Ending Explorer Unit and Looking Forward

Today I showed my class the Animoto video.  They loved it!   I think this was a great way to end our unit on Explorers.  The kids really enjoyed it and are looking forward to doing this type of group work again. 

I told the class that we would be using this type of goup format again in the spring when we cover the American Revolution.  I plan on focusing the class on the causes of the Revolutionary War.  Again, I will have 5 groups.  Each group will focus on a different cause of the war.  1) Stamp Act and Sugar Act  2) Boston Massacre 3) Boston Tea Party 4) Intolerable Acts and 5) Lexington and Concord.  They each will be assigned a paragraph to write.  Instead of a map they will need to make a timeline of events.  

The historical thinking skill we will be focusing on is "Determining the significance of different kinds of Historical Change." 

Animoto Video

Presentations

As a group, the student presented their paragraphs, maps, and artifacts to teach to their classmates.  The explorers we focused on were Christopher Columbus, Ferdinand Magellan, Marco Polo, Juan Ponce de Leon, Henry Hudson, and Hernando Cortes.  The students were given a rubric for how they would be graded. 

Explorer Project Rubric
Group Participation: You worked cooperatively in your group 25 points
Paragraph:Your paragraph is well written and contains all the necessary information. 25 points
Map: Your map contains all the requirements 25 points
Artifact: Your artifact was creative and related to your explorer. 25 points

The students were very proud of their work and are excited to see the Animoto video of all their work!

Creating Explorer Maps

The explorer maps took us 2 days to complete.  Students were required to include the following on their maps:  -labels on all continents, outlines of countries the explorer visited , label stops during the voyage, label the oceans, map key, compass rose, arrows indicating directions of voyage, dates of voyage and colorful routes and images.  When the groups completed their maps they were given time to discuss what artifacts they would be bringing in to represent their explorers. 

Day 2- Editing Paragraphs

Today students worked together in their groups to peer edit their written paragraphs completed last night for homework.  The students worked very well together.  I was happy to see them adding more information to each paragraph and sharing helpful suggestions to improve their paragraphs.  My students are very excited about this project and are looking forward to working on their maps!

Day 1 of Project

Today we began our Explorer project!  I have 24 students in my class so I made 6 groups and assigned 4 students to each group.  The students were then given the outline of the project and the name of the explorer they would be researching.  Within their groups the students were given organizers, textbooks, picture books, and computers with Internet access to research their explorer. During our Social Studies period the students were required to take notes and bullet key information about their explorer.  For homework, the students were assigned to complete a rough draft of their paragraphs.

Collaborative Planning

Today I met with Erin Chisholm to discuss the lesson plans that we will be teaching.   Erin is also a 5th grade teacher in Woburn so we decided to work together on our lessons.  Since we do not teach the Revolutionary War until the spring time we have decided to focus our first lesson on the explorers.   

Social Studies Explorers Lesson Plan  Grade 5  by Erin Chisholm and Patty Giannone

Objectives: Students will demonstrate an understanding of the sequence of events of explorers and the causes and effects of their discoveries.

Goals:  

1. Students will write a paragraph describing a specific portion of an explorer’s life.

2. While working in a group with peers students will create a map of the explorer's expeditions.

3. Students will present an artifact that relates to the explorer’s life and explain why it is pertinent to that explorer.

Massachusetts Frameworks Standard: 5.3 Explain why trade routes to Asia had been closed in the 15th century and trace the voyages of explorers. Describe what each explorer sought when he began his journey, what he found, and how his discoveries changed the image of the world, especially the maps used by the explorers.

This project will be completed within a week and the final projects will be presented by each group.