Curriculum — Claire Hasson

Portfolio

Curriculum

Real projects, planning materials, and evidence of student learning — the concrete work behind the philosophy.

Frameworks I design against

NGSS Next Generation Science Standards — engineering design & scientific practices
Common Core Literacy & math practices woven into project-based units
ISTE ISTE Standards for Students & Educators — ed-tech integration
CSTA K-12 Computer Science Standards — computational thinking & coding practice
UN SDGs Sustainable Development Goals — real-world purpose behind the engineering
Project photos 1 / 6
Students in safety goggles testing water samples for pH, ammonia, and nitrate levels
A murky drainage pond on campus, the untreated water source students sampled and tested
Completed Global Goal 6 water-testing worksheet with recorded pH, ammonia, and nitrate readings for bottled, tap, and mystery water samples
Student engineering-design worksheets sketching biochar-sand-gravel filter layers
Blue barrel filtration system built and installed on campus
Students presenting their water filtration project to the class, explaining the lack of safe drinking water and their design solution
Grade 5Science · CitizenshipNGSS 5-ESS3-1SDG 6ISTE 4c

Water Filtration & Global Goal 6

Students unpacked UN Global Goal #6 (Clean Water & Sanitation), then ran real water-quality tests — pH, ammonia, nitrate — on samples before hearing from AP Environmental Science students about ECHO Asia's filtration work. They designed and built their own biochar-sand-gravel filter models, tested them on dirty water, and rewrote their designs based on results. Reading and writing were built in throughout: journal entries connected the science to sanitation as a global-citizenship issue, not just an engineering one.

Lesson plans & rubric — coming soon
Project photos 1 / 7
The full Discover STREAM display of every group's green building model forming a sustainable city skyline
Completed Green Building Research Hunt worksheet naming real-world green buildings and what makes them sustainable
Slide outlining the green building model project guidelines: renewable energy, sustainable food source, recycled materials, and disaster resistance
Student's labeled 2D green building design sketch with solar panels and wind turbines, alongside research notes and geometric building toys
Student designing a wind turbine piece in Tinkercad during the 3D CAD design phase
A 3D printer finishing student-designed building components for the model builds
Finished cardboard green building model with a water recycling tank, solar panels, and garden
Grade 4Earth Science · EngineeringNGSS 4-ESS3-2SDG 11ISTE 4b

Sustainable Cities: Thinking & Building Green

Tied to Global Goal #11 (Sustainable Cities & Communities), students researched green buildings from around the world, then moved from 2D sketches into 3D Tinkercad models before building physical prototypes engineered to resist earthquakes and weathering while incorporating renewable-energy features. A follow-on design challenge — a solar-powered community warning system — pulled in geography, cost comparisons of green vs. traditional materials, and measurement-heavy math for scale and structure.

Lesson plans & rubric — coming soon
Project photos 1 / 6
Class group photo after a litter clean-up field trip tied to the composting unit
Student testing a Makey Makey and Scratch compost-sorting game they coded, next to their compost bin design worksheet
Composting scavenger hunt worksheet on a nature walk, identifying brown and green matter
Students weighing cafeteria food waste on a scale to track and graph compost data
Students sorting cafeteria waste into buckets as part of the compost program
Student examining finished compost with a magnifying glass and recording observations in a reading journal
Grade 5Life Science · Ed-TechNGSS 5-LS2-1SDG 12CSTA 1B-AP-10

Soil, Waste & Composting (feat. Makey Makey)

Students designed an actual compost program using cafeteria food waste to feed the Grade 3 garden project, tracking and graphing waste data along the way. The tech layer: teams built an interactive Makey Makey + Scratch display — brown matter, green matter, carbon and nitrogen — to teach younger students how composting works, then wrote and delivered the public-speaking piece themselves. A nature-walk scavenger hunt and a garden clean-up field trip grounded the science in hands-on fieldwork.

