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Hatboro-Horsham third-graders showcase EnquireEd social studies in community events and museum visit
Summary
Hallowell Elementary third-grade teachers and Principal Steve Glaze presented the EnquireEd inquiry-based social studies curriculum and described classroom projects and family engagement events, including a cultural potluck, a poetry book from a community writing night, outdoor literacy activities and a museum visit tied to immigration studies.
Hallowell Elementary Principal Steve Glaze and a team of third-grade teachers presented the Hatboro-Horsham School District board with examples of student work and family engagement tied to the district's new EnquireEd social studies curriculum.
The presentation outlined how EnquireEd, described by presenters as an inquiry-based program split into three "journeys," engages students in investigating questions, analyzing diverse sources and developing critical thinking. "EnquireEd...is an inquire based journey learning program split into 3 journeys that actively investigate questions, analyze diverse sources, and develop critical thinking skills to deeply understand social studies concepts," Amy Patkos, a third-grade teacher, told the board.
The third-grade team said the unit called "Global Connections" asked students to explore connections to distant places through the movement of people, goods and ideas. As part of a migration-and-movement unit, students examined push-and-pull factors in immigration and compared historical and contemporary stories to deepen their understanding of cultural identity.
Teachers described several classroom and community activities tied to the curriculum. The school paired a cultural potluck and recipe-book project with a two-week outdoor literacy celebration called Write Out, a partnership the presenters said involved the National Park Service and the National Writing Project. "This year's theme was poetry for the planet," a teacher said, and the school produced a printed book of student poetry composed at a family "Break Bread and Bond" evening. Presenters said the book contained the poems written that night; they described the total as "over 49 poems" but did not provide an exact count.
Students also took a field trip to a "college settlement nature camp" and spent time writing and observing outdoors on campus, presenters said. The team described a school visit and follow-up field trip tied to a program they named "Becoming American," delivered by staff from the Weizmann Jewish American Museum. The presentations included artifact handling and a reenactment that let students hear a first‑person account of immigration experiences, the teachers said.
Board members thanked the team for connecting the new curriculum to in-person experiences and family engagement. In remarks following the presentation, a board member praised the "Break Bread and Bond" evening as well attended and said the curriculum had been brought "alive for students" through the trips, workshops and assemblies.
The presentation did not include any formal board action; it was given as information to illustrate classroom implementation and family outreach tied to the new EnquireEd curriculum. Presenters and board members emphasized the events as examples of curriculum-based engagement rather than district policy changes.
The board packet referenced the presentation during the curriculum committee report, and presenters distributed a copy of the student poetry book to board members at the meeting.
