Research has shown that students retain more information when multiple indicators from a variety of subjects are covered using the same theme. Below is an excellent example of this style of instruction from Ms. Turner’s 1st grade class.
Last week, Ms. Turner's first grade classroom learned all about pumpkins. They celebrated with a pumpkin day. With parent help, students completed fun, hands-on pumpkin activities. Students tasted different pumpkin foods and graphed their favorite. They created pumpkin play dough and wrote the steps. They weighed a pumpkin using different items, painted a pumpkin character that they wrote a story about later, made a prediction and tested if a pumpkin would sink or float, and labeled the parts of their pumpkin diagram. Many parents donated items and volunteered to come in and help with pumpkin day. They truly made this day a success.