2013-2014 Expeditions

The year will begin by honoring the newest learners at GCCS by exploring what it means to grow as artists, musicians, movers, problem solvers, authors, and friends. Kindergarteners will participate in a Baby Case Study to observe firsthand how all people begin to grow and learn. Their first expedition will also start from the beginning of time, as they delve into the world of mastodons and fossils. Kindergarteners will experience storytelling as a method of instruction, sharing ideas, and...

During the first few weeks of school, while setting up classroom jobs, students will spend time learning more about the classroom salt water tank since caring for it will be a new classroom job. In order to learn more about saltwater animals, the class will take a field study to the “ocean.” A surprising turn of events on this field study will lead first graders to travel millions of years into the past to uncover the story of the earth and the creatures that lived here during the Paleozoic...

People like to say “seeing is believing,” but is that always the case? In this expedition, second graders will explore some misconceptions that, to their senses, appear true. For example, the ground we walk on looks flat – does that mean the earth is flat? People believed this to be true for thousands of years, until they found new evidence.

Second graders will learn to think like scientists about what evidence is reliable and how we know what is true and false. Students will...

What is up? The first expedition for the third graders this year will tackle some of the many meanings of this question. What’s up there in the nighttime sky? What does up really mean? What’s up with patterns on the earth, including day and night, phases of the moon, and the seasons? In order to uncover the answers to these questions, students will grapple with content and concepts including the solar system, gravity, light, and the origin of the universe, among others.

A major focus...

How has the area we live in been shaped over time? How do scientists know that the earth has changed over time? What might the Genesee River look like in the future? Throughout the next twelve weeks the fourth grade class will investigate these questions as they travel to the source of the Genesee River and follow the river to its outlet in Charlotte.

The class will investigate the “stories” written by the fluvial process along the Genesee River. What has this region seen throughout...

Change may come swiftly, like the construction of a new building, or it may happen so gradually that you won’t notice it in one human lifetime. What did the area we know as Rochester look like 20,000 years ago? Hundreds of millions of years ago? Few of us would be likely to recognize the landscape. Change has been happening on our planet to create and alter landmarks we take for granted such as our mighty Genesee River, which once ran in a different direction.

Students will journey...

As always, the launch of another sixth grade year equals a dynamic yearlong study for students to sink their teeth into. However, the topic is currently “tight-lipped” until it is unveiled during the first few weeks of school. We can, nevertheless, share with you a few bits of information.

Our first few weeks of school will allow students to reconvene as a classroom community and make connections about why a community is essential to humans’ well-being and survival. A new frontier for...

Kindergarten’s winter expedition kicks off with an introduction of Yehsennohweh, who is the carrier of the stories. The story of Grandmother Moon returns to deliver new information about how the Seneca People arrived.

An authentic Seneca basket is an anchor artifact for this expedition. Kindergarteners arelearning the important roles weaving played in Seneca culture. Questions will be answered about Seneca culture using artifacts, exhibits, and texts.

The Great Stone visited first graders and told them the first stories ever told of what the earth was like millions of years ago. The class recognized the warm prehistoric seas but then also saw that as time passed and the earth changed dinosaurs came and went as well as the ice age. The Great Stone told these stories to the first graders as well as to a hunter boy who would travel back to his family and tell them the amazing things he had heard.

Storytelling was an important part of life for most Native American tribes. As second graders begin their study of the Native Peoples of North America, they will learn to be storytellers. Students will learn to retell Native American stories and they will also write their own story that describes life in one of the regions of North America. These stories will all be woven together, each starting with a stone that is found in that region.