
At
Piney
Branch
Elementary
School,
students
in
Elizabeth
McKeown's
fourth-grade
class
were
excited
to
"toilet
paper
or
TP"
the
school
lawn
all
in
the
name
of
science.
Students
conducted
a
performance-based
lesson
on
the
solar
system,
which
is
part
of
the
fourth-grade
science
curriculum.
Students
demonstrated
the
distance
between
planets
and
the
sun
using
toilet
paper
squares
as
the
unit
of
measurement,
and
the
school's
fence
as
a
metaphor
for
the
sun.
Students
placed
squares
of
toilet
paper
from
the
fence
to
the
scale
models
they
built
for
Mercury,
Venus,
Earth,
Mars,
Jupiter,
Saturn,
Uranus,
and
Neptune.
Students
were
divided
into
groups
and
used
calculations
they
derived
in
their
classroom
to
see
how
many
squares
to
use.
The
students
assigned
to
Mercury
used
about
four
squares
from
the
fence,
while
the
students
assigned
to
Neptune
unrolled
almost
a
full
roll
of
toilet
paper
to
represent
its
vast
distance
from
the
sun.
Fourth-grade
student
Jackson
Anders
shared,
"I
thought
it
was
really
fun.
It
helped
me
learn
how
to
tell
the
distance
between
the
planets
and
the
sun.
It
was
also
a
fun
way
to
learn."
Another
student,
Juliet
Curcio,
added,
"I
thought
this
project
was
fun.
Because,
well
come
on,
it's
SPACE!
It
involved
a
lot
of
toilet
paper
though."
Performance-based
learning
allows
students
to
guide
their
learning
journey
by
participating
in
intentional
and
engaging
activities
directed
to
further
their
understanding
of
a
subject.
This
outdoor
assignment
was
a
culmination
of
language
arts,
mathematics,
and
science
lessons
the
students
had
learned
inside
the
classroom.
Students
also
wrote
a
report
on
their
planet
following
the
writing
process:
research,
writing
a
rough
draft,
revision
and
peer
review,
and
final
draft.
To
reinforce
their
understanding,
each
student
group
presented
facts
about
their
planet
to
the
rest
of
the
class.
This
lesson
was
co-taught
with
Kristine
Klink,
special
education
teacher,
and
Adrienne
Nguyen,
English
language
learner
(ELL)
teacher,
so
students
with
different
learning
needs
could
learn
and
grow
from
each
other
in
a
supportive
environment.
Nguyen
shared
that
this
co-taught
lesson
follows
the
school's
mission
to,
"surpass
the
status
quo
with
innovation
that
engages
students."
"This
planned
activity
is
a
creative
approach
to
learning
about
the
solar
system.
It
allows
the
students
to
demonstrate
what
they
are
learning
other
than
standard
pencil
and
paper,"
McKeown
said.