Another Loved Lesson!

Just before we left for Winter Break, I had the opportunity to stop by Amy Effland’s sixth grade science class.  Amy’s class was about to begin a project in which they would be planning out an ideal city.  While the city they were to create would be a fictional place, the way in which they learned about it was anything but.  For this lesson, Amy had recruited a planner from Albemarle County to come speak with her students.  The planner brought a huge printout of all of the plans for developing Old Trail.  It had everything from the street layout, to the drainage plan, to the number and types of houses that would be on each lot and every other aspect of developing a community you could think of.  Every student in the class knows Old Trail—whether it’s a place they live or golf or shop or just drive through on the way home.  Bringing in this local connection immediately launched the level of relevance through the roof on this lesson.  Kids could look at streets they knew and picture what they may soon look like, some were even finding their houses and looking at them in totally different ways.  Amy’s lesson took something that could be a very difficult topic for students to envision and gave it meaning and relevance.  It was great to see that she tapped into some of the many community resources we have in the area.  Great work, Amy!