Halfway Done With Our Country Study Projects!

I know that many of the teachers who read this blog are getting close to done with their school year, but we are running a year-round schedule this year, so we are actually just past halfway.  Last week, the kids finished the fifth project in their Year Long Country Study Project.  They created virtual field trips to one of the Ancient Civilizations that existed in their country.  This was the cumulative project from after a month of exploring what life was like in the years before 0 AD.

 

Each month we have worked on a different type of project – maps, food webs, art projects, virtual museum exhibits.  This month, they created virtual field trips.  They both chose to create their projects by creating recorded Power Point movies. 

 

Here are their projects:

 

Ancient China - the Han Dynasty (5th Grade)

 

 

Ancient Siberia - the Xiongnu Dynasty (2nd Grade) 

 

After finishing their projects, the boys write up a reflection and add their work to their comprehensive Live Binders project.  At the end of the year, each of their tabs will have a reflection and their project. 

 

 

 

This project has been perfect for my homeschool family, but I really wish I had created it last year when I was in the classroom.  The boys are not only learning about their own country, they also talk to each other, so they have learned a lot about the other child’s country as well.  Imagine a class of 20 each with different countries!  Plus, in addition to learning a wide range of Social Studies and Science skills, the boys work on research, reading comprehension and written expression.  Talk about covering a lot of skills! We’ve even incorporated some math into our history lessons as we figure out how many years happened between certain events and dynasties.  If you would like to use this Year Long Country Study Project with your classroom or homeschool family, feel free to download it at my Teachers Pay Teacher store.

 

Technology Accounts to Create for your Students at the Beginning of the School Year

You’ve picked out the perfect technology project for your students.  You’ve given them a planning sheet with all the steps, and you’ve even given them an advance copy of the rubric so that they know what you are looking for.  Everyone lines up and you set off for the computer lab OR you start your center rotation and they are working at computers in your room.  The kids get on the computer and ask you – What’s my username and password?  That’s when it hits you – you forgot to set up their accounts!!!!  Oh the horror of wasted technology time due to missing usernames and passwords!  The solution?  Take time NOW to create accounts (or have students create accounts) for programs you think you will use during the school year.

 

Setting up student accounts ahead of time gives you and your students some distinct advantages:

1.)  You’re ready for all kinds of projects – planned and unplanned (you know those great teachable moments!)

2.)  The kids can play with the programs outside of school, or when they have finished their work, allowing them to figure out the programs BEFORE they have a big project due with this program.

3.)  Students can show their parents the types of programs they will be using – helping parents to see that the technology they will use will not just be playing games, but will be using technology for educational purposes.

4.)  When assigning a project, you can give students a choice of ways to present their work, empowering students to take control of their own learning.  I started this with my Virtual Field Trip Project last year and the results were amazing!

 

Consider letting students create their own accounts, as long as they report their passwords to you.

1.)  Demonstrate HOW to create an account before you ask students to create their own account.

2.)  Have students use a password pattern so that they don’t forget their password.  Find more details on this at my blog post about 10 Tips to Make Technology Integration Easier.

3.)  Keep a record of each students’ usernames and passwords, in case students forget them or you need to get into their account for any reason. 

 

So, what accounts should you have set up in the beginning of the year?

Click on the names of each website to see how this program has worked in my classroom.

1.) Edmodo

2.) Storybird

3.) A Blogging Site, like Edublogs

4.)  Prezi

5.)  Powtoon

6.)  LiveBinders