A group of Washington state fifth-graders have been documenting their lives during the coronavirus pandemic for a history project. Teacher Gabrielle Glim says the students became their own primary sources for this historic time of school and work closures, and have shared their experiences through art, poetry, photos, a graphic novel, charts and journals.
Related Summaries
Advanced Placement US History students from a California high school recently re-enacted key periods and themes in American history for a group of fifth-graders. The presentations, which covered events and notable figures of various eras, included songs and dances to help the younger students understand and relate the past to the world today.
Fifth-graders at a Seattle elementary school are researching 16 women in U.S. history as part of the "Women on 20s" campaign, an effort that seeks to depict a woman on the $20 bill by 2020 to mark the centennial of women's voting rights. The students were assigned one of the 16 nominated women and are writing arguments for why their nominee should be chosen for the U.S. currency.
Fifth-graders at a Minnesota elementary school have been combining science, art and literacy skills into a two-week Readers' Theater project. With the help of their science teacher and a playwright, students worked on their acting and writing skills as they collaboratively developed scenes to illustrate their knowledge on weather and chronicled their ideas during the process in journals.
Fifth-graders from a Vancouver, Wash., elementary school recently painted a nature-themed mural on a storage building to discourage vandalism. Students researched how other cities addressed graffiti and learned that murals are tagged less often by vandals. The students also talked with officials about public policies, including an anti-graffiti ordinance being considered this month by the Vancouver City Council.
Fifth-graders from Delaware City School District in Ohio have developed their writing skills by sharing letters about a book they read with senior citizen pen pals. The pen pals and the students read the same Deborah Wiles novel, "Countdown," about a 10-year-old child during the Cuban missile crisis. Students learned more as the seniors shared about their experiences during that time, and by reviewing videos and news articles in class. "The letters they were writing to the seniors were them putting all of these things together," teacher Amber Bauer said.