EVERY Child Achieves!
What makes learning live in the hearts of your students?
What breathes life into school routines?
EPIC Adventure in the Classroom --
Little House in the Big Woods
"Laura Ingalls" visited our class on more than one occasion
When was the last time a famous character leapt out of the pages of a book and entered your classroom?
Do your students get excited about what's happening in class this week, and can't wait for what's coming the next?
Does your curriculum excite and stimulate all the senses every single week?
It's time for something better!
ADVENTURE IN THE LITTLE HOUSE IN THE BIG WOODS
Laura brings rag dolls and wooden whistles to children at the Sugar Snow Celebration!
Significant successes and achievements as a result of
The Little House in the Big Woods
EPIC Adventure:
- Students were excited about coming to class every day
- Increased retention
- Extremely high interest maintained throughout the year
- Safe environment
- Students understood and lived up to expectations
- Significant progress in writing/journaling, behavior, participation and comfort
- Students triumphed over self-consciousness and the fear of participating in front of others
- Students developed the ability to pretend
- Students bonded as a class & supported one another
- Students developed a sense of pride -- they knew what they were doing was important!
All this and more resulted from one year's
EPIC Adventure in a special ed classroom!
IMAGINE WHAT YOU MIGHT
ACHIEVE IN YOUR CLASS!
Children learn differently. All do not fit the logical/mathematical or linguistic mold many schools cater to. Don't all children deserve the best we can give?
I have sometimes wondered why the educational system has considered it ethical to give "gifted" students a motivating and attention-grabbing education, while delegating humdrum educational practices that are centuries old (i.e. "Teachers Lecture, Kids Conjecture" or "Lecture-Question-Answer-Forget!") to the vast majority of students who don't fit their mold of "gifted and talented."
A "mad scientist" visits children of many backgrounds and capabilities and invites them to marvel and explore the fascinating subject of their own brains.
Experience and *research have shown that all children learn differently, and that given a "brain-compatible" and engaging learning environment, the results will be that all children prosper. Not to say that they will all achieve the same level of expertise, but that as individuals they will each advance to a greater degree, and excel above and beyond their previous experience.
(*For research results demonstrating the effectiveness of a brain-compatible education based on Susan Kovalik's ITI model, see http://www.kovalik.com/extsummaries.htm)
MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPECIAL ED
Children in the special ed classroom where I work have varying levels of cognitive and communicative disorders including problems with speech, listening, reading, writing, and social interaction. These children may have issues resulting from birth defects and disease such as cerebral palsy, neurofibromatosis, epilepsy, poor eyesight, and other restricting disabilities, as well as mild to moderate autism and Asperger's Syndrome.
Our room is not designed to assist children with severe cognitive and health issues, but is provided as a supplemental education for children who are simultaneously integrated into a homeroom class.
Kids make a map of the route the Ingalls family made on their trip to town
Our classroom has children ranging in age from kindergarten to third grade. These children are "pulled-out" for speech, physical therapy, occupational therapy and homeroom at various times of the day which can be very confusing on the best of days.
Our multi-age classroom ranges from kindergarten through third grade.
Structure is vital for all children, but especially those who, like those with autism, don't transition well, and have issues with any kind of change.
GOALS
My goals are to:
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Present the development of an EPIC Adventure in a public school setting (specifically in a special ed environment)
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Share the results of our EPIC experiences, and our observations as teachers concerning the particulars of its effects on the children in our class.
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Provide examples of brain research and its application in our special ed class, and relate the outcome.
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Show that all children, regardless of background, would benefit from the experience of an EPIC Adventure
AN EPIC ADVENTURE GOES TO
SCHOOL
Stimulating wall decorations were the first aspect of an EPIC Adventure in our school!
A two-week long theme about pirates captured the students' attention long before the release of Pirates of the Caribbean!
During a two-week long theme about butterflies the kids observed real butterfly wings through microscopes and kept nature journals assuming the role of lepidopterists.
A Rainbow Year on Old MacDonald's Farm interactive wall in which children added plants, animals and weather changes throughout the year.
The very first day of school does the classroom say to the students: "Generic Learning," or does it say "Come Embark on ADVENTURE!"? Which would YOU choose?
A PICTURE IS WORTH...
Brain Connection: Design the physical classroom
to support long-term learning.*
Classroom Connection: Walls can teach and
inspire!
Related topics are grouped together to form an autumn theme
Children love to see their handiwork on the walls, too!
Spider and web quilt made by the children
Gingerbread men and reindeer quilt made by the children
Even the library invites teachers and students alike to live an adventure!
Detail of the illuminated manuscript at the library entrance
Steps toward a fully-integrated EPIC Adventure take time.
Begin with something memorable.
Yahoo! It's a rootin' tootin'
Wild West Adventure
To begin an EPIC Adventure at school, choose one or two principles of brain research and go from there!
Time Travelers to Colorado's Wild, Old West Immersion Wall
BRAIN CONNECTION: Intelligence is a function of experience*
Not only do students receive direct instruction, they live the information via real-life or immersion experiences! Instead of just answering questions about a topic, they will tell you about their experiences!
CLASSROOM CONNECTION:
Our special ed class began with many multi-sensory activities that all related to a semester-long theme about Colorado's Wild, Old West. Students "branded" paper cattle, held a "round-up" of the cattle throughout the school halls, and afterward ate a chuck wagon meal around a "campfire."
Branding a paper Texas Longhorn for Round-up!
Eating a chuck wagon meal around the "campfire"
*For more principles about the brain refer to: http://www.kovalik.com/overview.htm
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(c) 2011 Karen Kindrick Cox, Kindrick-Cox Unlimited LLC
