5th Grade PBL: An American Revolution Museum

BCS 5th graders recently completed a Project Based Learning unit (PBL) where they were tasked with designing a museum experience about the American Revolution. The PBL’s driving question was: “How can we, as artists, create a museum experience that connects our community with the people of the American Revolution?”

When designing the driving question, the fifth grade teachers purposefully included the word “people” to encourage the students to get into the mindset of the people of the American Revolution. By considering those who initiated and fought in the war, the students are better able to develop empathy for their experience and understand the society in which they lived.


Utilizing the design thinking process, the fifth graders interviewed students in other grades to hear different perspectives on what makes a fun and educational museum experience. Based on the feedback they received, each student brainstormed ideas on how to present the American Revolutionary War in a museum setting. Students then chose one idea to focus on and built a prototype of their idea. When finished, they presented their prototype to classmates and received feedback on their design.

Some students struggled with not knowing what their end product would look like. “Students often start the process with ‘is it OK if…,’” says fifth grade teacher Jessica Morgan. “I always respond to this inquiry with, ‘I don’t know, what do you think?’ I want the students to own their design process. I encourage them to refer to the driving question if they feel unsure about their ideas. In the end, there are no wrong choices or presentations. As long as the student answered the driving question, they have succeeded. The way in which each student does this will be different and that is part of what makes the end results so exciting.”

Specialist teachers worked closely with the students on this PBL, helping the students to integrate art, drama, and music into their exhibits. In art, students examined political messages from the time period and developed their own political cartoons to encourage or discourage someone from participating in the Revolution. In drama, students practiced speaking from different perspectives to understand how to portray a person from the Revolution. In music, they composed original pieces of music reflecting the musical style of the time period. 


The students were free to choose how they wanted to present their final displays as long as they were historically accurate and connected the museum audience to someone from the Revolution. Some students made paintings about the Revolution, some wrote memoirs using the perspective of someone from the time period, and others created scratch games or board games to explain specific events in the war. A few students even integrated their drama skills and produced a skit about the people of the Revolution.

The museum opening was a well-attended event bustling with parents, staff, and students. “The variety of displays the students created are impressive. It is amazing to see what fifth grade students are capable of accomplishing,” said fifth grade teacher Mr. Villaluz. “These exhibits are the culmination of everything the students have learned about project-based learning at Bullis and this incredible event is the result of what happens when you give students a say in their learning process.”

PBLs and FLGs Presented By BCS 5th Grader Kelly Yang

Our very own 5th grader, Kelly Yang, wrote and presented this amazing speech at the K-5 Parent Information Night earlier this week.  Kelly explains FLGs and PBLs in such a clear and understandable way that we felt we had to share!

Hi, I’m Kelly Yang, and I am in 5th grade. I have been at Bullis Charter School (BCS) since Kindergarten and I have enjoyed my experience here.This school has helped me to learn a lot, develop important skills and become a more well-rounded person. My favorite part of classwork is when we get to participate in things called PBLs, which stand for “Project Based Learning”.



Each year, we get to do several PBLs which help us to learn and remember better. For example, last year, I designed a habitat for a lemming and a vole. We used design thinking and were able to use the laser cutter and materials from the maker space to create our animal habitats. 


 
PBLs are very special because they cross over learning into several different subjects. For example, in 4th grade we had a Mission PBL. Students decided whether to design a Presidio, a Pueblo or a Mission . We used Lego Digital Design, a cool computer program to create the initial design. We used math skills that we were learning to figure out how large or small our buildings should be, and also used art techniques to figure out colors and the final design. However, the entire project was part of our Mission Unit in Social Studies.



PBLs are usually done in groups with other students so you need to have good teamwork and patience. I really enjoy PBLs because they are social, and I enjoy sharing ideas and collaborating with others. PBLs help me to think creatively and have an easier time remembering information.



Another cool thing that we get to have at BCS are things called FLGs or “Focused Learning Goals”. Students and teachers work together to create unique goals for each student. 



