South Pier District Project
Through Project-based Learning Mosaic students develop solutions for tangible problems in their own community, while they are learning key elements of history, geography, and economics. The project kicked off with a Reconnaissance Mission in the South Pier district. Working in groups with armed with maps and iPads students documented the area with four key questions in mind.
Part 2 - Inside a Project Seminar - Storytelling Core Standards and Essential Questions
Core standards are taught with the use of essential questions. The overall course also has essential questions. For this year’s Storytelling seminar the course questions were:
Part 1 - Inside a Project Seminar -Storytelling Introduction
How did Ryan White change the world? How did mummification aid in the fall of civilizations (through the eyes of Anubis)? What was the reason the old kingdom of Egypt fell? How do miles and distance relate to real life? How did ancient Greece fall (from the perspective of a slave child)? How do families show emotions in similar ways (presented in both English and Spanish)? These are the driving questions that each student will answer in their Storytelling project this trimester.
Advisory - Friday Rituals
Mr. Bemis's Advisory play volleyball together in the gym.
Music Technology Presentation
Mosaic's Music Technology students used their iPads to create a cover of "I Gotta Feeling" by the Black Eyed Peas and presented their learning in a live performance for the Mosaic community at Town hall.
Flashlight Re-Design Project
This week in Mosaic Science, Mrs. Jesse's science class will be applying their knowledge on the Electricity Unit which started in December and consists of the flow of electrons through circuits. The Flashlight Re-Designed project is about the re-design and building process of flashlights meant for a specific purpose. The students will come together in groups of three to create and present their product in the form of a five minute sales pitch. After the class has presented, they will decide which product they would most like to buy and/or mass produce. During this process, students will be able to make connections between concepts presented in class and products created for everyday use.
Avoiding Collapse
Mosaic middle schoolers have been studying the elements that make up a civilization and what causes a civilization to fall. The students are comparing ancient Greece and Aztec cultures and then analyzing why those civilizations failed and what they could have done differently to avoid their collapse. The students will be splitting up into different groups of lawyers, judges, jury members and researchers hired by the lawyers, to present evidence of their case in court. Students will be applying a variety of skills that can also be applied outside of the classroom such as collaboration, providing evidence for a constructive argument, observing how our justice system operates, employing cause and effect arguments to explain history and the ability to back up an idea or opinion. After the debate, students will use the knowledge they gathered about past civilizations and apply it to the current Sheboygan community to make a prediction concerning our communities' future.
Project Seminar Share Out Morning - part 3
In Drawing and Sculpting Figures students spent the trimester developing drawing skills and forming figures. Figures included people, animals and anthropomorphic inanimate objects. Students chose an academic component of interest to them and then created a sculpture related to their learning. Some students formed animals and researched biomes and diets to create a space for their figures. Others chose anthropomorphic figures and created spaces for their figures from the books, films or myths. During Share Out Morning students spoke to their peers about what they had learned from the experience.
