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“When students are motivated and they’re providing a service, that’s larger than any academic strength I can provide them as an educator. That’s going to change their lives.”
Welcome to the PBL Playbook, brought to you by Magnify Learning – where we put teachers back in their sweet spot. Make sure you follow us on Twitter: @magnifylearning, @askgiebs, @MissB103, #PBLPlaybook.
Josh and Andrea continue the PBL Project Blitz series where once a month, they highlight a PBL project by veterans in the PBL classroom.
In this episode of the PBL Project Blitz, our hosts sit down with 3rd Grade teacher Brittany Tinkler (@btink89) from Southport Elementary School ( @Southport_EI ) in Southport, IN. Tinkler shares a project she completed with her students called “Keep Indy Warm,” an initiative for students to help support the homeless community in Indianapolis by making blankets, writing letters, etc. to give out in preparation for the cold Midwestern winter. She highlights the community partners used throughout this project and their impact on her students, as well as the voice and choice provided in each part of the project.
Stay tuned for more awesome projects as the PBL Project Blitz series continues every month!
Show Notes
*PBL PROJECT BLITZ EPisode 19 FULL SHOW NOTES
Resources & Links Related to this Episode
Related Blog: Tis The Season for Giving: How PBL Gives to Others
School: Southport Elementary School -Southport, IN (@Southport_El)
PBL UNIT OVERVIEW:
PBL Unit Name: Keeping Indy Warm
Grade & Subject: Elementary-3rd
Summary: The issue we addressed in our problem statement and that ultimately drove this project was grounded in research about the statistics of homelessness in our very own community. Southport Elementary School is located near the city of Indianapolis which, according to Holly Hays from the Indianapolis Star, contains 1,567 individuals who are currently homeless. This number, which is inclusive of men, women, and children, is actually a dip from previous years. It is not unlikely for students at Southport Elementary to see people living homeless on the corners near their homes and at the stores they go shopping at.
Standards:
Math: 3.M.5: Find the area of a rectangle with whole-number side lengths by modeling with unit squares, and show that the area is the same as would be found by multiplying the side lengths. Identify and draw rectangles with the same perimeter and different areas or with the same area and different perimeters. 3.M.6: Multiply side lengths to find areas of rectangles with whole-number side lengths to solve real-world problems and other mathematical problems, and represent whole-number products as rectangular areas in mathematical reasoning. 3.M.7: Find perimeters of polygons given the side lengths or by finding an unknown side length.
Process Standards for Mathematics: PS.5: Use appropriate tools strategically. Mathematically proficient students consider the available tools when solving a mathematical problem. These tools might include pencil and paper, models, a ruler, a protractor, a calculator, a spreadsheet, a computer algebra system, a statistical package, or dynamic geometry software.
Social Studies: 3.1.4 Give examples of people, events and developments that brought important changes to your community and the region where your community is located. (research the YMCA, compare then to now and how it used to be for homeless people)
Reading: 3.RL.2.1 Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers. 3.RL.3.2 Distinguish personal point of view from that of the narrator or those of the characters. 3.RN.2.2 Determine the main idea of a text; recount the key details and explain how they support the main idea 3.RN.3.2 Identify how a nonfiction text can be structured to indicate a problem and solution or to put events in chronological order.
Writing: 3.W.4 Apply the writing process to – • Generate a draft by developing, selecting and organizing ideas relevant to topic, purpose, and genre; revise to improve writing, using appropriate reference materials (e.g., quality of ideas, organization, sentence fluency, word choice); and edit writing for format and conventions (e.g., spelling, capitalization, usage, punctuation).
Driving Question: How can we, as third graders, help spread warmth and joy to our homeless community this holiday season?
Entry Event: Amazon Homeless Video & Entry Event
Community Partners: Wheeler Mission, Indianapolis Fire Department
Scaffolding: The Little Match Girl (Children's Book)
Rubric: Keep Indy Warm Rubric
End Product: Students created blankets, which were delivered to homeless people by the Indianapolis Fire Department.
Students helping firefighters distribute blankets to the homeless.
One of the blankets made by students.
