SPRING 2021

Contents

Learning Expeditions

Schools and Community | Grade 2

Agriculture, Biodiversity, & Soil Health | Grade 5

Racism in Science | Grade 8

: : Spotlight | Social Participation in Grades 5-8

Crew Adventures | Riffing on Monopoly and the Opportunity Gap

The Importance of Crew

A Word From Dr. Susan Mertz, Executive Director

As a community, we hold the promise of supporting others and the possibility of accepting support. We hold the possibilities of giving children what they need to thrive, and then getting out of their way. Evergreen draws the powers of compassion and caring from the close relationships we form among families, faculty, and staff. There is unimaginable possibility and promise that can emerge from our community. That is powerful.

Learning Expeditions

In EL Education schools, learning expeditions are the primary way of organizing curriculum. Grounded in topics derived from content standards, expeditions use learning targets to identify project outcomes and goals. Guiding questions frame expeditions, supporting the conceptual so what? of study topics. Students construct projects or products based on core skills and content, ideally contributing to real-world audiences, and culminating in a presentation of learning at the end of a learning expedition.

For more information, see EL Education’s diagram: Structure and Elements of a Learning Expedition.

Schools and Community | Grade 2

With the onset of COVID-19, second grade teachers knew they would not be able to continue their usual Where We Live community expedition, since it depended on extensive fieldwork not possible during remote learning. So they switched to EL Education's Schools and Communities expedition, anchored by the text Off to Class: Incredible and Unusual Schools Around the World by Susan Hughes. The teachers could not have predicted just how relevant the content would be.

This past fall, second graders challenged their concept of what schools look like while developing sentence fluency. The expedition’s focus highlighted challenges and problems schools in different places around the world have faced, including monsoons in Bangladesh and a rural school on the edge of the Amazon rainforest whose curriculum discontinues after third grade. In Off to Class: Incredible and Unusual Schools Around the World, studies revealed how the communities in those particular areas overcame problems, enabling the students to continue to learn.

In Bangladesh, architect Mohammed Rezwan decided the best way to beat the rising waters from the annual monsoon was to rise with them - on a boat. One Evergreen second grader asked, “How can that be a school if there’s no electricity?”

It’s a timely thing to be studying right now, because Evergreen, like many schools in the country, is dealing with a big challenge: we haven’t been able to come to school in person. In addition to learning about these other places around the world- Brazil, Bangladesh, Haiti- students are learning how the schools in those communities were similar and different to our own, and that we have many advantages that other students don’t have. We also have this huge common thread: sometimes your world gets turned on its head, and then the people around you can help problem-solve so you can continue to grow and learn.

Susan Thompson, Second Grade Lead Teacher

On January 12, 2010, a severe earthquake collapsed buildings in Haiti, burying streets under wreckage, killing over 200,000 people before the day’s end, and turning life on the island upside down. In the following days, people set up temporary schools using tents for classrooms, helped by the humanitarian efforts of UNICEF, Save the Children, and Plan International.

Second graders examined commonalities and differences between Haiti’s temporary schools and virtual learning at Evergreen. For instance, Haitian schools received school-in-a-box post-disaster kits from UNICEF, which resembled the start-of-year packets Evergreen students collected last August, and ongoing Materials Pickup on Fridays. Similarly, Haiti’s schools prioritized laughter for healing, playing games, and singing songs; this paralleled second grade Crew’s focus on self-regulation and managing emotions, as well as doing fun crafts together. There are movement breaks during lessons to get the wiggles out. Every morning, our second graders start class with a joke, then whisper wishes into cupped hands, sending them out to each other and the world.

Agriculture, Biodiversity, & Soil Health | Grade 5

Fifth grade’s Conversations with Local Farmers expedition has long been a celebrated piece of Evergreen’s curriculum. Students tour local farms, interview farmers, and dirty their hands a little as they get a firsthand sense of the grassroots agricultural industry. With fieldwork off the table this year, Evergreen teachers designed a trio of new workshops that delved into these root questions: What is sustainability? Why is sustainability important?

