REACH Takes-off in Huntington
Fiscal pressures necessitated a restructuring of the Huntington School District’s SEARCH program. Now the district’s elementary grade level librarians are delivering new enrichment classes to eager students.
REACH (Research and Enrichment Activities for the Children in Huntington) was developed by SEARCH Chairperson Maryann Daly and librarians Cindy Tietjen, Georganne White, Ellen Blanchard, Denise Smith, Patricia Dillon and Christine Amodeo.
“REACH was designed to provide hands-on active learning for all children in the second and third grades district-wide and interested and task-committed students in the fourth grade,” Mrs. Daly said.
Three months into the 2009/10 school year, REACH is making an impact. On alternating weeks, half of each second grade class has been attending REACH sessions in their respective school library led by the respective building librarians.
“During the first half of the year, each group will be involved in the creation of many different model and construction sets using marbles, gears, geometric shapes, molecular structures and quasi-crystals,” Mrs. Daly said. The students are following specific directions, working collaboratively, comparing and contrasting their models, relating architecture to the real world of engineering and learning new vocabulary will all be a part of these bi-monthly lessons.
The second half of the year, students will participate in a multi-age new curriculum unit called Faces, Gifts, Discoveries, Symbols and Cycles. Lessons will focus on teamwork, creating original ideas and presenting their work to their group for discussion and evaluation.
Third grade REACH enrichment classes involve scripts centered on non-fiction events. “Children have discovered as they read through a real-life story in a Reader’s Theater format, the impact Amelia Earhart had on the world,” Mrs. Daly explained. “Some classes researched the difference Alexander Graham Bell made in our lives and the reasons why he was so driven to invent a way to communicate with people. Each of the classes has been rehearsing their parts in the play they have selected to perform.”
Mrs. Daly said that each of the librarians/REACH teachers “has been instrumental in teaching these children how to interpret a role, how to read the written words correctly and with feeling and how to perform in an ensemble setting. They are preparing to perform their stories for their classmates in the next several weeks. They will also be engaged in hands-on lessons involving problem solving, analytical thinking and spatial relationships when they participate in some of the activities entitled clip and clue puzzles using colored paper clips and noodlers using straws.”
The second half of the year will be devoted to the many activities included in an “Inventions and Ideas Module of Learning” unit. Workshops are scheduled with a teaching artist who will combine theater exercises in storytelling with creating an original invention. Infomercials and learning how to most effectively present ideas in a public setting will be included.
The fourth grade REACH initiative offers interested children at Jack Abrams and Woodhull intermediate schools the opportunity to develop an idea into an in-depth research project.
Students will attend an independent study period on alternate weeks for the entire year. During this session (which will be scheduled during the enrichment periods), students will develop an in-depth project of their own choosing. With help and guidance, the youngsters will have the opportunity to learn various ways to research an original idea and display their information in an appropriate manner.
“Independent study is different from the norm because the child and the teacher work together on the project,” Mrs. Daly said. “However, the responsibility of locating research on the specific topic and completing weekly assignments falls on the student. A good work ethic, task commitment and a positive behavior are requirements for participation in these enrichment activities.”
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