Speyer Fourth Graders Share About Perspective, Discovery, and Exploration During Their "Columbinating Event"!
Who gets to tell the historical story…and why? What does it mean to “discover” land where people already existed and thrived? What are the consequences of essential omissions from historical texts?
These were the questions that our fourth graders have been asking during their latest Humanities unit, tackling the big themes of perspective, discovery, and exploration as they studied of Christopher Columbus and the Taino people of the Caribbean. The students examined the Taino people, their culture, and Columbus' voyages to the new world, and how Columbus has been viewed throughout history. This Humanities unit was then connected to other subject areas. All of their semester-long work culminated in what was deemed a “Columbinating Event,” where the students showcased their hard work, presenting their art, writing, trioramas, Taino/Spanish dictionaries, and more!
Fourth graders gave voice to the voiceless in our study of the Taino via their trioramas, which they shared with parents and faculty at the event. In learning about the Taino before their encounter with Columbus and his crew, they were surprised to discover that the Taino had a thriving society built on common themes and beliefs that many cultures hold true today.
In collaboration with Technology Integrator Ms. Cathcart, the students took on an engineering challenge to build Taino bohios that could withstand hurricanes at simulated levels from 1 to 5. During the processes of planning, designing, and building Taino bohios, they answered the question of how the Taino built sustainable shelters in a tropical climate. Students shared their theories, experimentations, and discoveries.
While working with our Art specialist Mr. Fortunato, fourth graders considered what they learned about monuments (and the stories they tell) as they designed monuments of their own. They created concept drawings for the original monuments the students will be constructing in December. Mr. Fortunato also guided the students to create an illuminated alphabet of goods and ideas that were transported between continents during the Columbian Exchange. Meanwhile, in Spanish, Señora Cuesta facilitated the creation of Taino/Spanish Picture dictionaries. The dictionaries feature original or mixed-media illustrations and words and definitions collected by the students.
During Science, Ms. Duffy taught the fourth graders about different types of navigation, especially celestial navigation, which uses the sun and stars to figure out where you are and which way to go. They learned how to find the North Star using constellations (the Big Dipper points to the Little Dipper, and the Little Dipper has the North Star also known as Polaris in it). The North Star is important because all the other stars in our sky rotate and move at night, but the North Star just spins in place, barely moving at all. Since it is almost pointing true north, it is very useful for navigating.
As they studied a variety of sources that describe Christopher Columbus, the fourth graders became frustrated to find that most children’s books do not include certain details about Columbus and the people that he encountered. The students noted that these essential omissions change history and put society at risk of repeating it. The sources do not mention the Taino people at all and as a result, an entire civilization could be erased. Speyer’s students were burning to take action, writing to the editors of Kidspast.com and other children’s books in order to bring this problem to their attention and proposed solutions to stop this from happening again. The fourth graders developed their ideas in seminar discussions and then wrote, revised, and edited these letters with partners.
This event showcased the hallmark of Speyer’s curriculum: interdisciplinary units of study! Thank you to all that attended and a huge shout-out to our fourth grade teaching teams, Ms. Cathcart, Mr. Fortunato, Ms. Cuesta, and Ms. Duffy!