I think FLGs are important because we are not just going through the year, hoping for the best. We are actually striving for concrete and measurable accomplishments. We have a defined FLG for every subject including math, writing, reading, content and personal goals. 



This year, my FLGs include practicing to become a faster sprinter (my  content goal), writing a chapter book (my personal goal), or making less than 10% careless errors in math (my math goal). Every month, my parents, teachers and I look over my FLGs to help me make sure I am on track with my goals. This year, we are using an application called Fresh Grade to help track our goals. We use ipods to take videos or pictures and post it on Fresh Grade. We are also able to add comments to keep track of our progress. 



Some years, I have achieved all my FLGs and other years, I have not. But that’s OK! Part of the experience here is to help me understand how to achieve goals and avoid mistakes, and learn when things don’t go according to plan.


I think BCS is a great, the learning here excites me. Since my first day here, I have loved coming to this school every single day. Thank you!


7th Grade Poetry Slam at BCS

Our 7th graders recently finished a PBL in which they explored the driving question, “How can we move people through poetry?” The culminating PBL event was a poetry slam, an opportunity for every single 7th grader to perform an original poem. For most of our students, this was their first time participating in such an event.

Teachers live-tweeted the slam and invited audience members to provide students feedback through surveys within Twitter - check out the stream here! Students’ poetry covered a range of emotions and topics. It was inspiring to watch and listen to our students finding their voices and speaking their truths.

As a result of this PBL, many more students have expressed an interest in poetry and a desire to continue writing and performing. They may even initiate a middle school poetry slam club!  

This creative group of students will be back on stage to performance A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the end of intersession. This is another opportunity for our 7th graders to plan and execute a unique performance.  We can’t wait to see what they create!

Sharing Best Practices at the CCSA Conference

In March, several representatives from BCS presented at the annual California Charter School Association Conference in Sacramento. 

Jessica Lura, BCS Director of Strategic Initiatives and Partnerships, and Kristina Plattner, 6th grade teacher, presented a session entitled “Deeper Learning Through Project-Based Learning and S.T.E.A.M.”, sharing examples from the BCS program and how these innovative, rigorous units facilitate a deeper conceptual understanding of content for our students. 

Seventh grade humanities teacher, Lisa Stone, who was one of only 200 teachers from throughout the country selected by LearnZillion to write curricula for the new common core state standards, introduced this free high quality resource to other California educators. 

Wanny Hersey, Superintendent/Founding Principal and Emily Nelson, BCS Communications Director, presented a session entitled, “Making Your Data Come Alive”, sharing what data are collected at BCS, and how these can be desegregated/analyzed, used to improve instruction and student outcomes, and can paint a vivid picture of a school’s success. 

Student Perspective: 6th Grade Survey Project

Written by Guest Blogger and 6th Grade Student Elena A.

On the last week of March, the sixth grade started a survey project. Even though it wasn’t a PBL, it was an add-on for one of our math units about statistics and graphs. Dr. Gross, Mr. Gross’s wife, is a former senior research director at GfK - a company who gave us the opportunity to send out a survey they had already invested money in. GfK is a survey company that surveys people from all over the US. The sixth grade was responsible for coming up with two topics to survey people on, then picking four subcategories for each overall topic.

After a whole grade discussion with Dr. Gross, we were able to brainstorm and pick main topics and sub-categories. After writing up all our ideas on the board, we started ruling out the ones that seemed impractical. Dr. Gross came to the decision that our survey itself would be in an entertainment category. The two main ideas we chose were movies and music. Our subcategories for music were frequency of listening, types of music, how you listen to music, and live music performances. Our underlying questions for movies were types of movies, frequency of watching, people you watch movies with, and how you watch movies.

Taking these sub topics, each class split into groups of around three people to make a survey question for each sub topic. After we finished that, Dr. Gross would check them and send them “into the field.” People that are on the survey list who didn’t receive a survey in March were sent one class’s survey questions. The people on the list range from 13 year-olds to 105 year-olds from different ethnic backgrounds.

