Inside the Classroom: Estrella Rodriguez - Prairie View Elementary
Inside the Classroom: Estrella Rodriguez - Prairie View Elementary
Inside the Classroom is a series that visits Northwest ISD campuses throughout the year and highlights the magical moments that happen between teachers and students each and every day across the entire 234 square miles of NISD.
Students and staff across Northwest ISD are celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month in various ways, and for this week’s Inside the Classroom we are taking you to Prairie View Elementary where Estrella Rodriguez’s fifth grade students are showing off their research skills while honoring Hispanic heritage.
Prairie View is one of NISD’s three elementary schools that offers a dual language program, and Ms. Rodriguez’s class is the lone fifth grade dual language class on campus. In her one-way dual language classroom, most students come from families that speak Spanish at home.
As part of the dual language program, they speak a mixture of Spanish and English at school in order to help develop their proficiency in both languages. Students and teachers speak English in all math and English language arts lessons; and Spanish in all science, social studies and Spanish language arts lessons.
For non-academic time (transitions between lessons, general conversation, etc.), the class has a language of the day and speaks Spanish and English on alternating days.
For this edition of Inside the Classroom, we visited Ms. Rodriguez’s class on consecutive days during social studies time as they kicked off a Hispanic heritage lesson.
On Thursday, Ms. Rodriguez introduced a new lesson in which students would be researching a Hispanic country and making trifold displays from manilla folders to present the information they found.
Students were instantly excited for the innovative and engaging country selection process. Ms. Rodriguez, a Northwest High School graduate, entered each student’s name into a virtual spinning wheel, then did the same with Hispanic countries in order to match students with a country. As each student’s name was selected, the anticipation of what country they would receive was immediately seen on their face.
After the selection process, students grabbed their Chromebooks and found their favorite research spot in the classroom.
Ms. Rodriguez encouraged students to be comfortable and create an environment that best suited their individual needs. Some students put on headphones and worked individually. Some came together in pairs. Some in larger groups. No matter where they decided to go, each student spent the rest of Thursday’s social studies time deep into research.
“I think they love the creative liberty they have when guiding their own research,” Ms. Rodriguez said. “The curiosity to learn about a new subject always wins them over, and they do a great job of staying focused and diving deep into whatever it is they are researching.”
Students were given a worksheet with some facts to look for, such as their country’s government type, currency, native plants and animals, famous citizens and much more. Students that were working in groups could be overheard sharing their newfound knowledge with each other.
Throughout their academic careers, NISD students are taught how to responsibly use technology, and in this lesson they were putting those skills to the test as they navigated Google searches, YouTube videos and other sources looking for accurate information.
Ms. Rodriguez spent the entire rest of the lesson moving around the class and visiting with each student individually. She would settle in at their research station and listen intently as they shared what they had learned so far.
Most of the students are native Spanish speakers, so celebrating Hispanic heritage is personal to them. However, they can’t help but get into the spirit with traditional papel picado hanging from the ceiling, a mix of Latin music playing through the room and Hispanic leaders celebrated in the hallway.
When it was time for social studies on Friday, students jumped right back into their research with no hesitation. Ms. Rodriguez spent just a couple of minutes explaining how the students can complete their trifolds, then they were quickly settling into their research stations.
Throughout Friday’s lesson, many students completed their research and began to create their trifolds, adding the information they found most important or interesting into a format they could share with their peers.
Next week, the finished trifolds will be displayed in the hallway for all Prairie View students, and as they peruse the gallery they’ll be learning more Hispanic heritage and also fostering their own love of research.
Check back regularly all year as we continue to visit students and teachers throughout Northwest ISD and offer a rarely seen look Inside the Classroom.