Second graders in William O. Schaefer Elementary School teacher Jaclyn Nandlal’s class are learning all about Ancient Egypt with help from sixth graders at South Orangetown Middle School!
Last month, SOMS teacher Eric Goldstein’s sixth grade social studies class worked in groups to create children’s books about Ancient Egypt that would be suited for children in second and third grade. Before working at WOS, Nandlal was a social studies teacher at SOMS and would regularly collaborate with Goldstein. “I did this project years ago and I decided it would be great to try again. The concept was simple: have my students try and write a book for younger readers,” explained Goldstein. “I am so happy that Jackie and her class were willing to do this. My students were very excited to write for younger students. It gave more purpose to the assignment for them!”
Nandlal’s class began carefully reviewing the books last week to rate the sixth graders on the features of their nonfiction books including the use of photos, spelling, grammar and organization. Students also watched a brief video about Ancient Egypt before reviewing the books to learn more about topics that would be featured in the books. “My second graders loved learning all about Ancient Egypt and seeing some of their siblings’ work. Students were excited to sift through the pages to read all of the details of a topic that is new to them. They especially enjoyed being able to edit the books and rate them,” said Nandlal. “We were able to work with nonfiction text and actively edit words that were not capitalized or needed punctuation, which we are currently covering in class. We cannot wait to find out which book will be our winner! It’s awesome to be able to work with my former colleague, Eric Goldstein, on this project. It helps to bridge our classes and get students excited to work on a project together.”
