Leaf Project - Curriculum Guide
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Aim Rationale Audience & Pre-requisites Subject-matter Objectives
Instructional Plan Materials & List of Resources Evaluation Assessment Supplemental Activities

Aim:

The aim of this project is to help young children and their parents learn through hands-on exploration.  This online module is part of an engaged learning project that explores the topic of leaves.

Rationale:
The prekindergarten philosophy is rooted in the practice of hands-on learning.  Young children construct knowledge in a way that is comfortable for them using a variety of intelligences.  Children are most comfortable and learn a great deal during play.  Usually, at the beginning of the school year, parents question this practice because it is unfamiliar to them.  They are deeply concerned about their child's education.  Generally, parents fall back on the way they were taught to gage whether or not their child will be successfully educated.  For most parents, this means sitting at a table practicing ABC's and so on.  Well, we practice ABC's in our classroom, but we do it in many different ways.  Parents need to engage in hands-on activities with their child in order to begin to understand play-based education.  Children become comfortable with a new school setting when their parents are involved in their classroom activities.

Audience & Pre-requisites:
This module is intended for pre-primary and primary aged children and their parent(s) or caregiver(s).  All participants should know how to move a mouse and locate the "Back" key in their browser.  Staff will assist participants with these if needed.  Parents and caregivers should be able to read text on each page and follow a link.

Subject-matter:
Four concepts on the topic of leaves will be explored.  We will begin the module by looking at a variety of leaves and how leaves change.  Then we will shift to leaves on trees and end by looking at apple trees.

Objectives:
The objectives for this module is aligned with State Goals and Chicago Academic Standards.  You can view them by clicking here.  These goals and CAS's have been tagged in Infusion Exchange.  Students and parents will be able to:
  • locate different types of leaves and complete Activity 1
  • see the differences in the color of leaves and complete Activity 2
  • name leaf as part of a tree and complete Activity 3
  • recognize that apples come from trees and complete Activity 4
  • value this hands-on learning experience and complete About the Authors

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    Instructional Plan:
    This module is part of a project that involves activities that will take place in the classroom, at home and other locations.  The following is a list of the base activities that will occur.
  • The project will be introduced just as the fall season starts by adopting a neighborhood tree to observe
  • Art, Math, Language and Science activities will follow and the first section on Looking at Leaves will be introduced.
  • We will build a leaf collection in the classroom as we start the Leaves Change section
  • Story books about trees and home activities will continue as we explore Leaves on Trees
  • We will end our project with Apple Trees, visit the County Line Orchard and make apple pies

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    Materials & List of Resources:
    A computer with an online connection, art, science, and math materials are needed and may be provided by the classroom teacher.  Connection to the Chicago Public Schools intranet is needed to view this module in Infusion Exchange.  The list of resources is ongoing, please click here to view.

    Evaluation:
    To evaluate the effectiveness of this module I will use the comments of parents and students on the About the Authors page.

    Assessment:
    I will use three sources for assessment.  Each activity will be used to determine if participants gained a beginning knowledge of leaves.  Comments on the About the Authors page will be used to determine if participants value hands-on learning.  Lastly, I will use my reflections of this year's project to last year, which did not use the online module.

    Supplemental Activities:
    There are various activities that you can do during this project or to extend it.  Click here to view some of the activities you can try with your pre-primary or primary students.





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    last updated 9/99, E. Fabiyi