Linscott Charter School

Teacher: Heidi Claypool     

Email: heidi_claypool@pvusd.net

 

Phoenix Hall is Linscott's third grade classroom. We start the year talking about ourselves and our community. The students discuss how they came to Watsonville and write "who am I?" stories. We discuss what's special about this area and make visitor pamphlets about Watsonville. Working from this introduction, we study the history of Santa Cruz County starting with the Ohlone and focusing on agriculture. As part of the Ohlone studies we go to the Natural History Museum and the Santa Cruz Mission.

We cover math, science, and language arts standards with curriculum focused on social studies. One of the favorite parts of the curriculum is Science Center Day, where students travel through four centers focused on standards-based science. 

An important part of our curriculum ties into Linscott's Community Curriculum. We have class meetings every week, where we talk about how to relate to each other, and discuss any issues that come up in the classroom. The meetings offer students a way to resolve problems, teaching them conflict resolution and community building.

Enriching Activities

• K'nex Robotics Program
• Garden weekly using the Life Lab curriculum
• Integration of technology
• Inquiry-based research and present a topic to the school
• Weekly hands-on science centers
• Monthly field trips
• Coding