We were successfully able to send them out, and once we got our survey answers back, all three classes were able to compare their data and come to conclusions about America’s music and movie culture.

Survey Results:

• A total of 1085 respondents completed the survey
• Most people watch action/adventure movies- about 25%
• Most people watched movies with family or romantic partners- about 40%
• Most people watched movies on their home TV- about 80%
• Most people listen to pop or rock music- about 35%
• Most  people have been to a live music performance (depends on definition)- about 80%
• The number of Hispanics who responded to the survey was high- 45%
• Mostly women responded to the survey - 70%
• The answers were affected by how the question was written

Second Grade Students Showcase Their Leatherback Sea Turtle Projects

Leatherback Sea Turtle conservation is an around-the-clock effort for the Leatherback Trust (LTL) located in Playa Grande, Costa Rica – where our sixth graders travel annually to learn about and participate in the research and conservation of this endangered animal.

Over 3,000 miles away, BCS second graders engaged in their own endeavor to help save the leatherbacks, beginning with a teacher-run field trip to Half Moon Bay in October to learn about the lifecycle of the leatherback sea turtles. 

Among the many activities that day was a relay race where students recreated the lifecycle stages of a leatherback sea turtle by first dragging their bodies across the beach with their front fins, then digging a hole in the sand, maneuvering to get the eggs into the hole from their backpack, and finally covering up the hole (all with fins on their hands the entire time!). 

This highly engaging field trip helped provide students with ample background knowledge before they started their Leather Back Sea Turtle Project Based Learning (PBL) and Design Thinking unit in which students worked in groups of three to explore the driving question “How can we, as citizens of the environment, design a way to protect the leatherback sea turtle?”

In order to best answer that question, students had to do research with books, articles, and videos where students learned how to take notes and highlight important information in a variety of expository texts.   For each stage of the life cycle, second graders worked together to identify specific threats that are currently dangerous for leatherback sea turtles:

Egg Stage: Extreme heat

Egg Stage: Egg poachers

Hatchling Stage: Predators

Juvenile Stage: Fishing nets

Coastal Feeding Stage: Plastic bags/trash in the ocean

Breeding/Migrating Stage: Oil spills

Nesting Stage: Habitat destruction

After identifying the threats, students began working with Mrs. Reed in the MakerSpace to begin the Design Thinking process.  The first step is to build empathy – which second grade teacher Ms. Greenstadt said came very quickly to her students.

“Seeing a lot of pictures and videos of leatherback sea turtles helped the students build empathy quickly, and they loved the idea of having the power to make a positive change in the world,” said Ms. Greenstadt.  “They realized that anyone could come up with a great idea that might help the turtles – even a second grader!”

Building on their empathy and knowledge of leatherbacks, students came up with solutions against specific threats facing the turtles, and were able to use materials like straws, cardboard, plastic, and paper to create a rapid prototype of their solution.

An early idea from a group included having a “hot sauce firing machine” to fire hot sauce into eyes of poachers.  Students rationalized that the hot sauce wouldn’t harm the poachers in a serious way, but it would be enough to prevent them from getting the eggs.

 

Another group designed a protective bubble for sea turtles to travel in that would protect them from getting caught in nets.  After receiving helpful feedback from the classmates, they changed their prototype from a plastic bubble to a comfortable towel raft, noting that the sea turtles may not like being in a bubble for very long.  The raft also included rubber spikes on the sides to further protect the turtles, but also not harming any other species in the process.  All students went on to design a 3-D sketch-up simulation to virtually test their prototypes. 

Students recently shared their PowerPoint and podcast presentations documenting all of the details of their projects with parents and visitors.  Below are a few examples of the tremendous work done by our second graders who are leading the way in global citizenship and innovation at BCS!

