This week parents of our fifth graders gathered with their children in the Tyberg Arts and Innovation Lab to view the Fifth Grade Climate Change Museum. Parents and students learned about climate change and viewed student-created exhibits including videos, green space landscaping prototypes, irrigation models and Prayers for the Earth. The Museum was made possible by a generous grant from the Legacy Heritage Fund and is the first in a series of exciting new initiatives to integrate Judaic studies with our existing STEAM program at Wise School.
Last summer, Project Studio teacher Jason Meth and Director of Technology Integration Judy Hoffman traveled to Hebrew University in Jerusalem to participate in the Legacy Heritage Teacher Institute, a Jewish Education Leadership program for teachers in Jewish day schools around the world. For their course of study, Ms. Hoffman and Mr. Meth wanted to focus on a topic that would be meaningful to students at Wise School – climate change seemed to fit the bill. Part of their work included developing a unit that would integrate across J-STEAM subjects – Judaic studies, science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics.
Work on the Museum began in November when fifth graders went on a scavenger hunt of green space at Wise. After careful observation, they discovered that, although Wise School appears green, the actual amount of green space is only about 15%…having more green space should therefore be a priority. As the students learned, more green space leads to happier and healthier humans.
After taking notes in their design notebooks under the direction of visual arts teacher Mrs. Navah, fifth graders created models to show how current areas on campus could be modified to include more green space. Simultaneously, students used slideshow and video editing software to create a public service announcement about climate change with Ms. Hoffman. As students worked on this project they realized that their Jewish values moved them to want to influence others to make better decisions about how we interact with our environment. As students explored Jewish text during Judaic studies class with Mrs. Mizrahi, they began to understand how Jewish values can be a source of inspiration to others, and how deeply rooted agricultural values and care for the Earth are embedded in Jewish culture. The final step in this process happened in Project Studio, where students worked with Mr. Meth to build a vertical garden that will be set up on Faber Field. This vertical garden will include native plants and a solar-powered irrigation system that will recycle rainwater. We will keep you posted on the progress of this project. In the meantime, take a look at some the amazing work the fifth graders created on our Wise School Weebly page: http://wiseschool.weebly.com/fifth-grade-climate-change-museum.html
One powerful outcome of all this was how students experienced J-STEAM subjects integrating into one cohesive unit of study. Congratulations to all Wise School Fifth Graders on your successful Climate Change Museum and to Legacy Heritage Teacher Institute Fellows Judy Hoffman and Jason Meth.
