PODCAST SCRIPT

Courtney:

Good afternoon parents and other listeners in the Kalamazoo area.  Our second grade class has been working on learning more about the topic of “local history” this year.  We first started the year out by learning the basics about what a community is.  Our students learned about industry, government, local attractions, and people that all make up the community of Kalamazoo.  If you recall, the students spent a day a few weeks back volunteering for a local animal shelter in order to have a deeper understanding of what it means to be involved in their community.  We also put on a school store earlier in the marking period in order for them to learn about goods and services.  Students sold, and bought desired items for tokens in which they could save to buy a larger item at the end of the unit.  Lastly, to wrap up our unit on community, we researched local attractions in Kalamazoo by having the students learn to use iPads at the media center.  Students used what is called a “hot list” which is a list of resources reviewed by the teacher.  This allows for students to get accurate information, while still enabling them to practice and learn how to research on their own.  These included places such as Western Michigan University, Wings Stadium, the Air Zoo, and Sweet Water Donuts.  As a treat to end the unit, the students got to enjoy some donuts from Sweet Waters.

Megan:

The next unit we discussed within the topic of local history was the actual local history of Kalamazoo.  Here students learned about local industry, founding government, and important individuals.  One of the recent activities students have been involved in was a tour of the downtown area.  Here they were able to listen to guest speakers or “experts” talk about the specific historical attractions in the downtown area.  These included the State Theatre, The Radisson Hotel, Kalamazoo Valley Museum and the Public Library.  We as educators contacted these experts before hand to ensure our students got credible information about our local history.  Another activity that we plan to do within the next week is a timeline.  Here our students will use pictures they captured on our tour of downtown last week, along with research on additional historical places and people to create a classroom timeline.  Each student will be responsible for either a historical landmark or person of Kalamazoo.  They will be expected to present their findings to the class after they have done their research and created a power point slide.  We as teachers, will also take these slides and make them into one power point for you as parents and the local community to see at our final showing at the end of the marking period.

Emily:

After students have picked either a historical landmark or person from Kalamazoo, and done the majority of their research, they will begin the end of process of our project.  Here students will create large posters that will contain all the information and photo’s they would like to share with parents and the community.  Outside of class, students will be responsible for making their character come to life, or building a replica of their landmark.  These will be used at our community gathering where the students will be set up in the gymnasium and presenting their findings to anyone who would like to hear about Kalamazoo’s local history.  At this point in the marking period, students will be experts on their landmark or person and be able to share this with others. As a class we will have also made a small replica of Kalamazoo's community.  This will be in the middle of the gymnasium at our final gathering for everyone to view. After this marking period, our students will have not only learned about new technology, but also how to work individually, as a team, and also how to collect information from outside sources as well as the internet to learn on their own.  By implementing project based learning, students will have gotten the chance to take the information from lessons and mini projects they have completed, and be able to transition this information from the classroom to real life situations.  Our goal is that they will use this knowledge in the future and continue to play an active role in the Kalamazoo community, and also have a sense of their surroundings.  Keep in mind, multiple lessons and mini projects have not been mentioned, but these are a couple of the bigger ones that lead will to our final gathering.  Come and join us Friday, June 7th at Arcadia Elementary School where we will be presenting information on Kalamazoo’s local history.  Punch and cookies will be provided so mark it in your calendars!