THE SCHOOL BUILDING PROJECT

by Karen Schellert Wilson 

This project involved the study of a school building complex, which houses a school and a church. It was undertaken in the fall of 1995 by Grade 2 students at Strathcona Christian Academy in Sherwood Park, Alberta. Two teachers team-taught the project together.

Preliminary Planning

The teachers selected the topic of study based on the children’s interests and Topic A of the social studies curriculum in Alberta. The entire project developed within the building complex.

The teachers brainstormed their personal experience, knowledge and ideas in a school topic web. The web provided a basis for planning, developing and recording the progress of the project.

PHASE 1

The topic was introduced by showing the students a photograph of the outside of the school/church building complex. The children brainstormed ideas and experiences which took place in and around the building. As a result of the brainstorming session, a class web was developed and displayed. It was added to and referred to throughout the project.

The teacher told about a personal school experience and the children were encouraged to share their experiences through talking, drawing, writing, painting, and construction. The teachers were able to find out what the children knew and did not know about their school.

A letter was sent home to the parents to let them know that we were studying the school. We also suggested various ways in which they could contribute to the project. To bring phase one to a close, the teacher helped the children formulate questions about what they would be interested in investigating. A list of "Things we think we know about the building" and "Things we would like to know about the building" was developed.

Teacher’s Concerns

• How could we individualize the children’s learning according to their interests?
• What kinds of investigations would be meaningful for the children to work on?
• How could we investigate the many questions and areas of interest
• Who were our experts?

PHASE 2

The second phase of our project began with visits to various areas in and around the school building. Groups of children took a tour of the building, discussed points of interest and made field notes. Using a clipboard the children made observational drawings, began to measure, count, investigate and record information.

The children were interested in interviewing the school principal, the school and church secretary, the building manager, the bookstore manager, the librarian, and the custodian. The children discovered many valuable insights about the real world of the school and real people’s jobs.

The children who interviewed the librarian discovered that the library had about 10,000 books. The children made observational drawings of the computer, and the bookshelves.

A group of children were interested in finding out more about the school bus. A visit on the bus and an interview with the bus driver were arranged. The children made observational drawings of both the inside and outside of the bus. Fieldnotes and observational drawings of the bus developed into labeled diagrams, posters, paintings and a model of a bus.

With guidance from the teacher, the children began to represent the information of interest in a variety of ways. Posters, collages, labeled diagrams, stories, class books, models, maps, graphs and paintings were ways in which the children represented the information they had collected.

Using the 15 Year Celebration School Yearbook, several children developed a time line of the construction of and main happenings in the life of the school. The time line included the construction of the building, beginning of the school and when the grade two children involved in this project had started Kindergarten.

Stories such as Snowed in at Pokeweed Public School, What if the Bus doesn’t come? Lucy and Tom got to School, Too Many Chickens, and The First Day of School were read to the class during story time.

Several children were interested in comparing the Kindergarten and Grade 2 classrooms. A map of the Kindergarten and a comparison chart were areas of interest for several children. This was an excellent opportunity to introduce Venn diagrams.

A class book called People and Places in our Building was a piece of collaborative work to which everyone contributed. It was exciting to see the children’s interest and involvement as they planned and worked on their project work, either individually or in small groups.

Teacher Concerns

• The children showed interest in learning more about the school bus. Perhaps more time and guidance could have been given to study the school bus in more detail.
• How could the project work be made most meaningful and purposeful for the children?
• How could we have involved dramatic play as a way of representing experiences?
• Was our assessment of the project work detailed and comprehensive enough?

PHASE 3

Following 4 weeks of project work, it was time to arrange a culminating event for the project and celebrate the learning that had taken place. A collection of representations was assembled into a class newspaper. The class selected a name for the newspaper and decided on the sections, and articles to be included.

When the newspaper was hot off the press, the children were thoroughly interested in reading their published work. These were some of the children’s comments:

“You should read it Jesse, It’s good.”
“I’m in the Newspaper, look!”
“I’ll probably keep this for my whole life and show my kids after I get married.”
“Look! See! It’s by Craig and Mark. I wrote that! WOW!!”

Another way of celebrating the school building project was by displaying the project work at the upcoming parent-teacher-child conferences. The children’s creative interpretations were published in a second class book called, "If I were .... " The children submitted writing and illustrations that focused on what job they would like to have if they worked in the building. Some children wrote, "If I were a teacher..." or "If I were the principal...."

Teacher concerns for future projects

It would have been the teachers' preference to have the children involved with the actual layout and publication of the newspaper. Perhaps the newspaper would have been an excellent opportunity for parent involvement. How could parents become more involved in the project work?

Karen Schellert Wilson
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

To select another project click here

Posted: October 17, 1996