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King School

An independent day school educating students PreK-Grade 12

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Welcome to Connecticut! Grade 3 Shares State Knowledge With Friends and Family

Topping off their in-depth study of Connecticut, Grade 3 students recently welcomed friends and family to an interactive Connecticut Visitors Center in the Lower School Library Learning Commons. During the January 15 event, students shared their knowledge of significant locations and landmarks in the Constitution State following months of lessons and research.

The study began in November, with teachers Ellen Eagleton and Samantha Clark covering key topics such as the state's bodies of water, land regions, history, and first inhabitants. Field trips to the state capitol, Mark Twain House, and Stamford Historical Society, as well as an in-school workshop on clipper ships led by the Eli Whitney Workshop, added additional depth to the unit. 

As they developed a fluency in the state’s features, students created a list of three topics they were interested in researching further. Eagleton and Clark selected one for each student, with some intentional overlap.

“We wanted the students to have a voice and choice about what aspect of Connecticut they would like to learn more about,” said Eagleton. “The students chose their topic, and if it was shared by someone else, they could bounce ideas off each other as they researched.”

Using a structured planner to guide their work, students identified main ideas, paraphrased, summarized, and extracted key details from curated online nonfiction sources. 

“I learned that New Haven and Hartford were dual capitals until 1875,” said Charlie Tangney ’34.

“More than 10,000 students go to Yale, and it has one of the biggest libraries in the country,” noted Cordelia Beverly ’34.

The final components of the project involved assistance from Teacher Librarian Leigh Roberts, who helped students condense their information into brochures using Canva. These brochures were complimented by student-designed quizzes to test the knowledge of their Visitor Center attendees.

As they transition into their next unit on sustainability, the students will build upon these research and analysis skills, applying them to persuasive writing and group projects focused on environmental change.