Cody Community Interdisciplinary Unit

As an elementary educator, one of the greatest day-to-day challenges is covering all of the standards while still making learning fun and engaging. Additionally, rigorous standards demand a focus on math and ELA (English language arts), which in turn creates less time in the classroom for concepts such as social studies and science. So, what’s the solution? The short answer is that there is no one- size-fits-all solution for educators. Every class presents a unique variety of academic demands, language challenges, and other internal and external factors. In my limited experience as a student teacher, I have found that interdisciplinary learning is one reasonable solution to challenge of teaching in the 21st century. The interdisciplinary unit I have developed is centered around the Cody, Wyoming community. During my student teaching experience, I noticed that there seems to be a disconnect between young children and the community around them. Being that Cody (and Wyoming in general) is such a small, tight-knit community, I believe there is immense potential for education and collaboration. Additionally, there are many places and people to learn from in Cody that tie into standards that students are already expected to know. With this in mind, I divided this unit into two cohesive subunits: The Cody Community and Yellowstone. Each subunit contains four lessons that build upon each other. At the end of both subunits, students will work together to transform their classroom into an engaging learning environment to share with the school and community.