Spotlight on Powerful Practice: PBL in Kindergarten

Want to see what other teachers in Johnston County are doing in their classrooms?  Want to get innovative ideas from others across the district?  In this section, we'll spotlight powerful practices and how teachers throughout JCPS are embracing the vision of JoCo2020.  Subscribe to the blog to get updates directly to your email!

Project-Based Learning in Kindergarten

How many times have we thought to ourselves, "My kids will never be able to handle something like Project-Based Learning,"?  

What if we told you it's happening with some of Johnston County's youngest learners... in Kindergarten!  Prepare yourself, friends.  We found it, and we're sharing it!

It all started with 3 innovative risk-takers at Micro Elementary:  Kathy Mast, Ashley Myers, and Karla Britt.

"Honestly, I wasn't aware of PBL until someone from the county came and spoke at one of our meetings about it. Then I did a lot of research on my own. The more I researched the more I became interested in learning more and adding it to my own classroom instruction. Then our principal at the time spoke to our school and really promoted it and told us that we would have the support of the school to make it happen."

And make it happen they did.

The Driving Question

With a unit focus on pumpkins, teachers asked students to create the driving questions, based on their "wonderings" about the orange squash.  These questions drove their learning through the course of the unit.

The Launch

Students had no problems sharing with us their role in this unit, as heard in the video below:

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Once determining some of the things they already knew about pumpkins...

They officially launched the unit with a trip to the pumpkin patch.  Each student picked out a pumpkin to take back to class as they learned about the life cycle of the pumpkin. They used the opportunity to explore some relevant classification and data analysis opportunities, as well as gain stakeholder feedback (CCSS Math K.MD.B.3).

Each class then determined which part of the pumpkin's life cycle they would be (seedlings, the vine, etc.).

Investigation

Students began to use their new knowledge of pumpkins to begin answering some of their driving questions, while also building their research skills (CCSS ELA-Literacy.W.K.7 & 8).

Students were in the process of creating their own pumpkins during our visit.

Completed pumpkins were then added to the hallway exhibition, showcasing the entire life cycle of a pumpkin.

Students continued their research and investigation of their own chosen pumpkin in their Pumpkin Research Journal (CCSS ELA-Literacy.W.K.2 and CCSS Math K.MD.A.1).  

Previously...

Students' previous PBL unit focused on Community Helpers.  Students interviewed a multitude of professions around the community to understand their role and how they contributed to helping others.

Thoughts from the Teachers...

"We thought [PBL] would be a tough fit in Kindergarten.  But we realized it allowed us to do a lot of the things we loved anyway.  Kindergarten has always been PBL."

Q:  What is your biggest challenge?

"Time is our ongoing biggest challenge. We are still working on trying to 'overcome' it and figure it out. It is challenging because we feel there is a lot on our 'plates'. We have PBL instruction time but we are still required to get everything else done. We have learned to not plan as many lessons within the unit in order to give us research and project time."

Q:  What has been your biggest surprise from the kids?

"The students have really anticipated what's 'coming next'. For example they really got excited and looked forward each day to find out what special person was coming to speak about their job [previous unit]. And with the pumpkin patch they have been asking each day what they were going to get to do with their pumpkins that day. 

Q:  How have parents responded to your approach?

"It depends on the year and the class, but this year it seems parents have been very supportive in helping with providing supplies and coming into the classroom to volunteer their time to speak and/or work with students. Each unit has a parent letter included and we have made an extra effort to keep parents informed, whether through the letter or ClassDoJo, about what their child is doing. We've also been inviting them to come in and see what we are doing."

Q: What is your next PBL unit, and what are you most looking forward to?

"Gingerbread Houses!"

Myers: "I am most looking forward to creating the 'life size' gingerbread houses. It is going to be tons of fun!"

Britt:  "I am most looking forward to reading and discussing all of the various Gingerbread books. As a teacher, just reading a book to my class brings such joy and sparks a love of reading for my students."