Trade Secrets of a Hands-On Learning Lab at Heritage ECS

When an English language arts (ELA) unit begins with a classroom dinosaur hunt and ends with a grade-wide dinosaur trading card expo…how can learning not be fun and engaging?

This philosophy defines Heritage Early Childhood School second grade teacher Jenny Herkins’s approach to most of her units. Even with the herculean task of implementing a brand new English language arts curriculum last school year, Herkins couldn’t ignore the series of hands-on activities she dreamed up for the dinosaur module. This included a clay sculpting project, paleontology dig in kinetic sand and some sort of culminating trading card event. 

“[Learning and implementing the new curriculum] was very overwhelming, but I’m not a big dip your toe in the water type of gal,” Herkins laughed. “I pretty much jumped right in.”

As the mother of three boys, she tapped into her personal experience and “happy memories” with trading cards, crafting a final activity that would give her students an opportunity to literally share their learning with one another. “My natural inclination is to be project-based and working toward something tangible,” said Herkins, explaining that the opportunity to share makes learning more real and authentic. “It gives them a reason and a purpose and gets them excited about their learning.” 

Each quarterly unit in the new ELA curriculum includes different hands-on labs to help reinforce learning. The trading card expo was an extension of the final research lab, challenging students to become the expert on a single dinosaur and “create a card that they could be proud of,” Herkins explained. Students made copies of their card, preserving their original with a laminated cover, and then traded their copied versions with their classmates to ultimately gather a full set of unique trading cards. 

The inaugural event was such a success that with the encouragement of the school principal, Ben Schneider, and teacher leader, Christa MacFarlane, Herkins took it to the entire second grade team to replicate on a larger scale this school year. The team went to work on planning an event that could include all 250 students. 

“I’m so glad we decided to go big and let everyone trade all at once,” Herkins said. Students lined the perimeter of the school gym the afternoon of the event. The midcourt line was their boundary for the first half of the event in which they were limited to trading cards with just half of the second grade classes. During the second half, the pool widened and they had a chance to trade with more classmates. The gym buzzed with excitement when they were given the green light to begin their trades, all while theme music from “Jurassic Park” played in the background. 

“There’s something so special about taking learning outside of the traditional classroom and giving students a chance to share their learning with friends that they don’t always interact with,” Herkins said.

She was especially impressed by the impact the activity had on several students from the school’s social communication classroom (SCC), who traditionally have difficulty accessing the general curriculum. “To see their independence grow was just amazing,” she said. “They were able to move through the gym without much direction and communicate with all their peers. It was a big deal.”

Above all else, she appreciates that the event seemed to validate her students’ work. The team worked hard to make it unique, including an invitation to special visitors around the school and even the district. “This sent a message to our kids that the information we learn is important and that the work we do here at school is valuable.” 

Already looking toward next year, the Heritage team has its sights set on partnering with the second grade team at another early childhood school. Who is ready for the challenge?