Apple Valley School 

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PURPOSE:

APPLE VALLEY SCHOOL is a simulation which allows students to pretend to go to a one-room schoolhouse in the last half of the 19th century. Students work to earn points in order to graduate from Apple Valley School. A beginning sense of history is developed as they learn about schools of long ago and compare them to today's schools. On their journey toward graduation, students experience the following:

Knowledge

  1. The beginnings of the public school system

  2. A physical description of the one-room schoolhouse

  3. Life as a student in a one-room schoolhouse

  4. Life as a teacher in a one-room schoolhouse

  5. Other types of schools circa 1850-1900

Feelings 

  1. Excitement as they role play life in the past

  2. Appreciation for a different period of history

  3. Empathy for students and teachers of the past

  4. Appreciation for progress made in education

Skills

  1. Highlighting main ideas

  2. Writing diary entries

  3. Conducting an interview

  4. Cooperating in a small group to make a poster

  5. Making decisions about simulated problem situations

  6. Choosing and completing an extension project

OVERVIEW:

Students begin their journey back in time when they are given a new student identity. After they are assigned this new name, age, and family history, they meet with their new family group to create a poster portraying their family members at work and play in their new home.

While living their new identities, students attend school in a one-room schoolhouse called Apple Valley School. Students and their pioneer school teacher work together to come up with a list of ways to earn points toward graduation. In order to graduate from Apple Valley School, students need to do many things they normally do in school. They are given points for getting to school on time, for completing and returning homework, and for showing good citizenship. They also earn graduation points by writing diary entries, by making good decisions, by completing challenge tasks, by conduction school days interviews, and by calculating the consequences of fate cards. (The latter are used to involve boys and girls in the good and bad things that might have happened in pioneer schools.)

The simulation concludes with students, parents, and others from your school attending a special graduation ceremony and picnic celebrating your Apple Valley School students' achievements.

 

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