The virtual workshops explored the intricate balance between the three pillars of sustainability: environmental, societal, and economic factors. Fifth grade teachers Joy Neily and Mikhayla Sifontes collaborated with Environmental Education teacher Marin Leroy to support students over five weeks, facilitating workshops on biodiversity, soil health, and agriculture. Instead of field trips, teachers curated a selection of short videos and articles to establish a theoretical knowledge base. Students applied their research to relevant activities in engaging and meaningful ways within each workshop, which served as the investigation piece of the expedition.

To support more extensive exploration of the material, teachers used virtual breakout rooms to divide their class into smaller groups of students. The subgroups unpacked questions and brainstormed separate topics of their choosing, such as pollination and locally sourced foods.

It’s a different process; breaking out into smaller groups promoted greater interconnectedness between students, and encouraged more meaningful conversations throughout the trimester. This virtual adaptation was true to the in-person version, in that the learning was multidisciplinary, requiring students to grow as scholars as they bridged learning between language arts, social studies, and science.

Marin Leroy, Environmental Education Teacher

In addition to the three pillars of sustainability, the workshops encouraged students to develop their individual interests, allowing them to build an independent course of study within the expedition content.

In these workshops, students lead in-depth examinations of their subject matter. We encouraged students to take ownership of their project, allowing their creativity and voice to shine through. This could be challenging, because students moved at different paces, but due to the nature of our small group design, we were able to provide more intentional teaching on an individual basis to support students in producing their best quality work.

Mikhayla Sifontes, Fifth Grade Associate Teacher

The workshops wrapped up with a three-paragraph essay. The same questions - What is sustainability? Why is sustainability important? - produced 51 individual perspectives. Students defined sustainability through examples involving worms, the carbon cycle, soil pH: whatever they found most interesting. The goal was for students to be self-directed and exercise freedom of choice in their activities and research. Looking back, Marin Leroy reflected, “This expedition is great! I'm proud of our adaptation. We tried new things and I believe students were really engaged overall.”

Racism in Science | Grade 8

Typically, eighth grade’s fall expedition focuses on regional history and Appalachian culture. After the pandemic inverted 2020’s school structure, current events in America called for a deep dive into diversity and equity studies. Given that seventh and eighth grade teachers shape their curriculum to fit the interests and needs of the students, not the other way around, the eighth grade class branched out to explore a broader national history. The level of autonomy and trust the administration affords teachers allowed them to take risks with their teaching, try new ideas and approaches, and respond to stimuli in real-time.

This past fall’s curriculum opened with a reading of Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi. Prepared with a bedrock of history and anthropology from their own backyard, eighth grade made use of integrated learning, enhancing the humanities with a scientific approach. The takeaway? There is no biological or genetic basis for race. It is a fabricated label. Unlike many animals, modern humans have not existed for long enough, nor have populations been isolated enough, to evolve into separate subspecies or races.

Scientifically, racism should not exist; yet it does exist anthropologically, and the eighth grade class held a series of discussions examining racism’s function as a scientific construct to justify social inequality. Teachers prioritized avoiding the “white savior” mentality, and preventing a sense of hopelessness from overtaking students.

Most Evergreen students have experienced life in the Asheville area as White people in primarily White spaces, with limited personal exposure to the negative effects of racism and discrimination. Regardless, teachers observed that the overall course content was not new or eye-opening to students. They were previously unaware of the misuse of science in conjunction with racism, however, and the ways science was manipulated through history to justify slavery, oppression, and assert one group of people’s superiority over another group using defenses such as skull size and genetics. At the end of the expedition, most students reported feeling more confident and capable of having conversations about racism from an informed place.

Last fall, the eighth grade curriculum emphasized social responsibility. Students built a foundational historical knowledge of racism in the U.S., and were challenged to establish an ongoing conversation. The aim was to inspire critical thinking, empowering students to proceed with an investigative lens and make confident, informed choices. Seventh/eighth grade science teacher Jason Carter commented, “What I love about teaching science is that there’s no final answer. Understanding keeps evolving.”

: : Spotlight: Social Participation in Grades 5-8

By Jesse Wharton, Seventh & Eighth Grade English Language Arts Teacher

Fifth through eighth grade students were given the opportunity to vote in this year's general election via an anonymous Google Form, complete with resources to learn about candidates and their positions. The ballot mirrored Buncombe County's ballot, from the presidential candidates to the school board. 130 students voted. Here are some of their answers to the question, Why did you vote the way you did?

