Each year, 3rd and 4th graders participate in original projects that arise from needs in our community. We believe that change comes from tackling issues in our own backyard, and it turns out connecting academic material to the "real world" enhances learning too.
Place-based education grounds student learning in the unique aspects of their location. Students explore global concepts through a local lens using their schoolyard, community, city and state to learn more about larger issues related to food systems and pollution, among others and the ways in which these abstract stories conveyed in the media impact their everyday environment.
This approach to learning strengthens their identity as citizens and agents of change as they engage fellow community members and learn ways in which they can participate in actions that affect real change.