9th Grade  Project 2 weeks

Lit Up: Candle Craft & English

Reina T
Updated
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.7
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.9-10.7
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.9-10.5
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.5
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.10
+ 5 more
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Purpose

Students investigate how candle making connects craft, science, storytelling, and audience by researching a self-generated question and creating an original written product tied to their findings. The experience builds English skills through source synthesis, routine writing, revision, and writing for a clear purpose and audience, while also developing communication, critical thinking, and self-direction. With input from a local candle maker or small business owner, students create work to share in a gallery walk and use written reflection, self-assessment, and teacher feedback to evaluate both their process and final product.

Learning goals

Students will research a self-generated question about candle making, such as how scent, symbolism, or marketing shapes meaning, and synthesize information from multiple credible sources into clear written products. They will strengthen their writing through planning, drafting, revising, and editing for specific audiences, including a product description, process explanation, and short research-based reflection. Students will communicate their learning through discussion, feedback, and a gallery walk display that combines written analysis with their candle-making process and final product. They will use self-assessment, teacher feedback, and written reflection to monitor progress, solve design and research challenges, and make purposeful choices throughout the project.

Standards
  • [Common Core] CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.7 - Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.
  • [Common Core] CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.9-10.7 - Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.
  • [Common Core] CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.9-10.5 - Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on addressing what is most significant for a specific purpose and audience.
  • [Common Core] CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.5 - Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on addressing what is most significant for a specific purpose and audience.
  • [Common Core] CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.10 - Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.
Competencies
  • Effective Communication - Students practice listening to understand, communicating with empathy, and share their learning through exhibiting, presenting and reflecting on their work.
  • Critical Thinking & Problem Solving - Students consider a variety of innovative approaches to address and understand complex questions that are authentic and important to their communities.
  • Content Expertise - Students develop key competencies, skills, and dispositions with ample opportunities to apply knowledge and engage in work that matters to them.
  • Self Directed Learning - Students use teacher and peer feedback and self-reflection to monitor and direct their own learning while building self knowledge both in and out of the classroom.
  • Collaboration - Students co-design projects with peers, exercise shared-decision making, strengthen relational agency, resolve conflict, and assume leadership roles.

Products

Students will create a research notebook with source notes, inquiry questions, daily quickwrites, and written reflections on their process and learning. They will also produce a polished informational or argumentative piece connecting candle making to a literary, historical, or practical question, showing evidence from multiple sources and revision through drafts, peer feedback, self-assessment, and teacher assessment. As a hands-on product, students will design and make a small candle or candle prototype with a labeled process card that explains materials, choices, and safety considerations. For the gallery walk, they will present their final paper, product display, and a concise visual such as a one-page infographic or poster that shares key findings with classmates and any community partner.

Launch

Begin with a “Scent, Story, and Question” experience: the student examines several candles or scent samples, reads two short texts about candle making (one literary excerpt using candle imagery and one informational source on materials or safety), and records observations, emotions, and questions in a research notebook. Invite a community partner such as a local candle maker, artisan, or small business owner to join briefly in person or by video to share how written instructions, product descriptions, and research matter in real candle production. Then have the student draft a self-generated driving question such as how candle making combines craft, science, and storytelling, and complete a short written reflection plus self-assessment on what they already know, what they want to investigate, and how they want to present their learning in a final gallery walk.

Exhibition

Host a gallery walk featuring the student’s finished candle, research notes, draft-to-final writing samples, and a polished informational or argumentative piece answering a self-generated research question about candle making. Include a display card that explains the candle’s design choices, source-based findings, and revisions made after peer and teacher feedback. Invite a community partner such as a local candle maker, artisan, or small business owner, along with peers and staff, to give warm and cool feedback using a simple response form. End with a brief student talk in which the student reflects on what they learned about research, writing, and communicating to a real audience.