All expeditions at Expeditionary Learning schools begin with a launch, a jump into what the students will be studying for the next several weeks or months. This experience looks different for every expedition but there are some common threads. Launches gives students something interesting and important to think about and pose a problem to ponder and to solve. The goals are to engage and excite students, to capture their attention, and to build background knowledge for the work to come.
This week, three of our classrooms launched new expeditions, including K-2’s launch of “What’s On Your Plate?” — an exploration into nutrition and healthy eating.
In K-2, a visit from the Cookie Monster instantly grabs the attention of every kindergartener, so when he asks, “What should I eat if I want to be more healthy?” the students want to help Cookie Monster solve his problem. After students shared their ideas (background knowledge) with Cookie, he asked them to draw him a picture. “Can you each draw me plate filled with the foods you think I should be eating? And please label each food so I can be sure to know how to eat healthy.” This plate serves as a pre-assessment. At various times throughout the “What’s On Your Plate?” expedition, students will be asked to draw a new plate for Cookie Monster, illustrating their developing knowledge about what constitutes a healthy diet.