The Upper Pod teaches children between the ages of 10 and 12 years old. At this age, girls begin to have a growth spurt and are often taller than the boys. Boys may begin their growth spurts near the end of their time in the Upper Pod. Friends and acceptance within peer groups become increasingly important in 5th and 6th grade. Peer pressure can be a struggle. However, overcoming peer pressure is a part of the social skills that are conveyed and demonstrated to the Uppers. Children at this age desire more independence and they also desire to be leaders and mentors to their peers. This can be seen mostly in content classes when students have the opportunity to become teachers to their fellow classmates and help them to better understand and learn the various topics.
The overall goal of the curriculum in the Upper Pod is to reach all students through the incorporation of multiple intelligences in daily lesson plans, assignments, and project-based learning. The organization, planning, and thinking about abstract ideas are also skills that are continued to be developed in the Upper classes. In order to meet students' cognitive and emotional needs, we aim to foster independence by having students complete weekly independent assignments. Students are given independent time daily in order to work on projects with their classmates as well as complete homework and/or obtain extra help from a teacher or an aide. They must balance weekly assignments with nightly homework and keep track of everything in a daily planner.
The Upper Cultural classes use a rotating curriculum that spans from the earliest civilizations starting in 3500 B.C with Ancient Mesopotamia, to Ancient Egypt, Ancient China, Ancient India and Persia, Ancient Greece, and Ancient Rome, ending with Europe in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance Period around the 1600s. Each civilization unit has several student briefs. These briefs contain the core content and are presented to students prior to the hands-on activities for each one of the civilizations studied. While the goals of these activities are to create excitement and spark interest in further study, they have clear objectives and are also firmly based on the Common Core Standards for Social Studies.
Encouraging teamwork, creativity, intelligent reflection, and decision making during these activities will inspire students to explore the ancient world. At the end of each civilization unit, there are post-activity discussions about the experience gained during the activity as well as extending student knowledge to make connections to the world around them.
The variety of classroom simulations and projects that students participate in regularly involve all five senses and allow students to choose the learning style that is best for them. This is also where Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences is incorporated into the curriculum to showcase student strengths and develop the intelligences students are least comfortable with. One example of how we work with the MI theory is in the way individual student projects are assigned. Individual student projects are chosen solely by each student, not the teacher, through a “project menu”. The menu includes a number of different projects that can be completed by the student about a topic or unit of study. An example of a Cultural project menu is the choice of making a map of Ancient Mesopotamia locating and labeling empires, city-states and physical features of the region (logical-mathematical, spatial), making a poster about the Sumerian Ziggurat of Ur (linguistic), performing a dramatization of the Epic of Gilgamesh (bodily-kinesthetic and linguistic), writing a song or rap about the early inventions and contributions of the Mesopotamians (musical), creating an illustrated timeline of Mesopotamia (linguistic and spatial), research and writing in cuneiform (linguistic and visual/spatial), or writing a Code of Conduct on a clay tablet representing the Hammurabi Code (interpersonal, intrapersonal, and linguistic).
In addition to our study of World History, Upper students also participate in JA BizTown as part of our mission to integrate real-world studies that focus on work readiness, entrepreneurship, and financial literacy while running BizTown for the day. This also gives students an opportunity to showcase their strengths and develop additional strengths from their experience.
Prior to going to Biztown students are introduced to the coordinating lessons that will get them prepared for the job that they will be responsible for. The teaching strategies that are used address multiple learning styles, are cross-curricular and are aligned with the Common Core Standards. Students are exposed to concept definitions, cooperative learning activities, role-playing, writing prompts, webbing and other contemporary methods to actively engage students. Many of the strategies also augment STEM education through engagement in inquiry, logical reasoning, collaboration, and investigation. There are many STEM-based jobs and careers represented in JA BizTown as well.
The Upper English Language Arts (ELA) program is based almost entirely around novel units. Within the units, students study close reading skills, writing, spelling, and vocabulary. The three novel units are aligned with Common Core Standards. We also use Houghton Mifflin grade-level grammar books and workbooks to teach specific grammar skills. Students incorporate their acquired skills into writing assignments within the novel units. Upper classes are also required to read one book per month and either write a book report or complete an alternative project. Student progress is monitored through the use of portfolios, rubrics, CDT’s, DIBELS, projects, exit tickets, homework, self-reflection, quizzes, and tests.
Multiple intelligences are incorporated into ELA in many ways. Twice per year students engage in outdoor lessons, utilizing the surrounding environment to learn ELA skills, these lessons cater to the development of the naturalistic intelligence. During grammar lessons, students may play games, listen to and sing songs, or watch videos to help us with grammar skills. Spelling and vocabulary multiple intelligence choice assignments are completed for homework and students play a variety of games that provides access to every intelligence. Every other book report is a multiple intelligence choice assignment as well. Students can choose which intelligence will best showcase their knowledge of the book and get creative! The novel units are full of opportunities for students to visualize ideas, work in cooperative groups, draw to show understanding, and self-reflect on their own learning. We are up and moving, switching activities several times within a class period to keep a maximum level of engagement.
The Upper Pod continues with the Common Core Standards aligned math curriculum, Everyday Mathematics, which allows students to engage in activities that address many of the intelligences in their daily lessons. Some of the kinesthetic and interpersonal activities that the students explore mathematical concepts through are building kites, designing sports complexes, and gathering and analyzing data from campus. Everyday Math utilizes materials such as pattern blocks, unit cubes, rulers, yardsticks, measuring tapes, and fraction circles. The program also provides students access to digital copies of reference books as well as homework.
Student learning is monitored through the use of end of unit tests, however, student learning is also monitored through the use of projects, both individual and group-based projects, that also includes the added aspect of student self-reflection on their work. During every unit, students participate in a student-directed group mini-project that allows the students to use the concept that they are learning in a real-world setting. Students are given the opportunity to arrive at a solution on their own first, after this is done they discuss the various ways in which the project could have been solved, and finally students are given the opportunity to reflect on which method they initially used and how, if at all, they would go about solving the project differently after the whole group discussion. All of the word problems students work with are real-world based and put into a context that the students can relate to.