Summer Institutes- Continuing Education for Teachers in AFCA Coaching,CA: Merced, Modesto, MI: Okemos, OR: Redmond, Salem, WA: Bow, Kent, Montesano, Moseslake, Olympia, Snohomish, Spokane, Sunnyside, TriCities, Wenatchee.

As academic requirements seem to be increasing each year for students, many educators must find it difficult to incorporate all curriculum areas into the regular school day. I know that in my job as a first grade teacher, I can barely get in language arts and math adequately each day. This is why I thought that Colleen’s idea of integrated curriculum was a great idea.

Each year, my first graders love learning about insects. I thought that this would be an excellent unit to dissect into an integrated curriculum project. I’ve created a grid to show how I would attempt to work in as many varied areas of learning as possible, emphasizing the different areas of the curriculum in bold print:

Day 1 Music: sing insect songs Movement: act out insect poem Lang. Arts: read insect book	Day 2 Video (media): Watch insect videoArt: draw favorite insect from video	Day 3 Science: explore differences between insects/spiders using Venn diagram and insects in amber	Day 4 Writing/art: draw and label a diagram showing insect parts	Day 5 Reading: students read along with insect book on tape Writing/art: students pick an insect an create a “wanted” poster to display
Day 6 Reading: read book about kinds of insects Science: go on nature walk to try to identify some from the book	Day 7 Reading: read book about insect life cycle Art: using pasta, students create the insect life cycle	Day 8 Games: students create insect memory cards, and play “insect memory” with a partner	Day 9 Science: using cut-outs, partners classify insects and non-insects using what they have learned about insect attributes	Day 10 Cooking: students create “edible insects” in a culminating activity Community: Invite parents in for “insect night”.

I got some great ideas for improving an existing unit using some of Colleen’s ideas. I can’t wait to teach my “new and improved” insect unit to my students this coming school year.