Room With a Different View, A, Used [Paperback]

When Jill Ostrow's class decided to build an island, they built a world./p> In A Room With a Different View, Jill reveals how this group of six- to nine-year-old children physically transformed their classroom, created a community, and completed projects that grew out of the Island, involving everyone in real-world problem solving. After reading this engaging narrative you may not want to turn your classroom into a tropical island, but you will see a new and different approach to curriculum and a philosophy to draw on and apply with your own students. Although this classroom will introduce you to some unusual features of the physical environment, it is still one in which traditional school subjects-math, writing, reading, art, and science-are thoroughly integrated in projects that center on the Island. A Room with a Different View:Illustrates how cooperative learning and problem solving takes place in a multi-age classroom.Reveals the process of negotiating a curriculum.Presents substantial material on alternative assessment.Addresses a host of questions frequently asked by teachers and parents.Includes a portfolio of sixteen four-color photos of the work described in the story.Features several thoughtful examples that integrate mathematics with other subjects. Next year Jill's classroom will be different. Some children will move on to the fourth grade and a new group will come in to start first grade, and the Island will be replaced by a new setting, again built with the powers of cooperation and negotiation. And the constant throughout all of it is the importance of choice, challenge, independence, and respect.

A Room with a Different View : First Through Third Graders Build Community and Create Curriculum, Used [Paperback]