Many teachers who begin to implement the Project Approach are already familiar with a learning center or theme approach to teaching, but there are some important differences of which to be aware. Noting that projects are especially valuable for children in undertaking in-depth study of real-world topics, this paper presents the reflections of…

Presents guidelines for developing thematic units for primary students (pick broad-based themes, gather resources, avoid time traps, let student interests guide the themes, create interactive bulletin boards, and organize materials). The article offers ideas, activities, and experiences for beginning a color unit and maintaining thematic teaching…

An integrated curriculum allows children's learning in all traditional subject areas to occur primarily through projects that the teachers plan and that reflect children's interests. This paper presents a curriculum web on Chinese festivals, specifically, the Chinese New Year, for kindergarten and first grade levels. The paper first presents a…

This paper discusses two pitfalls in designing project work. The first is a tendency to design projects with little emphasis on how the subject matter might connect to future studies. The second involves processes and goals of project work: all too often the processes proposed for project work serve goals that are nonexistent, weak, or unrelated…

This special section describes one elementary school's Art and Artists theme, which allows students to study art across the curriculum. Various types of projects are described, including a classroom art museum, self-portrait painting, writing about art, scientific drawing, and a study of shapes. A pullout presents examples of student work. (SM)

Reviews "Favorites, Friendships, Food, and Fantasy: Literature-Based Thematic Units for Early Primary" (A. Lukasevich and F. Pieronek), a two-volume publication that presents four literature-based thematic units for use in the language arts curriculum. The units are designed to be used sequentially in 12- or 15-day segments, and each lesson has 4…

Believes structured playtime that occurs in a well-designed play center can provide rich opportunities for young children to construct knowledge related to both social studies and literacy. Expounds how elementary teachers can create an integrated play center by collaborating with their students on the design, implementation, and response to the…

Presents a teacher's reflections on the need to know about, and talk with parents and other teachers about, the benefits of using a child development-based, whole language, thematic approach to teaching in the primary grades. (BB)

Three activity booklets are presented for implementing Project EAGLE, an enrichment program for gifted and talented kindergarten children. The first activity booklet contains a poem by J. D. Evans titled "In Search of the Xanthus," which describes the search for an imaginary beast that leaves an "X" on the spot where it used to be. The second…

Presents a cross-curricular theme unit on colors that includes a pullout poster and a resource list. Social studies activities highlight flags of the world. Science activities teach about colors of animals and the science of color. Language arts activities describe colorful language. Mathematics activities involve sorting and graphing colors. (SM)

Five activity booklets are presented for implementing Project EAGLE, an enrichment program for gifted and talented primary-level children. The first booklet, "Sound," contains four activity pages to accompany teaching of the concept that sound is transmitted through air to the ear. The "Groups 1" booklet provides nine…

Intended for primary school teachers involved in social studies instruction, this paper offers guidelines for selecting and using children's literature to teach social studies concepts. The paper first deals with selecting children's literature works, presenting basic considerations relating children's developmental stages to characteristics of…

Six thematic activity booklets are presented for implementing Project EAGLE, an enrichment program for gifted and talented primary-level children. "Animals 3" introduces endangered animals and locates their home areas on maps or globes, using nine learning activities involving science and creative writing. "Magnets" discusses…

Six thematic activity booklets are presented for implementing Project EAGLE, an enrichment program for gifted and talented primary-level children. "Animals 2" teaches the concept that animals have a variety of characteristics and attributes, by having students choose an animal, think of a problem the animal might have to solve, picking…

This paper describes a project implemented in one first grade classroom to incorporate learning strategies in the process of group development of curriculum planning and development of instructional activities. The teacher used dialogue, coaching, modeling, questioning, and reinforcement with the students to make prominent the language and…