Explorations, a book in the Multiage Differentiated Curriculum Kit for Grades 4-6, gives students the opportunity to explore our world. The books in Prufrock's new Differentiated Curriculum Kits employ a differentiated, integrated curriculum based on broad themes. This all-in-one curriculum helps teachers save planning time, ensure compliance with national standards, and most importantly, pique their students' natural excitement and interest in discovery.
By participating in the wide variety of activities in the Multiage Differentiated Curriculum Kit for Grades 4-6, students will explore the world around them and gain a lifelong desire to learn. From the mysterious depths of the ocean, to the craters of Mars, students will be challenged to go a step beyond the explorers who came before them. In one activity, students will act as explorers and examine the culture they live in. Students then will take characteristics from their discoveries and try to adapt them to another civilization. Social inequality and the effects of nutritional habits on the heart will be examined. Students also will explore winter survival tactics and retrace the steps of some famous explorers, such as Marco Polo.
Explorations, along with the other books in the Multiage Differentiated Curriculum Kit for Grades 4-6 (
Balances,
Choices,
Questions, and
Viewpoints), makes teaching advanced learners easier!
Grades 4-6
This curriculum unit makes use of the following great children's literature books:
- Marco Polo: A Journey Through China by Fiona MacDonald;
- Brian's Winter by Gary Paulsen;
- How Do You Lift a Lion? by Robert E. Walls (optional) and;
- The Magic of M.C. Escher by M.C. Escher et al. (optional).
Brenda McGee is an experienced, award-winning teacher and published writer. She has taught in public and private schools in kindergarten through eighth grade. She was the cofounder of former publisher McGee-Keiser Academic Enrichment Programs, based in Plano, TX. She is the author of several previous books, two of which have won awards for outstanding curricula for gifted and talented students from the National Association for Gifted Children.
Debbie Keiser is author or coauthor of more than two dozen books, including Solving the Research Puzzle, Earth Central, Ph.D.: Doctor of Sciences, and several titles in the popular Differentiated Curriculum series. She was the cofounder of former publishing house McGee-Keiser Academic Enrichment Programs, based in Plano, TX.
Mary Hennenfent is a full-time gifted educator in the Francis Howell School District in St. Charles, MO. She has 23 years of classroom experience: 14 years in science and 9 years in gifted education. Hennenfent received her master's degree from Lindenwood University and her Ed.D from California Coast University. Hennenfent is active in science fairs at the regional and international levels. She also speaks at state and national gifted conferences. She loves reading, traveling, and all things Disney. She resides with her husband, Greg, and her daughter, Samantha, in O'Fallon, MO.
Charles Nusinov has been a school administrator for more than 5 years, working with students and teachers in grades K–8. He has worked to integrate math curriculum across the other core areas and focused on the success of high-achieving students. Currently, he is on a pilot committee of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District in Charlotte, NC, to bring inquiry-based standard math curriculum into the school's elementary classrooms. Nusinov was a math teacher for grades 3–12. He has taught basic math skills through AP Geometry in both public and charter schools. He assisted in bringing math into the community with Saturday events in the Mecklenburg Math Club and assisted in the University of North Carolina Middle Grades Math research and development opportunities with the North Carolina Department of Instruction. His classroom time led him to win the North Carolina Presidential Award for Mathematics Teaching, NCTM Teacher of the Year, and the NCPTA Educator of the Year. During his time teaching, an opportunity arose to edit and write math curriculum for gifted learners. Nusinov has edited and published more than a dozen pieces of work to inspire teachers to make students reach further.
