My U.S. History class was very excited about this project at the beginning of the year. Each student was assigned a person who was significant in colonial times. They had to include pictures and information about the person and display it as if it was a scrapbook page from the time period. We looked at various scrapbook designs and brainstormed ways to make the pages look authentic. I let each student choose a scrapbook page out of a set that had a vintage-like designs. The students had to display their pages for the class and give an oral presentation about their historical figures. Some of them spoke with such passion about the people they researched that it was evident this project was very effective for connecting them with history.
My 6th graders are a creative group and were so excited about this project. I love their enthusiasm, and they did a fantastic job! I am so proud of them!
I made the rubric pretty simplistic, but the day I introduced the project to the class we went into detail in our discussion about what was expected of them with each component. They were very excited about the project and produced creative, quality work. I can't wait until we start our ancient India projects. They're going to love those too!
Thursday the power was out in my room all day so I had to think fast and come up with some lessons plans on the fly that didn't involve technology of any kind. I love it when a last minute plan works out really well. I had my U.S. History class read The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere by Henry Wordsworth Longfellow. We discussed the poem then I paired them up and assigned each group a stanza. They have to memorize the lines and figure out a way to act them out. We talked about various methods for memorizing information before I let them get to work. It was fun walking around listening to them work on the poem with their partners. A couple pairs of students have decided to rap their stanzas. Some were talking about costumes and props. Everyone was engaged in the project. I'm looking forward to their presentation in class on Wednesday! We wrapped up our unit on Ancient Egypt this week and the students presented their work from a menu project. Most of the students chose to bake Egyptian bread for one of their selections. Have you ever sampled 20 pieces of bread in one sitting??? Instead of bringing my lunch to the teacher's lounge, I took this project. I had to show everyone! One student chose to make a Pyramid Pop-Up book for his project. I think he did an amazing job!
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AuthorI teach middle school social studies: ancient civilizations, world geography, & U.S. history. I love teaching those classes! Luckily I get to teach both my loves- history and math! Archives
May 2013
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