Interdisciplinary Literature Units
These units of study are wonderful ways of capturing a theme (Building Community, Leadership, Economics, Cultural Diversity, Religious Diversity, etc.) and showing students how each of their classes are connected. Students need to experience an umbrella theme in Social Studies, Math, Science, Literature, Gym, Art, Music, Theater, Dance, and even Lunch. So many pieces of literature lend themselves to drive this style of instruction. If I can offer one piece of advice, do not make this extremely "academic". Interdisciplinary units lend themselves to be more project based and less comprehension based. Applied content can have so much more of an impact on the students' understanding of a theme than trying to have them regurgitate comprehension facts. These units work best if you are able to dedicate an afternoon each week or even (if your schedule allows) a full week at the beginning or end of the nine weeks. It is a rather intensive unit (trying to give students enough time to read an entire book together and do activities will take some dedicated time). This page is going to be a very "organic" page. I would love to have your help, and create some units as a community of teachers. Please use the "Contact Me" to contribute your thoughts.
Theme: Building Community
Building Community is an essential unit to begin with. When you build a sense of community within your classroom, the rest of the year tends to run much more smoothly. Teaching students respect, trust, communication, accountability, responsibility, and teamwork are crucial to a successful classroom environment. Each lesson/ story/ activity needs to have to do with "Building Community".
Literature for use with this theme:
Hoot by Carl Hiaasen
Tangerine by Edward Bloor
Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman
Project:
PIZZA BOX COMMUNITIES
One the first day, the students will be given a scavenger hunt with pictures of pieces of architecture from their community. We will take the students in three groups (the number of middle school teachers we have) and mix the grade levels. It is important that the groupings for an interdisciplinary unit are multi-aged. This allows leads to develop and tends to remove the cliques. The students will need to see what types of buildings and organizations are needed within a community. It will also help establish the students understanding of streets, directions, vegetation, etc. Once the scavenger hunt is complete, we will pass out a pizza box to each student. Each student will have to design their own community within the box. The nice thing about the pizza box is that everything must fit in the box, and the lid must be able to close. Any building the students design, must either be taped only on one side so that it can be knocked over to lay down, or short enought to have the lid close. If a student brings materials in, the box makes for great storage. MORE TO COME....STAY TUNED!
Literature for use with this theme:
Hoot by Carl Hiaasen
Tangerine by Edward Bloor
Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman
Project:
PIZZA BOX COMMUNITIES
One the first day, the students will be given a scavenger hunt with pictures of pieces of architecture from their community. We will take the students in three groups (the number of middle school teachers we have) and mix the grade levels. It is important that the groupings for an interdisciplinary unit are multi-aged. This allows leads to develop and tends to remove the cliques. The students will need to see what types of buildings and organizations are needed within a community. It will also help establish the students understanding of streets, directions, vegetation, etc. Once the scavenger hunt is complete, we will pass out a pizza box to each student. Each student will have to design their own community within the box. The nice thing about the pizza box is that everything must fit in the box, and the lid must be able to close. Any building the students design, must either be taped only on one side so that it can be knocked over to lay down, or short enought to have the lid close. If a student brings materials in, the box makes for great storage. MORE TO COME....STAY TUNED!
