On Thursday, March 14, Camden-Rockport Middle School (CRMS) students from Ruth Poland’s 8th grade science classes paid a visit to Camden-Rockport Elementary School (CRES) to present their hand-illustrated books about Energy.
The field trip was the culmination of months of hard work, beginning with rotations in the library to learn about mechanical, chemical, electrical and wave energy and how these various types of energy are conserved, transferred and used to get work done. Ms. Poland’s students, who worked independently or with a partner of choice, were then asked to synthesize the knowledge gained in their research and present it as an educational tool to a younger audience of students. The final project, a bound children’s book on one of the four types of energy, was shared with K-4 students in a lively read-aloud on the morning of the 14th.
The elementary school students were clearly thrilled to have the “big kids” in their classrooms and joyfully interacted with them, asking endless questions about the stories and illustrations and sharing a few of their own ideas about energy. For their part, the 8th graders were excellent role models for the younger students and shared their creations with enthusiasm and, in some cases, high drama. They did a terrific job representing CRMS.
The 8th grade science book share was sponsored by Youth Arts, who provided funding for two local artists to mentor students on this project: author Fran Hodgkins and author/illustrator Stephen Costanza. Ms. Poland’s partners on the book share were CRMS Literacy Coach Michelle Gabrielsen and Youth Arts’ Lorna Cummings, aided by many parent volunteers who served as chaperones for the field trip.