Wanny's Words - Math and the Common Core State Standards

By Wanny Hersey

Superintendent/Principal at Bullis Charter School

Schools across the country are shifting their instructional practices to align with the new Common Core State Standards (CCSS) that have been widely adopted by 45 states in the U.S.  In California, districts have begun in earnest to modify their programs to better align with the English Language Arts and Math standards that aim to narrow the scope of skills taught in each grade level while providing a deeper understanding that promotes critical thinking to better prepare students for the 21st century.

As you know, this type of rigorous, in-depth understanding in all subjects has always been an expectation for our students at BCS, and we are thrilled to see a national movement that is also aligned to that end.

The BBC recently hosted a parent education forum with Philip Gonsalves, Director of Mathematics Curriculum and Instruction at West Contra Costa Unified School District, who talks to educators and parents throughout the state about math and the CCSS.

During his presentation, Philip highlighted the main shifts in mathematics instruction and the “8 Standards to Mathematical Practices,” which are the underpinnings for all math instruction in grades K-12:

1.     Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them

2.     Reason abstractly and quantitatively

3.     Construct valuable arguments and critique the reasoning of others

4.     Model with mathematics

5.     Use appropriate tools strategically

6.     Attend to precision

7.     Look for and use structure

8.     Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning

As you can see, these practices are aimed at taking math instruction and learning from lower-level thinking (multiple choice answers, “drill and kill” instruction) to higher-level thinking (solving problems in multiple ways, requires non-algorithmic thinking).

At BCS, students use Everyday Math (EDM) in grades K-5 and progress to College Preparatory Math (CPM) in grades 6-8. Both programs are closely aligned with the CCSS, emphasizing deeper, conceptual understanding of mathematics and allow students to develop mastery through direct instruction, group problem-solving, and hands-on application.

Math instruction at BCS focuses on conceptual understanding to provide deeper learning opportunities at all grade levels

Our Leadership Team has been working with the Curriculum Leadership Council at the Santa Clara County Office of Education for the last 2 years to help lead the implementation of CCSS.  The team leaders have been providing workshops and teacher-to-teacher training to support our staff as they work to design lessons and assessments that are further aligned with the CCSS.  As you may have noticed, report cards for every grade level have also been re-written to reflect the CCSS this year.

Our team leaders noted early on that much of what we are doing at BCS, especially with our Project Based Learning (PBL) units, already integrate the CCSS.  Because we have teachers who are familiar with creating lessons that promote higher-level thinking, we have been asked to participate in local and statewide consortiums as educators in California work to update their curriculum instruction.  For example, we have teachers participating in the Silicon Valley Mathematics Initiative (SVMI) to work with researchers and school leaders to provide the most effective math instruction.  And a small group of BCS teachers are collaborating with teachers from Portola Valley School District in a lesson study – an opportunity to design a lesson together, observe the other teachers deliver the lesson, and then provide feedback for their peers.

If you would like to learn more about what BCS has been doing in the area of CCSS, please attend our board meeting on Monday, January 6, 2014. 

First Week at BCI!

Our 5th graders got started in the MakerSpace with Mrs. Reed where they dived into design-thinking, learning how to empathize and rapid prototype in a real-world activity.  The vast choices of raw materials they were able to choose to work with unleashed limitless creative innovations among the students.

Fifth graders tinker in the MakerSpace!

Next door in the FabLab@BCS, the 6th graders were prototyping as well!  Students interfaced with some of the latest technologies  - including electronic modules - and had an opportunity to ideate and test their unique creations with Mr. Malpica, our FabLab Director.

Mr. Malpica demonstrates how to use the electronic modules for students

In art class, Mr. Lipson brought history to life by having students make their own prehistoric rock art, which they had been studying as part of their social studies curriculum.

Mr. Lipson shows students how to carve designs

Meanwhile, 5^th graders brought logos to life while learning about 2-D vectors in Art class.  A few students designed new logos for the 3-Time Award Winning Bullis Kids News!

