Students will explore the wonders of “down-under” through books, websites and authors’ homepages.  Interdisciplinary activities and collaborative research culminates in a student-created video.

Curricular Big Idea Connections:
Literacy (author studies); Social Studies (map skills)

The Mexican holiday known as the Day of the Dead/ El Día de los Muertos is celebrated between October 31st and November 2nd. In this unit, students will learn how this holiday differs from Halloween and discover the rich tapestry of cultural traditions associated with the festival.

Curricular Big Idea Connections:
Literacy (research, key words, summarizing, notetaking, inquiry-based questions) Science (designing questions)

Students will become zoo animal experts as they delve into learning about habitats and species after watching zoo webcams, exploring websites and finally producing an online “Puzzle” podcast.

Curricular Big Idea Connections:
Science (animal habitats); Literacy (how to); Math (graphs)

This unit will take students through three of the Doctor’s best loved stories while integrating online resources to explore the life and works of this beloved author. Students will use the context of some classic Seuss favorites to develop literacy skills appropriate for early-emergent and emergent readers and explore activities tied to the Seuss stories, such as graphing, categorizing and mapping.

Curricular Big Idea Connections:
Literacy (author study, compare/contrast; word families; self-to-text connection); Social Studies (map skills); Math (graphing)

The broad topic of Colorado History often leaves teachers wanting to teach more and students interested in deeper investigation.  This project provides the means for students to delve into a self-directed, cross curricular approach to Colorado history.  Scaffolded learning supports research and writing skills as students create their multi-media products.

Curricular Big Idea Connections:
Social Studies (Denver and Colorado)

Students explore the sources of energy and how electricity is created while learning about the economic and environmental impacts of various power sources.  Following the examination of their personal energy habits at home and school, and by doing labs and experiments, students create an energy efficient home or a conservation advertisement.

Curricular Big Idea Connections:
Science (investigating heat and materials; scientific investigations; Tracks research/inquiry process); Literacy (compare/contrast; self-to-text connections)

Students learn what it means when an animal is threatened and/or endangered.  A variety of activities culminate in the students’ creation of an educational podcast—a multi-media broadcast to the world—to save their animals.

Curricular Big Idea Connections:
Literacy (research and report writing); Science (investigating the changing earth)

Students become detectives of unexplained mysteries from nature, space, the past and the present. Extensive research results in students playing the role of a “Mythbuster” to present reasoned judgment of the “truth”, via a brochure, PowerPoint, or video/audio format, which can then be loaded onto a class wiki web site.

Curricular Big Idea Connections:
Literacy (research, key words, summarizing, notetaking, inquiry-based questions) Science (designing questions)

Students work collaboratively across subject areas to create and communicate a position they personally develop on the issues of the vanishing rainforest. The rainforest debate provides students with the need to understand multiple perspectives and write about and defend a position.

Curricular Big Idea Connections:
Social Studies (longitude/latitude, map skills; people studies); Literacy (persuasive writing and speech; essay writing; bibiliography, non-fiction); Math (bar graphs); Science (changing earth)

Students explore the solar system by examining the characteristics of each planet and then apply their understandings to find a viable alternative planet for human habitation. Using persuasive writing skills, teams make oral presentations and culminate with a podcast production.

Curricular Big Idea Connections:
Science (solar system); Literacy (notetaking, research, persuasive writing and oral presentation)

Students explore simple machines and their importance in our modern world. Students demonstrate an understanding of the principles of simple machines through Internet research, apply knowledge to look for real-world applications, and determine multiple uses of simple machines in a design concept, then apply the patent process on a simple machine invention to improve an existing product.

Designed to give a deeper understanding of the Civil War era, this unit focuses on Abraham Lincoln and his influences. Students will explore Lincoln as a person, his presidency, compare him to other presidents, and analyze lesser-known but important documents Lincoln wrote. Students will finalize the unit by delving into his position on slavery as they sort through historic information and draw their own conclusions.

Curricular Big Idea Connections:
Social Studies (Civil War/Slavery); Literacy (compare/contrast, summarizing; analyze)

The ultimate Magic Bus is departing from YOUR school on a virtual trip around the world! Using high-resolution aerial and satellite imagery, GoogleEarth provides students the visual ability to zoom to any part of the world. This free program will be the tool for students as they engage in a self-directed, self-paced, interdisciplinary game developed to intrigue students to use clues to navigate the world.

Curricular Big Idea Connections:
Literacy (research, key words, summarizing, notetaking) Social Studies (world history and cultures)

Students use tools to help identify possible careers while balancing family financial decisions. Students will focus on the future as they practice meeting personal financial needs, research and choose a job, select the size of their family, and embrace fate with the selection of “life cards.”

Curricular Big Idea Connections:
Math, Critical Thinking, Economics

i-Literature guides students through the experience of creating their own literary podcast to demonstrate their knowledge of a piece of literature, author or genre. Students write, produce and publish scripts in the form of a podcast delivered via the Internet to an authentic audience. This project can be assigned for a specific piece of literature/ author/ unit or as a culminating end of the term assessment.

Teachers are offered a variety of cross-curricular activities to share student reflections and knowledge of material from the book, The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd. Students may decide to delve deeper into the issue of racism, explore art as a form of communication, investigate bees and beekeeping, or plan a honey producing business.