“I voted like this because I researched each candidate and decided which ones would be good for our country and state.”

“Because that is what I believe would support our country.”

“I think they will be good leaders.”

“His views line up more with what I believe.”

“Because I have been persuaded by my parents and ads on the internet.”

“Because I believe in what he says he will do and I think that it will benefit my community.”

Riffing on Monopoly and the Opportunity Gap

By Jen McMonigle, Third Grade Associate Teacher

In October 2020, third grade Crew played a JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion) game nicknamed Busy Beavers, where beavers represented U.S. citizens. Its goal was to illuminate the advantages and disadvantages that contribute to overall quality of life, encourage creative thinking, and demonstrate how socioeconomic factors play out in groups and individual lives.

Playing the Game

Each day, beavers built houses and were paid for the same five hours of work, regardless of how many houses they built. Beavers received pay rates based on their gender and color, which represented Latinx (blue), Black (green), Native American (orange), White (purple), and Asian (silver) groups, and corresponding wages were based on actual data.

For instance, male silver beavers made $55 on a standard day, and female green beavers made $30. Many purple beavers started out with up to $200 in savings. After getting paid, beavers could buy things. For example, a house cost $50, a car cost $20, and food cost $5 per person.

Throughout the game, students faced real-life choices and their potential consequences:

If you don’t buy food, what are you eating? If you don’t eat for a few days, how are you feeling?

If you can’t afford a house, then where are you staying? 

If you don’t have a car, how are you getting to work?

Teachers wove in challenges, echoing events that tend to happen in real life. Some students had a car and parked on the street, then got towed, lost their car, and missed out on half a day’s work. Many students’ children got sick, and had to either find childcare or forfeit a day's wages.

By the end of the game, students were discussing why one student was considering buying a rocket ship, which she could potentially accomplish with her financial cushion, while most students were struggling to take care of themselves and their family members who had moved in with them.

Sprouting Seeds of Awareness

After playing Busy Beavers, teachers debriefed students on the gender wage gap and racial disparities. Most children struggled to understand why some beavers made more or less money, especially women’s lower income. Some felt the system was rigged against them, defending their level of productivity and the quality of their work, which held little bearing on financial results. Meanwhile, a few formed alliances, thriving on the power they felt from making large amounts of money.

Weeks later, third grade Crew members were still requesting to play Busy Beavers. Rehashing the game provided an opportunity to connect their experiences with real-world situations, reimagined through a lens of empathy. These conversations cultivate seeds of awareness, supporting Evergreen's Habits of Scholars, particularly compassion & gratitude (Habits of Relationship), and curiosity and courage (Habits of Self).

The Importance of Crew

Founded in research that demonstrates social and emotional development as highly beneficial to academic success, crews focus on life skills and character development through innovative activities and lessons. Crews provide a peer community as well as a supportive relationship with an adult advisor.

Evergreen is a community; we are a group of people coming together to make something of value happen.

We are here for each other in the good times and the not so good times. We are working together to keep us all safe, healthy, and secure. The need for the Evergreen Fund is still very real this year; maybe more so now than ever.

We realize we are asking at a difficult time. Please know that a gift at any level is important and impactful to Evergreen.

Mission

Evergreen Community Charter School is a learning community committed to the pursuit of excellence in the holistic education of mind, body, and spirit. We prepare students for successful lifelong learning, social responsibility, environmental stewardship, and service. We value the voice of every member of our community.

Vision

Working in partnership with parents, elders, and the community, Evergreen Community Charter School offers an academically challenging, developmentally appropriate, experiential, holistic, child-centered education to all young people. We nurture a passion for learning that lasts a lifetime as we challenge our community to discover their individual gifts, to honor their inner worth, to strive for excellence, to pursue respectful and ethical relationships with themselves and others, and to find their own path of service.

EL Education Design Principles

Collaboration and Competition

Diversity and Inclusion

The Natural World

Solitude and Reflection

Service and Compassion

Where learning is an adventure

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