Lab Days are excellent opportunities for special projects and learning experiences in the classrooms. Lab Days double the length of class periods and span two academic days each marking period. These days earned their moniker because they originally allowed science classes to complete the longer format lab experiments. While the Science Department certainly continues to use the days for this purpose, other departments and teachers use these days in a variety of ways.
During the Marking Period 1 Lab Days, ninth grade students in Mrs. Curtis’ World History classes participated in a Cave Woman Day. The double period allowed the students sufficient time to experience life as an early human. They constructed garments made from materials that represented animal skins that early humans might have used for clothing. The students also needed to work together to assemble domiciles, forage for food, and create animal traps using only the tools and materials that early humans would have used.
This is just one example of the many interesting and beneficial ways teachers opt to use their extended periods.