Akan-rooted
Learning values community, memory, responsibility, wisdom, creativity, and relationships across generations.
Curriculum foundation
Inclusive by design
Students receive explicit teaching, accessible materials, purposeful repetition, multiple representations, and multiple ways to demonstrate learning.
Restorative and humane
Reflection, dialogue, repair, collaboration, and growth replace fear-based discipline and unnecessary high-stakes testing.
Enduring learning goals
01
Explain interactions among Earth’s major systems
02
Use maps, models, measurements, and datasets
03
Investigate weather, water, rocks, landforms, and natural hazards
04
Connect Gulf Coast conditions to global Earth processes
05
Evaluate environmental claims and evidence
06
Design practical responses to local resilience challenges
9 weeks
Earth Materials & Deep Time
Essential question: What can rocks and fossils tell us about change?
Core learning: Minerals; rock cycle; fossils; relative time; Earth history
Culminating demonstration
Create an evidence-based Earth-history timeline and local sediment model.
Create an evidence-based Earth-history timeline and local sediment model.
9 weeks
Plate Tectonics, Landforms & Hazards
Essential question: Why is Earth’s surface always changing?
Core learning: Earth layers; plate movement; earthquakes; volcanoes; erosion
Culminating demonstration
Build and test a model showing how Earth processes create hazards and landforms.
Build and test a model showing how Earth processes create hazards and landforms.
9 weeks
Water Systems & the Mississippi Delta
Essential question: How does water shape land and life?
Core learning: Water cycle; watersheds; rivers; deltas; wetlands; groundwater
Culminating demonstration
Investigate a Mississippi River–wetland question and propose a resilience strategy.
Investigate a Mississippi River–wetland question and propose a resilience strategy.
9 weeks
Weather, Atmosphere & Hurricanes
Essential question: How do we read the atmosphere and prepare for risk?
Core learning: Air masses; fronts; pressure; forecasting; hurricanes; preparedness
Culminating demonstration
Produce an accessible hurricane science and preparedness communication product.
Produce an accessible hurricane science and preparedness communication product.
9 weeks
Energy in Earth Systems
Essential question: How does energy move through Earth and atmosphere?
Core learning: Radiation; convection; conduction; ocean-atmosphere interactions
Culminating demonstration
Model an Earth energy process and explain the limits of the model.
Model an Earth energy process and explain the limits of the model.
9 weeks
Climate Evidence & Change
Essential question: How do scientists know climate changes?
Core learning: Climate vs. weather; proxy data; trends; carbon cycle; uncertainty
Culminating demonstration
Analyze a climate dataset and communicate a careful evidence-based conclusion.
Analyze a climate dataset and communicate a careful evidence-based conclusion.
9 weeks
Coasts, Subsidence & Sea-Level Risk
Essential question: Why are some communities more exposed to environmental change?
Core learning: Coastal processes; subsidence; sea level; wetlands; infrastructure; equity
Culminating demonstration
Create a neighborhood-scale risk map and compare possible adaptations.
Create a neighborhood-scale risk map and compare possible adaptations.
9 weeks
Environmental Stewardship Capstone
Essential question: How can communities make responsible Earth-system decisions?
Core learning: Systems thinking; field observation; data; tradeoffs; public communication
Culminating demonstration
Complete a local environmental investigation with findings and a realistic action proposal.
Complete a local environmental investigation with findings and a realistic action proposal.
Weekly instructional cycle
ConnectActivate background knowledge and establish purpose.
ModelTeacher demonstrates the skill with clear thinking aloud.
PracticeStudents rehearse with scaffolds, feedback, and repetition.
ApplyStudents use the learning in a meaningful task or problem.
ReflectStudents explain growth, revise work, and plan a next step.
Daily practice: Lessons may combine mini-lessons, movement, music, visuals, discussion, hands-on materials, small groups, independent work, and teacher conferencing. Pacing changes when student evidence shows that reteaching or extension is needed.
Signature learning experiences
Rock, soil, or sediment investigation
Students plan, create, revise, explain, and share a product that demonstrates both content learning and communication.
Mississippi Delta systems model
Students plan, create, revise, explain, and share a product that demonstrates both content learning and communication.
Hurricane science communication kit
Students plan, create, revise, explain, and share a product that demonstrates both content learning and communication.
Coastal resilience capstone
Students plan, create, revise, explain, and share a product that demonstrates both content learning and communication.
Assessment without high-stakes testing
Frequent evidence
- Conferences and observation
- Exit responses and retrieval practice
- Notebook, portfolio, or model checks
- Short performances and explanations
Culminating evidence
- Unit projects and demonstrations
- Presentations, exhibitions, or performances
- Student reflection and revision
- Standards-aligned teacher rubrics
Reporting progress
Progress reports describe what a student understands, can do independently, can do with support, and should learn next. Grades never stand alone without feedback.
Reteaching and reassessment
Students receive another pathway to learn and another reasonable opportunity to demonstrate growth after feedback and practice.
Inclusive supports
Hands-on models and labeled diagrams
Local photographs, maps, and weather data
Pre-taught scientific vocabulary
Structured observation and lab templates
Captioned demonstrations and repeated trials
Choice of model, poster, report, or recorded explanation
Individualization: Teachers follow each student’s IEP and use present-level data, accommodations, assistive technology, and specially designed instruction. Supports provide access without lowering the intellectual dignity of the work.
Family and community connection
Each semester includes at least one opportunity for students to connect learning to family knowledge, New Orleans, Akan or African diasporic culture, a community concern, or a public audience. Participation options protect privacy and respect different family circumstances.
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