New logos for Bullis Kids News!

Teacher-Led Tech Conference Video

Here's a video of our teachers participating in the BCS/BCI Teacher-Led Tech Conference earlier this month!

Read more about the Teacher-Led Tech Conference in our earlier post.

3-D Prototype Trains - Made By Our Teachers!

Ms. Stone shows off her 3-D prototype!

Our staff members had a chance to experiment with new design software that will be in the FabLab@BCStoday.  Ms. Stone, our 7th grade Social Studies/ELA teacher, proudly showed off her 3-D plastic train - the "Stone Express" - that she made using a laser-cutting machine.  Ms. Stone said that she created the train by following a set of directions using a special design software program, and then with assistance, sent those plans to the laser cutter which produced her very first 3-D prototype.

"I am comfortable using technology, but I am not a designer, so it was a challenging project for me.  It was important for me to go through the same process my students will be going through this year so I could see all the adjustments and changes that needed to be made to the design before getting the finished product.”

Ms. Stone added, "I was working in a room full of other teachers, and when we saw the trains we all said - 'Whoa that is so cool!'  None of us can wait to share this with our students!"

Aptly named the Stone Express!

Teacher-Led Teach Conference at BCS!

As you know, BCS teachers are currently being locked out of their classrooms by the LASD board members.  While this has caused outraged throughout our BCS parent community, our teachers are not skipping a beat!

Teachers learn from Ms. Lura!

Today, all of our staff members participated in a BCS/BCI Teacher-Led Tech Conference as part of our annual two weeks of professional development leading up to the start of the school year.  Now that’s what we call being innovative!

Our talented staff members taught courses for their fellow teachers on topics ranging from “Blogging in the 21st Century Classroom” to “Assessing on the Go” in a series of workshops designed to highlight how some of the most effective technology tools such as Socrative, Doceri, Voki, and Edcanvas (among others) are being used to engage students andenhance BCS's individualized and blended learning models...all capitalizing on our most valuable resource at BCS and BCI - our teachers!

Check out the photo below to see our teachers leading the way in innovative teaching practices!

BCS In the News!

We’ve had so much good news today, we couldn't help but share it with everyone!

First, our Bullis Boosters Club (BBC) launched a successful summer camp last week to inspire confidence and promote enthusiasm for learning for students who would not normally have the opportunity to attend a camp in the Los Altos and Mountain View Whisman school districts.  Read more about their innovative projects and teacher collaboration in this Town Crier article.

We also had a wonderful write-up in Forbes Magazine, just released today, about our FabLab@BCS.  This article includes an interview with Superintendent/Principal Wanny Hersey and our FabLab Director, David Malpica, detailing the benefits of our partnership with Stanford University and how our FabLab can be used to truly make a difference in children’s lives.

And our incredible staff reported back to work this week after summer break.  Here is a picture of them collaborating, ideating, and creating some amazingly innovative curriculum plans for your students next year.

Ms. Lanzot and Ms. Stone collaborate on a new project

Ms. Cheng shares her project ideas with the staff

Design Thinking at BCS and BCI!

In preparation for our unique opportunity to teach students at BCI, over 20 of our staff members just completed two-days collaborating and creating units that integrate the Design Thinking process and enhance our existing PBLs, led by Marcy Barton, founder of ie21.org.  Marcy, who travels around the world teaching educators how to integrate 21st Century learning in the classrooms, commented on our impressive group of teachers at the training. 

"They are inspiring!  They are creative, productive, innovative - everything that Design Thinking is about, they've got it in spades!"

We couldn’t agree more!  You can hear directly from our teachers about their experience:  Mr. Gross tells us what Design Thinking projects he is already planning for his students next year, our new Art Specialist Mrs. Felder shares her enthusiasm about joining the BCS team, and Ms. Cheng explains why she is so excited about the upcoming school year.

A group of teachers from different grade levels/specialties collaborates on their first design thinking challenge!