Elementary School Integrated Curriculum
Sample Theme: Ocean
Language Component
Language components of the theme ocean include reading, vocabulary, spelling, writing, and English grammar. Students read both fictional and non-fictional selections of literature (for example: Venus among the Fishes). Vocabulary words are taken from the content studied about marine life and environmental issues. Spelling words consist of one and multi-syllabic words that are covered throughout the unit of study. Students write about the areas of study within the theme through creative writing, research, reports, and projects. English grammar skills are taught using the content relating to aquatic features.
Math Component
Students are immersed in mathematics in a variety of ways throughout the unit of study on oceans. Students might graph the ocean floor, draw whales to scale, solve word problems related to content learned, classify marine life, and work with measurement and temperature.
Science Component
The subject of science lends itself to many activities within the study of oceans. Areas of exploration would include, animal classification, biodiversity, the food chain, pollution, weather including El Nino, storms, and natural events, habitats, coastal marine environmental issues, and endangered/threatened species.
Social Studies Component
Social Studies includes learning about map and globe skills. Specific learning would relate to navigation, the effects of world population on oceans, migration, longitude and latitude skills, geography - waters of the world, estuaries, and environmental compromises that people must make to live in environments related to water.
Music Component
A variety of creative approaches are included in the area of focus. Students sing sea chanteys, listen to sounds of the ocean, explore animal communication, and create rhymes and chants.
Art Component
Art is integrated into the curriculum through creation of posters of environments such as the estuaries, mobiles, 3-D projects and other visual components, and the use of colors specific to environment.
Health and Physical Education Component
Students can learn about health and physical education of both humans and marine animals in the study of oceans. Students might explore red tide and its effects on humans and animals. Other areas might include swimming, beach safety, the food chain, and learning about first aid for stings/bites of marine life.
Media Component
Students spending time in the classroom and library would need to use forms of media to enhance learning. Students are involved in an educational computer program called Voyage of the MIMI. Videos produced by the National Geographic Society, filmstrips, and cassettes enhance the study of oceans. Students also learn how to use the library as they learn how to do research.
Technology Component
Technology continues to expand as does our students' learning and experience with forms of technology in the school. Students access the Internet to gain more knowledge. Students communicate with specialists in the area of oceans around the world through the Internet and video conferencing to gather information for research on specific topics. Computers are also used for creative writing, research, and report writing. Classroom presentations on Power Point are utilized for projects.
Spanish Component
The Spanish language can be utilized within the theme study through vocabulary that the children are learning in other subject areas. Games, stories, and songs in Spanish enhance and reinforce content learned.
Field Trip Component
Field trips are an important part of the educational experience of every student. Many resources are available to students in Seacrest. Some resources include Sea World, State Parks, Miami Seaquarium, Naples Aquarium, the Conservancy, Briggs Nature Center, and Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve. Children seine and sift looking for marine life, and are involved in many beach labs through under the supervision of these specialists.
Speaker Component
Speakers bring the active world of knowledge to our students. Teachers invite a variety of speakers who include local environmentalists, local authors and artists, the Collier County Museum, the Conservancy, the State Department of Education, and our parents. The expertise these speakers have are instrumental to the education our students receive.
Cooking/Foods Component
A creative component of the theme oceans is found in this area. Students might host a Gifts from the Sea feast in which parents and students join for an afternoon of fun. Local trips to restaurants are part of the shared experiences in studying the ocean. Students can also create edible seafood creatures out of various foods.
Audio/Visual Components
Videos on the ocean, whales, dolphins, sharks, and coral reefs are some of the areas studies in a unit on oceans. When studying about environmental issues, videos on the crisis in the Keys is a valuable resource.
(C) Seacrest Country Day School 2007
Integrated Curriculum Middle School Sample Theme
Renaissance Festival
Language Arts Component: The writing of essays and poetry enhances the Renaissance Festival. Students use this opportunity to perform, present, and develop public speaking skills in front of a large audience. Students organize and participate in a Shakespeare drama production and Renaissance Fair. Students participate in reading Shakespeare's plays such as Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Julius Caesar. They create expository projects, and explore guilds.
Math Component: Students study mathematicians through the ages. The geometry focus is related to the architecture of the time.
Science Component: Students are involved in the study of scientific discoveries. The focus is on scientists such as Galileo and DaVinci. Time is spent exploring the sanitary conditions and diseases of the period.
Social Studies Component: Students study the history of the middle ages, marked by a humanistic revival of classical influences expressed in the arts and literature.
Fine Arts Components: Students are introduced to the arts of the renaissance period. Examples of typical pieces from the period are reviewed in preparation for the festival and museum trip. Students explore slides of art and hear music from the era.
Studio Art Component: Students participate in creating and recreating facsimiles of crafts and other artistic examples of the time. They study artists of the renaissance period.
Health and Physical Education: Students discuss health issues such as sanitation and disease typical of the middle ages. They also participate in reenactments of games and activities common to the renaissance period.
Media Component: Students use organizational skills to research the middle ages. Searches are made using electronic and print sources such as historical fiction and biographies of that period.
Technology Component: Students use technology facilities to research the renaissance and middle ages for typical crafts of the time and historical information.
Spanish Component: Students research Spanish explorers and the influence of Isabella and Ferdinand as they explore and study the Spanish language.
Field Trip Component: Students attend a renaissance fair in Sarasota. Through this experience they become immersed in Medieval times, exploring costumes, foods, crafts, tournaments, feudalism, and many other characteristics of the time. Students attend a symphonic performance at the Naples Philharmonic Center for the Arts.
Cooking/Foods Component: Students explore typical foods and eating styles of the middle ages.
(C) Seacrest Country Day School 2007
Integrated Curriculum School Wide Tradition
Heritage Luncheon
Language Arts: Students write a well-organized descriptive essay that demonstrates their family traditions according to their cultural ethnicity.
Math: Students study the great mathematicians of history from various cultures such as Asian, European, Middle Eastern.
Science: Students explore the genetics of nationality. They classify their physical characteristics in relation to the physical characteristics of various nationalities.
Social Studies: Discussions are held on languages and cultures of other countries. Students compare and contrast likenesses and differences and the acceptance and respect of others.
Fine Arts: Students spend the course of the year studying a variety of traditions from such cultures as Greek, Islamic, Roman, Inuit, South American, and Western European.
Studio Art: Students explore and create pieces that reflect personality and cultural background.
Health and Physical Education: Students play bocce and European/team handball.
Spanish: Students explore the traditions of Hispanic cultures in relation to cultures of their heritage. They explore typical Hispanic menus and diets of other cultures.
Learning Strategies: The Media Specialist shares storytelling experiences related to her Cajun heritage and encourages students to create and tell stories of their own. Students explore the origins of folk tales from other cultures.
Technology: Students collect information for the various grade levels and create heritage luncheon menus for guests attending the luncheon. Students research heritage-related websites and create banners reflecting their individual heritage to display in the hallways.
(C) Seacrest Country Day School 2007
