Over the past few months, I soon realized what a special group of learners were in my 5th period! 27 learners who came from various elementary schools, bringing with them a variety of learning styles and interests. One commonality amongst all of them was their love of animals. They loved our class "pet," which was a small stuffed Husky, named Wesson. Because of their love of animals, I began to think and create a mini-PBL, which would focus on rational numbers as well as their passion for helping animals.
After our entry event, learners were given the task of unpacking our standards. We created both an individual and class Knows & Needs to Know chart, which served as our daily checklist to create a fundraiser to help the animals in our community!
As we all know the days between Thanksgiving and Winter Break are filled with numerous activities that pull learners out of our classrooms. With our task to create a fundraiser to help our local animal shelter, learners were motivated to come in before and after school to work on their tasks! Workshops focused on rational numbers in recipes (multiplying and dividing) and budgeting and creating toys for the animals (adding and subtracting).
Our class chose to take their final exam early, so they could work in their groups and make blankets for the shelter animals. I loved watching these learners come together for the good of our community!
