MKA Faculty Lesson Plans Featured in School Library Monthly

Congratulations to MKA third grade teacher Dana Rose and last year's long-term Primary School Librarian sub Holly Taylor-Fox, who have written an article recently accepted for publication in April's edition of School Library Monthly.

"It all started when Holly and I met to write a collaborative lesson plan as part of her class work for her master's degree in Library and Information Science at Rutgers University." Explains Rose. "We modified a series of social studies lessons that MKA's third grade follows at the start of the school year. The lessons entail the students learning about the value and need for rules in a community, the writing and signing of class rules (part of the Responsive Classroom model), then translating this knowledge and experience into learning about the need for the writing of the American Constitution and ultimately, the study of the Preamble itself, which is a third grade Core Work. Our modifications made this series of lessons a classroom-library collaborative project, including use of a wiki and a newly-written rubric."

At MKA, the integration of technology in the curriculum starts as early as Pre-K, and as one of the school's Signature Programs, The Core Works guarantee that all MKA students, grades Pre-K-12, are exposed to "the best that has been thought and said in the world" (Matthew Arnold). Exploring specific and diverse works of historical import, literature (some in foreign languages), art, music and dance from around the world.  Such exposure not only expands students' academic, artistic and global knowledge, but also helps them to develop the intellectual foundations required for the study of ethics and character development – another Signature Program at MKA.