Projects
Extended projects can be some of the most memorable experiences of students' time in school. They offer a chance to integrate different skills and content. Plus, a well planned project allows teachers and students to improvise and take advantage of what's students find interesting and important right NOW!
Personal Finance: The Checkbook Project
or, How can I be out of money?!? I still have checks!!! There are two versions of what my class always called The Checkbook Project. One is an extended project built on every students’ dream: independence. The students have an income and need to research their living expenses from real life and real-time sources: newspapers, the Internet, flyers and car/real estate classifieds, etc....
Counting Bricks
I always liked to start the year with a counting project to promote number sense and place value skills. For many years my classes counted the number of bricks in the building. This was also intended to help students define, organize, and sequence the steps needed to do it. This is a picture of Maloney Magnet School...
Yarn and Line Designs
Disclaimer: this project also appears on the Geometry Page.
Making line designs is an excellent extended project for a 4th or 5th grade class. It integrates many skills and concepts, and students get to take something home they can display. A class can complete a line design, starting only with the center of a large circle on an 11” square of paper.