Rm 1
Kindergarten

Todd Bohannon

Into the Woods

• I am an arachnologist. What does it mean to be a naturalist? (Spiders)
• Ecology of the Amazon Rain Forest… How does what we do affect it? Wood.
• Hoh Rainforest & temperate rain forests

Rm 4
Kindergarten

Crystal Sison

Our Big Backyard

• What is in our backyard?
• Dirt, soil, and worms
• How worms help us
• Maintain a worm bin and fieldtrips to backyards

Rm 5
First Grade

Mari Brockhaus

Our Big Backyard

• Drawing a map of our backyard each season with observations of what organisms live there. Completing the Weather science kit while observing the impact weather has on our backyards.
• Soil, native plants, and the Organisms science kit.
• Looking at what a "Backyard Wildlife Sanctuary" is and how to get there.

Rm 9
First and Second Grade

Julie Clayton

Puget Sound Near and Far

• Tide pools: ecology and species variety
• Orcas: anatomy and lifestyle
• Northwest connection to whales; baleine and tooth whales compare and contrast

Rm 13
First and Second Grade

Rebecca Rutzeck

Bees, Flowers, and Humans: Interconnections

• What is a bee? Anatomy, family systems
• Bee and human interconnections: pollination, beekeeping
• Our food and where it comes from: markets, tilth, pea patches, food journeys, local farms, grocery stores Food- where it comes from ….tilth, pea patches, etc.

Rm 2
Second Grade

Lori Fujimoto

Hawaiian Ukuleles and Sound

• Making an instrument; physics concepts of sound
• Reading lyrics and songs, learning to play a simple instrument
• Why is the ukulele important to Hawaiians—culture, history, geography

Rm 8
Third
Grade

Liz McCormack

Seasonal Change, Migration and Mythology

• How seasonal change affects the robin and the rufous hummingbird; longitude and latitude; ancient cultures and mythology to explain phenomena; investigations into creation myths, geology, constellations.
• Wildlife migration—individual research on a migratory animal
• Mystery Class (Journey North)—building student skills and understanding of earth’s daily and seasonal cycles.,” longitude latitude, science kits: rocks, mineralogy, geology, sound. Linguistic study of the English language
  

Rm 6
Third and Fourth Grade

Jo Vos and Sandra Brettler

How cultures interact with their environment

• Historical context: Northwest Coast Native Cultures; transportation, communication, economy, Keepers of the Earth, ecosystems and plant growth
• How we are influenced by the environment (Germs, Guns, Steel)
• Empowering ourselves to be keepers of the Earth

Rm 14
Third and Fourth Grade

Nora Scully

Keepers of the Earth

• Geology: study of rocks and minerals
• Life on earth: study of folk tales and ecosystems
• Our individual impact on the earth; how we can be good stewards of our physical and personal environment

Rm 11
Fourth and Fifth Grade

Steve Chaves

Ancient Egypt

• Carter’s Great Discovery (King Tutankhamun’s tomb); building background knowledge, research on an artifact of the tomb
• The Ancient Egyptians—literacy groups around historical fiction, creation of a play on Ancient Egypt
• The River Nile: flora and fauna of the Nile ecosystem; hydrology, land and water science kit
  
  

Rm 17
Fourth and Fifth Grade

Rick Lemberg

Making History

  Making History is a classroom simulation project in which the 5th grade students undertake the challenge of building a rich culture or civilization from scratch. Each culture begins with relatively few technological skills, similar to the way early humans lived tens of thousands of years ago. During the year, the game traverses thousands of years of cultural complexity and brings some of the civilizations from the Stone Age into a bronze or even an iron age.

  The challenge of the simulation is to cooperate as a team

• to create and develop a culture rich in diversity;
• to work with specific and limited natural resources;
• to trade and interact with other cultures; and to research, invent, and document the whole development in journals.

The game integrates history, anthropology, writing, drawing, geography and critical thinking in an atmosphere of creativity and research.  Developing a culture is a cooperative effort; every student is expected to contribute her/his part as the process unfolds.  The students celebrate their achievements and conclude the project with a presentation of traditional foods, stories, dances, and ceremonies developed by their truly unique cultures.