G4 Plan a Trip
At a Glance
Grade: 4
Subject(s): Social Studies
Description: When learning about the Eastern US states, the students will select a state park along the Appalachian Trail and create a newscast.
Prerequisite: None
Grading Period: 2nd Marking Period
Contact: Lisa Warner
Last Updated: 8Jan14
|
Appalachian Trail - State Parks
Students can select from the following parks:
|
Sources
We created a project specific page for students to use.
When kicking off the project, we used it as an opportunity to talk about how you know if a source is credible. We talked about the domain name extensions (.com, .org, .edu, and .gov). We also examined some other ways such as:
|
Note Taking
The Appalachian Trail extends for over 2, 000 miles from Maine to Georgia. It passes through many beautiful state and national parks and national forests. It climbs many high mountain peaks. Your assignment is to pretend you are a reporter doing a story on the highlights of the Appalachian trail AND the state and national parks and forests that it passes through. You will need to do some research about the trail in the state you are assigned and then write a one page news story that we will film in class.
Things to consider when you write your story: 1) How many miles of the trail are in your state? 2) Are there any famous peaks, waterfalls, lakes, ponds, rivers, etc? Any other special places? 3) What else can you do in the state park for recreation? 4) When was the state/national park created? 5) Any unique features of nature? Old growth forests? special flowers or animals? 6) Look at pictures to get an idea of what it would actually be like to be there so you can write descriptively. You will want your first paragraph to be an introduction. For example, “Greetings from the top of windy Mt. Washington in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. I am Mrs. Warner and I am reporting to you today from the highest peak in the White Mountain National Forest. It sure is beautiful up here at 6,288 feet.” You get the idea - have fun! Remember to write your final copy neatly in cursive and check for correct spelling, punctuation, and capitalization.
|
Create the Project
Students will write a narrative about their State Park and video tape it in front of a green screen.
The teacher(s) will do some video editing and create a newscast for each student. These will then be posted on the school website using ThingLink. An Appalachian Trail map will be posted on a bulletin board and we will use Aurasma to create an augmented reality bulletin board. People will be able to use their mobile devices to watch the videos. |
Example of the Final Project
This is an example from the fourth grade class 2013-14.
|