The Curriculum Committee braved a heat wave today with temperatures in the mid-90's as work continued on unit plans for Grade 6 MYP. Kate Dominique led the morning session with a detailed presentation on the next phase of the unit planning activity. We had a delayed start of 10:30AM today due to Senior Prom last night at the High School. The Committee continues to move forward in a very productive manner. The following are summaries prepared by teachers of the various subcommittees:Members: E. Barfield, V. Cassesa, A. Gomez, K. Kelly-Ynoa, M. King, R. Meyers and V. Ramos.
Area: Language Arts Literacy Grade 6
The Language Arts Literacy group created a design for the sixth grade thematic units of “Families and Communities” and “Meeting Challenges.” For each of these units the group developed and organized a detailed unit plan that included established goals, enduring understanding, essential question, goals/rationale and assessment. The group was able to work effectively and productively as the group dynamic was positive and pleasant. Each member contributed consistently and as a result, a successful unit was developed.
Members: Kevin Metcalfe and Damian DeBenedetto
Content Area: Social Studies
Grade 6
Today Kevin Metcalfe and I worked on The "big ideas" and essential questions for social studies, completing September through October. Today was productive in that we feel we got a good grasp on the direction we are taking and will be able to proceed in a smooth and timely fashion. We also discussed the possibility of meeting prior to the summer session to get a head start on writing the curriculum for Social Studies and to get Chris Munoz up to speed.
Members: Janice Shikhman and Beth Tomlinson
Content Area: Physical Education and Health
Grade 6
Our group worked on drafting deigns from big ideas. Our first draft was planning a 4 week health unit on good hygiene. The next draft planned a 4 week unit on what is good sportsmanship and how how recreational activities can foster cooperative learning in all areas of life.
Members: Roseangela Perez
Content Area: Science
Grade 6
I just wanted to bring you up to date with what the group happenings. Today we focused on the outer space unit and developed a big idea from which to further our planning. We developed concepts, established learning goals and created new and innovative forms of assessments. Today was great because the group was able to produce a interdisciplinary connection amongst various subjects. The discussion was motivating and productive. At the current time we are ready to move forth with Dec. and Jan. topics and themes.
Members: Isabel Bruni, Tania Trinidad-Payamps, Geidy DelaRosa
Content Area: Language/Language B
Grade 6
On June 7, 2008, we drafted a thematic unit based on concepts of the Learning by Design Textbook. We applied those concepts to the MYP unit. We completed a unit for grade 6th. We explored and came up with our own: Established goals, Enduring understanding, Essential questions, Big ideas, Predictable misunderstanding and errors, Goals/rationale
We brainstormed the areas of interactions and we came up with areas of interactions for this particular unit. Also, we included the summative assessments and culminating activities. Lastly, we linked our unit to the NJCCCS in the following disciplines:World Languages, Technology, Social Studies, Health and Physical Education
