whale, they would use the bones to make tools, eat the meat, and use the skin for clothing or to cover their shelter.    - @HarryPotter

My participation in the community sketchnote collaboration helped deepen my understanding of Inuit culture because you get to see other people's ideas and you get to practice working with other people. It's also helpful because other people have ideas that you maybe didn't think of.    - @ThatOneGuy...

My participation in the community sketchnote collaboration helped deepen my understanding of Inuit culture because I was hearing what others learned from the text, and it helped me expand my mind about what I had learned. Also, some people in my group may have understood things differently and when we talked about it, it helped all of us understand it better.    - @LightningDragon

My participation in our book club experiences has prepared me to have more meaningful conversations about texts because we know how to ask THICK questions and keep a discussion going.    - @WritingGod

My participation in the book club experience helped me have more meaningful conversations about texts in two ways. One way books clubs help is that in book clubs, somebody usually starts by asking a "thick question". It starts a chain reaction of thoughts and feelings about a topic. This happened a lot in my sketchnote group, so I think it's from our book club experiences. Another reason I think book clubs helped with our text discussion is that we learned about "piggybacking" and we used that during our Inuit text discussion which really helped make our discussion even better.    - @TheScienceGeek

My participation in our book club experiences prepared me to have more meaningful conversations about texts. It helps me listen to what others have to say and to know how to add to someone's idea.     -@RV17

My participation in the community sketchnote collaboration helped deepen my understanding of Inuit culture because I was letting in other people's ideas and illustrations that I had not thought of. Being able to visualize the culture definitely helped me with my understanding.    - @ZombieCat126

My participation in the community sketchnote collaboration helped deepen my understanding of Inuit culture because when we were drawing and talking about our ideas for our sketchnote, I didn't always know what something was or what something meant, but when we talked about it and did our gallery walk, all of the other sketchnotes shaped how I thought about the Inuit people.  - @Burt

Sources: McElhone , doi e-ssentials What’s New in Literacy Teaching? International Reading Association, Jan. 2014, https://www.literacyworldwide.org/docs/default-source/member-benefits/e-ssentials/ila-e-ssentials

Stewards of our Community

As part of our exploration into the factors that contribute to changes in Earth's surface, we’ve been investigating some of the devastating effects that weathering and erosion can have in our communities, particularly our shorelines. After learning about this, students in The Hive really wanted to help those affected by this in some way. It was inspiring to see these young members of our community engage in a community outreach effort - not only initiating but leading the endeavor with such genuine pride and enthusiasm.

We began by identifying our range of action. We brainstormed ways that young children can help support members of our broader community who are affected by the devastating effects of beach erosion. After learning about the specific challenges that Plum Island is facing, we decided we wanted to do something to help protect its shoreline, marine life, wildlife, and the homes and businesses in the surrounding communities. We decided to create ocean-inspired handmade products to sell at our annual Spofford Pond School Store event and through special orders from Hive families, with the hopes of raising funds to donate to an organization supporting these efforts. All proceeds from the sale of these gift cards and bookmarks will benefit the Plum Island Foundation, whose mission is ​​dedicated to fostering and protecting a sustainable Plum Island for all to enjoy.

We've just wrapped up and are celebrating a successful FUNdraising campaign for "Project Plum", where we raised $210.00 in donations! We'll be sending our donations along to the Plum Island Foundation today where they will put the funds toward their efforts to install a barrier at Reservation Terrace, which will help guard the homes, the people, and the infrastructure in the surrounding area.  

These kids are an amazing example of what it means to be engaged and active citizens in our community.

Connecting the Past With the Present

As we embark on our learning journey through the early civilizations of North America, we'll explore how Native Americans lived and worked together in families and communities.  Concern and respect for others, particularly elders in the family and community, was central to their daily life. Elders in ancient Native American communities played an important role in sharing knowledge, wisdom, and an understanding of people and the world around them through strong oral tradition and storytelling. To help make this topic relevant, we explored how we might connect the past with the present. Learners paid tribute to the elders in our own community, gaining new respect and empathy for the wisdom these elders can share with us as we navigate through life. 

As an entry event to a much-anticipated project-based learning experience, we invited some familiar elders into our classroom to share their own wisdom and life lessons with us. Nan Richardson and Nana Lang were gracious enough to share with us stories of their journeys through life and some important lessons they've learned along the way. We were all ears.

This week's guest bloggers share their takeaways with us. Enjoy!

It is important to listen and learn from our elders because they can inform you about some things you are interested in. They can inform you about your relatives, about life, and give you advice about school. They can maybe even help you with hard decisions you have to make.    - @sunflower

It is important to listen to our elders because we can learn about our culture and traditions. We can learn about our ancestors - who they were and the languages they might have spoken. This lets us pass down traditions to our own families one day and maybe they can pass it down to theirs, too.    - HockeyKitty

It's important to learn from your elders because they teach us about important family traditions. In my family we have a fun tradition at Greek Easter called Tsourgrisma and a special Greek food that we eat called Lukumades. I'll need my elders to teach me how to make it.    - @softballpiggy

Something I have learned from one of the elders in my family is that as long as you believe someone is with you wherever you go, they are, and they will never actually be gone unless you make them be gone; make them disappear from your mind and your heart. I learned that from my grandmother and no matter how long my grandfather is gone - how many days, how many months, how many years - it doesn't matter. He will always be with me in my mind and in my heart.   - @writingmachine

It is important to listen and learn from our elders because they learned from their mistakes and now they can teach us how to do things better. They can tell us how to do stuff that won't get us hurt or involved with bad people.    - @Bob

It is so important to listen and learn from our elders because we can learn new things about other people's cultures. It is also good to listen to our elders because since they're now old and wise, they have more experience and know what we are going through and they always have the right answers to our problems.   - @JerrysApples

Something that I learned from my elders is that my grandpa was in the military and he fought in the Vietnam War. My Pop Pop fought in a war as well. I learned that they used gases and my Pop Pop breathed it in. He got really hurt from it and had to go to the hospital a lot. I hope they don't use those gases anymore.    - @BobMcPickleson

Something I have learned from an elder is how to throw a football. I learned this from my grandfather. I like spending time with him. He also taught me how to catch a football and how to throw, catch, and hit a baseball.    - RV17

There are lots of reasons why it's important to listen and learn from our elders. First of all, the main reason is to learn about our religion and the traditions passed down for generations. Second, I think everyone's elders have shared at least some funny stories with us that are so heartwarming to listen to.    - @FireDragon5

The reason why it is important to listen to our elders is that they've been alive longer and have experienced way more stuff than us kids. Take my great-grandmother (Nana) for example. She's 82 years old and no doubt, she has some very interesting stories (some good experiences and some bad). If elders tell us about mistakes the world has made over history, maybe we won't make the same mistakes again.    - @WritingGod

It is important to listen and learn from our elders because their stories could help us learn more about history. It's good to know how things like cars, towns, and buildings were made. It's also good to know why we celebrate holidays and have certain traditions.   - @PotatoMonitor