Lesson plans & rubric — coming soon
Project photos 1 / 9
Students testing their ocean-cleanup device in an inflatable pool, scooping floating plastic debris
Student at a computer starting a Nearpod lesson focused on Global Goals 14 (Life Below Water) and 15 (Life on Land)
Students playing a habitat card game exploring how pollution and habitat loss affect ocean and land animals
Block code from Code.org's AI Oceans project, programming a boat to catch fish and stop once it reaches its limit
Materials budget worksheet students used to plan spending before shopping for supplies
Priced makerspace materials laid out for students to shop for their ocean-cleanup device, including wood stakes and binder clips
A design blueprint worksheet next to a student's prototype ocean-cleanup device
Students cutting mesh netting to build their ocean-cleanup device
Close-up of a student's design worksheet noting improvements needed after testing their device
Grade 3Life Science · EngineeringNGSS 3-5-ETS1-2SDG 14 · 15CSTA 1B-AP-15

Ocean Cleanup Inventions (feat. Code.org AI Oceans)

Anchored in Global Goals #14 and #15 (Life Below Water and Life on Land), students explored habitat destruction and microplastics through books, articles, and Nearpod virtual field trips, then coded through Code.org's AI Oceans project before moving into engineering. Teams set a materials budget, "shopped" for supplies, and built ocean-cleanup devices from recycled plastic and makerspace materials — testing them in an inflatable pool and revising based on what actually worked.

Lesson plans & rubric — coming soon
Project photos 1 / 6
Finished pancakes, a recipe card, and a scored Pancake Rubric from a guest judge
Smartboard slide assigning Prep Team and Cooking Team job roles for the pancake cook-off
Labeled ingredient jars, a whisk, and measuring tools set out with Prep Team and Cooking Team job tags
A student on the Cooking Team pouring batter into a pan to cook a test pancake
Student recording team jobs on a Design a Pancake worksheet
Close-up of a Design a Pancake data log scoring batter, bubbles, edge, and taste for each ingredient amount tested
Grade 5Physical ScienceNGSS 5-PS1-4ISTE 6

The Science of Cooking: Designing the Perfect Pancake

A matter-and-mixtures unit disguised as a cook-off: after a talk from a professional chef on recipe development, students ran genuine trial-and-error testing — changing ingredients, ratios, and mixing order — to engineer "the perfect pancake" while tracking physical and chemical changes in their data logs. The unit closed with a Canva recipe infographic and a video-documented Google Site blog post, walking through their process in chronological, instructional writing.

Lesson plans & rubric — coming soon
Project photos 1 / 7
A Makey Makey piano circuit wired through a banana and a cup of water
Smartboard slide introducing the Senses, Circuits, Solutions assistive-technology design challenge
Students testing materials for conductivity with a Makey Makey and tablet game, recording predictions on a worksheet
Close-up of a Will It Conduct worksheet as a student tests a cup of water with Makey Makey alligator clips
Student writing Scratch code blocks to animate a space-themed project
Student using a Makey Makey circuit board wired to a cardboard AAC device showing 'Yes' on a tablet
Students building a cardboard flower AAC device with common phrases, wired to a Makey Makey and Scratch project reading 'I'm fine'
Grade 4Life Science · EngineeringNGSS 4-LS1-2SDG 10CSTA 1B-IC-18

Senses, Circuits & Solutions (feat. Makey Makey)

Starting from open vs. closed circuits and conductors vs. insulators, students used Makey Makey and Scratch to design an original assistive-technology device — something that helps a person sense, respond to, or interact with the world in a new way. The unit pulled in the real history of assistive technology, discussions of accessibility and equity across countries, and an economics angle on the cost and availability of assistive devices worldwide.

Lesson plans & rubric — coming soon
Project photos 1 / 8
The whole grade posed on stage with NASA and HASSE banners after their space school video call
Wide view of the school auditorium during a live HASSE Space School session, with a solar system diagram on the big screen and an inflatable astronaut on stage
Live video call with a NASA scientist projected on the big screen during the interview
Two students on stage sharing the microphone during the space school Q&A
Students at a laptop next to the HASSE astronaut mascot, preparing questions for the NASA scientist interview
Students measuring and cutting acoustic foam panels to build their own podcast soundbooth
Close-up of a student's book-source citation worksheet, recording the title, author, and publisher for their podcast research
Soundtrap Education studio timeline showing the recorded voice and sound-effect tracks for the Big Space Questions podcast episode
Podcast · ResearchMedia & CommunicationISTE 6Soundtrap · Canva

HASSE Space School Podcast: Interviewing a NASA Scientist (feat. Soundtrap & Canva)

Working with HASSE Space School, students researched and conducted an interview with a NASA scientist, citing their sources properly along the way, then used the conversation as primary research for an original podcast episode. They recorded and edited in Soundtrap Education, designed their own show logo and cover art in Canva, and even built a soundbooth by hand to control audio quality, folding research citation, interview technique, and audio production into a single unit.

Lesson plans & rubric — coming soon

Teachers Pay Teachers

Once your store is live, link it here so visitors can browse and purchase your planning materials directly.

Coming soon