In ELA, Team Dream students started the year off analyzing story elements through reading a variety of short stories. Students have practiced responding to literature in different ways, and they have crafted claim responses to prove their thinking about the character traits that play important roles in the plot development of stories. Students participated in self-directed book clubs to read, discuss, and write about realistic fiction books. Book clubs followed group-developed norms, made decisions cooperatively about how assignments should be carried out, and shared in the collective work of the group to gather and evaluate ideas.  

In social studies, Team Dream students started the year off by considering what it means to be good digital citizens. Through lessons about finsta accounts, online communication warning signs, and fake news, students practiced critical thinking strategies to make sound choices in their lives online. The next area of study focused on how we learn about the past. Through participating in the kinds of activities that social scientists do, students learned the contributions of archaeologists, historians, and geographers in helping us understand the past. Most recently, social studies classes explored the skills and life experiences of four kinds of early humans: Homo Habilis, Homo Erectus, Homo Neanderthalensis, and Homo Sapiens. 

In math, students have been developing an understanding of rational numbers on number lines and on coordinate planes. Collaboratively, they applied these skills by designing their own unique thematic amusement park with rides, ticket booths, restrooms, first aid stations, etc. while plotting these features as coordinates on a coordinate plane. In addition, they plotted some attractions as a reflection on their amusement park map and used absolute value to find the distance between destinations in their park!  

In science, students have been involved in hands-on labs to find the density of water, air, and a variety of solid substances. Students are using density in labs as a characteristic property to help identify materials. As students participate in labs, they follow procedures, collect data, illustrate models, and write scientific explanations.