"How did the learning experience impact you and your practice?"

Today's work started with inputting units that were still housed in FileMaker Pro, but not on our map. We, then, formatted the map so that all the units had the same components. This was a little tedious, but helpful , especially to present the 4th Grade Social Studies Program to our newest teammate, Elizabeth Charnas. She wasn't able to attend in person today, but we were able to Zoom at the beginning and end of the work session. Elizabeth added her past success with teaching 4th grade Social Studies, as well as her integration of Service Learning projects and the topic of food literacy. Simone and I reflected on the years passed and how different they each were, and then highlighted one or two essential question that most resonated with our most recent lessons. This exercise allowed us to see the common threads of our unit, which resulted in choosing an essential questions to focus on all year. We will share that we will continue to ponder "How does power influence the rights and experiences of people?" with our social studies students all year. We finished that day connecting, again, with Elizabeth to review and reflect on what each of us added/revised/questioned in our Curriculum Map. We strategized next steps, such as contacting potential field trip organizations, as well as plan for a Summer Grant, so that we can all work together in person to investigate our social studies class schedule and start a plan for the team's work ahead to insure a rich social studies experience for our rising fourth graders. This day set up our team for a successful year of planning together (including every team member's curriculum knowledge and experience), as well as allowed us to reexamine our units with a critical eye.

4th Grade Curriculum Map