K-12 performance tasks in 

Students assume a role in which they have their own regular podcast where they talk about social issues with peers their age. During the last episode, there was debate about whether or not social media is helpful or harmful. For their next episode, each trio of podcast mates have decided they will discuss this question, "Do the benefits of social media outweigh the potential negative costs?" Each team conducts research on several recent social movements and the impact of social media on them, and creates a 5-8 minute podcast that explores this question.

Students select a culturally relevant leader or activist who they identity with, admire, and/or have an interest in. Students research and examine the person's life experiences, challenges and accomplishments. Students then write an essay explaining how the leader/ activist exemplified the school's virtues (or principles) in their life. Last, students present their findings and conclusions.

Students apply their understanding of area and perimeter to design a layout for the school's STEAM Showcase. Students visualize how they could combine and align actual cafeteria tables to create rectangular and rectilinear shapes before calculating the area and perimeter of their proposed displays for the showcase. Students then use multiple modalities, such as Geoboards, grid paper, and Google Draw to design their layouts. Lastly, they each write a description of their layout and their reasoning behind how they partitioned the cafeteria space using polygonal language (i.e. the attributes of the polygons they create).

In pairs, students choose a habitat to research. After gathering research with their partner, each student creates a written report that includes information about the habitat, such as the animals and plants you may find there, the temperature and climate, where the habitat is located and how the habitat provides for the plants and animals there. As well, each student selects one animal and explains how the animal adapted to living in the habitat and how the habitat supports this animal. Then, partner teams create a visual product such as a poster, diorama, or PowerPoint presentation and give an oral presentation to the class.

In pairs, students create a blueprint of the playground for the school, including various structures they would like to see in their park. They measure the recess yard in meters and create a 20-scale version, measuring the area/perimeter in square meters and meters. The students write a persuasive essay in ELA to convince an audience that their playground is the best design for the school. Students present their designs to the school families and community. The selected design is then built collaboratively in art class as a 30-scale model.

In small groups, students choose a region of the U.S. to research and identify its features, including physical features, climate, natural resources, wildlife, important cities, historical landmarks, and national parks in order to answer the questions of what makes your region unique and how does your region contribute to the greater good of the country. Students then create a regional seal and a written and/or multi-media piece to persuade people to visit the region, and present to the larger community.

Based upon their knowledge of how stars and constellations are formed as well as myths about the origin of stars and constellations, students create their own origin story of the process.

Students are provided multiple entry points to research, reflect, and ruminate on the essential question: "How does our culture affect us individually and as a community?" Students write a personal narrative exploring one of four prompts related to culture. Students then illustrate their essay with a visual presentation of their choice (i.e., movie, PowerPoint, poster, etc.) and present the essay and illustration to the class. As a culminating event, essays and visuals are displayed at a school-wide cultural potluck event for parents, families, and community members.

Students pick a Field Trip location (from a given list of possible local Field Trips). They research the location. They are responsible for calculating costs of the field trip including bus fee and entrance fee for each student/classroom. They write an informational text (Travel Guide) on their Field Trip destination and argue that one field trip should be chosen. Their argument should take cost into consideration, but they do not necessarily have to argue for the cheapest trip.

The theme of the unit is Consequences of South Africa's history of apartheid. Students research the advances South Africans have made towards equity using textbooks, the internet, and charts/graphs. They then write a script for a podcast that clearly cites their research and in which they present original proposals for steps an international aid organization and the South African government could take to advance equity, based on their knowledge of how change happens. Students record, edit and publish their podcasts using Google Chromebooks and tools.