THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 1, 1995 TAG: 9501310100
SECTION: ISLE OF WIGHT CITIZEN PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Education
SOURCE: BY LINDA MCNATT, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WINDSOR LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines
FOURTH-GRADERS IN Sharon Harrell's class at Windsor Elementary School just completed a canning project.
But it had nothing to do with home economics. Instead of fruits and vegetables, the kids canned several subjects: spelling, language arts, literature, comprehension, vocabulary and art.
The handy, dandy lessons in a can - large tin ones, like 5-pound coffee cans - started with a book report, a monthly requirement for fourth-graders. But the teacher went several steps beyond requiring a simple written or oral report.
``I was trying to give them something creative to do,'' Harrell said. ``. . get away from isolating skills.''
This new concept in teaching, Harrell said, is called mapping. It is designed to help youngsters understand that there is a purpose for learning each skill, that one subject can easily carry over into another. It's a countywide effort that began last summer, when teachers attended workshops while students were still on summer vacation.
For the ``canned book reports,'' Harrell asked her students to illustrate the book and write a summary for others without giving away anything. She instructed them to find 10 unfamiliar words in the book and to spell and define them.
The students were asked to reproduce the main characters in the form of puppets. They were used in an oral presentation, so the students could show their classmates what the book was about and what part the characters played.
Finally, each phase of a project was put into one of the tin cans, with a plastic top. The illustrations were used to pull a ``film strip'' through a slit in the plastic, and the can was decorated with the book's title, author's name and more artwork representing the student's favorite scene.
Mapping is a concept that presents to the youngsters more important lessons at the beginning of the year, brings the different subjects together and eliminates a lot of repetition in the lower grades, Harrell said.
``When we talked about the early settlers coming to this country, we talked about the diseases they brought with them, and health became a part of the history lesson.''
During pre-school workshops, fourth-grade teachers met with third-grade teachers to talk about skills taught students the previous year, and they met with fifth-grade teachers to find out what was in store for them.
And the students had a perfect opportunity to creatively express themselves.
`` `The best Christmas Pageant Ever' is about a Sunday school group putting on a pageant,'' student Krystle Cobb said. ``It seems, from the very beginning of the book, there are many problems the parents and children go through. The biggest problem is the Herdman kids.''
Nicki Schuetz read ``Home for the Howl-idays,'' by Dian C. Regan. She illustrated the book and made puppets of each character from construction paper.
``Sam and Leesha Hollister are home from boarding school for the winter holidays, and it should be fun,'' Nicki said, ``except their home and family have changed.''
She went on to tell about a dead Christmas tree decorated with black ornaments and black lights, a transparent grandmother, a father who is never seen before dark and a brother who has grown fur.
``There were no restrictions on what they could read,'' Harrell said. On new report cards, reading, language arts and spelling are combined into one grade, Harrell said.
The canned book project will be displayed in the school library for the next several weeks. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by JOHN H. SHEALLY II
Teacher Sharon Harrell of Windsor Elementary works a hand puppet as
Krystle Cobb, left, and Nicki Schuetz look on.
by CNB