Anne Hutchinson 4th Graders Give Presentations to Younger Students

Second and third graders at Anne Hutchinson welcomed some very special visitors into their classrooms this week, as the school’s fourth graders took time to teach their younger schoolmates about a number of geological processes and phenomena.

Armed with fun science facts and colorful slideshow presentations, Anne Hutchinson fourth graders from Francesca Carlo, Talia Conte, Shannon Kirwan, and Kati Curry’s classes held the attention of the younger elementary students as they broke down some of the important ideas they have been learning about as a part of the Mossflower Project—a reading and writing framework utilized by the district. 

Over the last four weeks, fourth graders have been working on an “earth processes” unit—part of a Mossflower pilot program that is centered around how erosion, weather and other phenomena shape the world in which we live. This week, the students had a chance to demonstrate their knowledge and earn some important public-speaking experience as they distilled some of the key ideas they have been working on in class into short, digestible lessons.

Fourth-grade teacher Kati Curry explained that the presentation component is an important one for elementary students, as it not only provides youngsters with an opportunity to practice their public-speaking skills, it also can help students retain and recall information learned throughout the month-long unit. 

“They’re practicing their presentation skills, which are important because many of them are going to be making presentations their whole lives,” said Curry. “It also helps them focus on what the important ideas are, and how to center on those important ideas as part of a research project.”

Curry noted that the project also emphasized collaboration, as the team presentations called on each group member to contribute to the project, both in terms of the research of the material and the design of the presentation.

“It was great to see the collaboration between members of each group, and it was also fun to see the way that the students were inspired by other group’s presentations,” said Curry. “ While one group was sharing their presentation up on the white board, other groups would see something and say, ‘Ooh, we want to add something like that too, how can we do that?’”

Overall, said Curry, the unit—and the presentations—were a success, something that the fourth grade teachers would certainly be open to engaging with more in the future especially considering how closely the literacy component aligns with STEM activities the students will experience this year.

“I personally feel—and I think I speak for the rest of the teachers—that the kids really enjoyed this activity and it really engaged them, and it was a nice way for them to wrap up all of that information,” she explained. “What’s even better is that in our Science 21 curriculum, we will explore a lot of the same material. We’re doing that science material now, and you can see how engaged the students are and how much they’re taking away from it.”