After three months of analyzing the conflicts in Sudan, creating windmills, powering potato batteries, and studying the rich history of Colorado; Pagosa Peak Open School students grades 4-8 celebrated the culmination of these projects with the PPOS community before starting their Thanksgiving break.
The night started with PPOS teachers introducing concepts learned throughout each social studies and science project; priming the audience for what they were about to experience.
Students in Ms. Rue and Ms. Hamilton’s 4/5 grade class had spent the first part of the school year analyzing different perspectives throughout Colorado history. After camping in Creede and hearing from a local miner, visiting Mesa Verde and seeing the impact of Puebloan culture, and studying significant events and historical figures; the students got to share a wide variety of viewpoints during their wax museum display during the Showcase Night. Each student dressed up as a historical figure and shared the details of their character’s impact on Colorado.
“I got to study Emily Griffith who opened the Opportunity School in Denver,” Quinn, 10, said. “I really liked her because she made sure that adults and children had a place to learn.”
Students in middle school used two powerful stories as anchor texts to guide their science and social studies projects: “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind” and “A Long Walk to Water.” Through these projects, students were able to work through the engineering process to create their own windmills with the limited materials they had on hand (as did the boy who harnessed the wind), and build compassion and understanding for the Lost Children of Sudan before using this newly discovered perspective to create their own historical fiction stories.
Pagosa Peak Open School is a free, K-8 project-based learning charter school where students analyze complex concepts through hands-on experiences and expert interactions before sharing their learning with an audience.
PPOS seventh-grader Brenna shares the historical fiction e-Book she created with the PPOS community during her first Showcase of the year on Thursday, Nov. 17.
Fourth- and fifth-graders commenced their Colorado history project with the creation of a wax museum of important Colorado historical figures. Students studied individuals who had an important impact on Colorado and then dressed up as their historical characters to share their stories.
PPOS community members gathered before the Thanksgiving break to celebrate their students’ most recent projects.