Our first PBL project of the year is our Postcard Project.  There are many different elements that go into a PBL project.

Projects are introduced to students with an entry event.  Our entry event was receiving our first postcard in the mail.  Students were curious and engaged to learn more about the project after receiving some mail!  The second step is to introduce the driving question for the project.

Essential questions came next.  They included:
Where will we get the postcards from?
Should we try to get them donated?
Should we each buy some and bring them in?
Should we make them?
How do we know what the states are?
What should we include about Alaska on our postcard?
How will we keep track of what states we receive postcards from?
How will we keep track of what states we send postcards to?
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From there, students were tasked with giving their opinion about essential questions.  They voted to make their own postcards and figured out that each class member would need to make 4.  Since that only got us to 44, the students decided to ask for donations for the rest.

They also decided that they needed to write something that would be the same for every postcard, instead of each student coming up with their own thing.  They took their previous knowledge about Alaska to cooperatively write a blurb that talked about our seasons, wildlife, communities and activities to do in Alaska.  These decisions are part of making sure student voice and choice are honored in the project.

While students already know a lot about Alaska, there is much still to learn.  In a field trip next week, students will be learning about an aspect of Native Alaskan culture that interests them as they explore the Wells Fargo History museum and interact with the museum curator.

There is sustained inquiry in this project as we are expecting more postcards to arrive from other states…we currently have received four postcards.  Students are also interested in seeing if we can get postcards from around the world so we are looking into that possibility.

This project integrates social studies and language arts standards as well as offering practice in communication, critical thinking and creativity.  In a week or so, students will reflect on the project and their parts in it.

We’re looking forward to adding more postcards to our wall and sending a little bit of Alaska out to the Lower 48!