Treasure Boxes

Michelle Garcia & Vanessa Silva

           Description

As educators we find many ways to incorporate curriculum into the classroom setting with our past experiences, guidance from professionals, as well as by books and guides. This will allow our students to grow academically. In relation to the elementary science curriculum, students will explore physical characteristics of different species, diversity of the solar system, characteristics of sound, light, color and heat as well as many more aspects.
           

With that being said, the Gems Guide details many of the science competencies and objectives.  Treasure Boxes, our group project, allows students to engage in mathematical activities by giving them the opportunity to learn important science skills.  This unit focuses on students learning from previous experiences to creating new ones, in order to achieve academically and have a profound educational science background. 

The Treasure Box unit is enriched with a lot of mathematical content.  It includes sorting, making Venn diagrams, graphing, statistics, logic, number, language as well as areas that are recommended in the Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for Teaching Mathematics by the NCTM (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics). Students will grasp the idea of knowing that there are multiple solutions to questions and problems directing them to learn with divergent thinking skills.  Activities that are included in this unit are collecting treasures, exploring treasures, treasures of many sorts, treasure graphs and maps, as well as sharing treasures.  With this in mind, all of these activities will allow students to explore and use their imagination skills as they learn collaboratively.