District News

Eighth graders learn planning and organizational skills by working with kindergarteners

 

February, 2011

 

Legos building blocks are one of the most recognized toys, but who knew they could be educational?

Canajoharie Middle School reading specialist Mary Douglass, that’s who.

As an end of semester project, Mrs. Douglass created a unit for her eighth grade home and careers class in which the class used Legos to teach kindergarten students. It culminated with the eighth graders decorating a room, creating food art, baking a Lego cake, and hosting a class of activities for the younger students.

During the joint class, the kindergartners rotated between Lego stations that included: letter Legos, practicing concepts (putting Legos on top of each other, to the side, and next to each other), copy cat Legos, shapes with Legos, and a computer game using Legos. An eighth grade student also read a Lego story book to the class.

“The eighth graders learned a lot about setting up and planning an event like this,” Mrs. Douglass said. “It was interdisciplinary (where the curriculums of two or more subjects are combined) and I wanted it to be fun. I don’t know who was more excited when they were learning, the eighth graders or kindergarteners.”

Mrs. Douglas also included a lesson of healthy eating to coincide with the district’s healthy nutrition initiative. Her students carved faces into fruit as they learned about portion size.

“One of our other goals was to teach kids to eat healthier,” Mrs. Douglas said. “One of the things we’ve studied is how a child develops from birth and how important it is to have healthy eating habits.”

At the end of the year, another home and careers class will be doing a similar lesson.