Gertrude's Pets

Cindy Cordell’s third grade class opened their pet shop, “Gertrude’s Pets,” on Wednesday, May 24th. The classroom was converted into a pet shop, including an area for veterinary care and grooming.  The grand opening was the culmination of months of hard work and creative fun.  It was this behind the scenes process that made it an authentic, creative, and real-world experience for the students.

Using a project-based learning approach, Cindy guided her students through months of researching, creating, problem solving, and working collaboratively, but it was the students who selected the content of the project.  They were inspired by Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo, which is a book about the special bond between a young girl and her dog. Our students expanded upon the importance of taking care of pets and researched information on different animals and their needs, wrote reports and designed digital presentations, created pet care guides, issued invitations around the school, built habitats for various animals, manufactured pet-care products, and designed advertisements.  As the project-based learning approach is authentically cross-curricular, our students applied math, language arts, and computer skills they had been working on throughout the year. 
 
The joy and pride in their faces as they donned their Gertrude’s Pets T-Shirts and served their first customers was priceless.  These students served as excellent sales representatives on the pet shop floor, ready and willing to answer any questions their customers had. There were pet products, such as food bowls and fish food to sell, demonstrating much innovation and creativity for making effective pet tools. The pet shop also showcased a clinic and grooming station. What you couldn’t see or buy was the team mindset and group effort it took to see this project through.  These third graders worked together to problem solve, reflect, and collaborate for a common goal…to create something they imagined together.
 
Project-based learning is a student-centered approach, encourages deep understanding of a chosen topic, and fosters the love of life-long learning.  The students take ownership of their own learning and because of that ownership and the authentic nature of the process, find it highly satisfying and enjoyable.  They become the experts in their own classroom.
 
This was made possible because of money raised at auction for professional development for our teachers. Innovative ideas from our new lower school head, Angie Manning, such as Project Based Learning, provides tremendous knowledge and support for experienced classroom teachers in addition to workshops and training made possible by the auction funds.

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