United States of America

The 50 StatesBy: Jennifer Miller

Theme: 50 StatesProduct: Travel Brochure for chosen stateObjectives:。 The students will gain a greater understanding of the 50 states.。 The students will know how to use Microsoft Office Publisher.。 The students will learn to make an attractive, eye pleasing state brochure.• The students will evaluate travel brochures for visual impact.

Theme: 50 StatesProduct: Travel Brochure for chosen stateObjectives:。 The students will gain a greater understanding of the 50 states.。 The students will know how to use Microsoft Office Publisher.。 The students will learn to make an attractive, eye pleasing state brochure.• The students will evaluate travel brochures for visual impact.

online researchonline research

use Microsoft Officer Publisher to make brochure

use Microsoft Officer Publisher to make brochure

research NYS brochures

research NYS brochures

how to find pictures online

how to find pictures online

how to use Microsoft Office Publisher

how to use Microsoft Office Publisher

The students will be creating a state travel brochure. Each student will choose one of the 50 states to research. They will do the research and find pictures to make their brochure using the template in Microsoft office Publisher. The students will learn how to research a topic and create an eye pleasing brochure. The students will also learn about all 50 states when the students present their brochures to the rest of the class.

Flow Chart

Unit Plan NYS StandardsLearning Standards of NY State:

Social Studies: Standard #1 History of the United States and New York use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of major ideas, eras, themes,

developments, and turning points in the history of the United States and New York. Standard #3 Geography

use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of the geography of the interdependent world in which we live—local, national, and global—including the distribution of people, places, and environments over the Earth’s surface.

Mathematics, Science, and Technology Education:Standard 5: TechnologyStudents will apply technological knowledge and skills to design, construct, use, and evaluate

products and systems to satisfy human and environmental needs.

The Arts:Standard 2: Knowing and Using Arts Materials and ResourcesStudents will be knowledgeable about and make use of the materials and resources available for

participation in the arts in various roles.Standard 3: Responding to and Analyzing Works of ArtStudents will respond critically to a variety of works in the arts, connecting the individual work to

other works and to other aspects of human endeavor and thought.

Plan The Project:

What is the theme of your project? The theme of my project is the United States of America, specifically the 50 states

Describe the “Learning Product” your students will create and through the creation of which they will

learn the content and skills you’ve identified as a goal. The students will create a state travel brochure on a state of their choice. The students will complete this project using Microsoft Office Publisher which

has a template for a brochure. The students must include a map of their state and at least three places of interest. At the end the students will present their travel brochure to the whole class.

What Social Studies content and/or skills will they learn from your project? The students will learn about the 50 states. They will be able to identify some key places from each state and what each state is known for.

What Arts content and/or skills will they learn from your project? The students will review and evaluate travel brochures for visual impact.

How might you determine if the students learn what you’ve intended them to? I will have the students evaluate their classmates brochure presentations with the same questions that we evaluated the sample brochures at the beginning of the unit. I will also grade their projects with a rubric I created.

How will technology be used? Will it be used by the teacher; the individual students or students work groups, the entire class? The teacher will use technology to show the students the sample brochure that I the teacher made using the SMARTboard. The students will use technology to research their chosen state and to produce their state brochure.

Unit PlanDescribe the class: My class is a regular education fifth grade class. We will be doing this jointly with the other fifth grade. My class has 24 students and the other class has 23.

Introduction: I will ask the students that if they were going to visit somewhere new how would they find out about it. We will discuss what they come up with. I will then show them a box of travel

brochures.

Learning Objectives: The students will gain a greater understanding of the 50 states. The students will know how to use Microsoft Office Publisher. The students will learn to make an attractive, eye pleasing state brochure. The students will evaluate travel brochures for visual impact.

Assessment: The final product will be assessed using a rubric. The rest of the class will also fill out a peer review while their classmates are presenting their brochure. During the other sessions I will be using informal assessment through teacher observations and discussions with the students.

Presentation: The students will present their brochures to the rest of the class using the SMARTboard.

Materials:SMARTboardTemplate for brochureBox of travel brochuresLaptops/computers for each student

SessionsSession #1- Begin by asking the students “If you were going to visit a new state how would you find out about it before

you visited?” I will write down their answers on the board. I will then show the students to different stat brochures. One that I have found that is eye pleasing and another that I feel is lacking. I will ask the students which they like best. Then have them tell me why. I will write down on the SMARTboard what they think makes it so much better (more information, more pictures, colorful, fewer words, nice font). I will have the students get into groups and give each group 5 or 6 travel brochures. As a group they need to choose which brochure is their favorite and why. They will then show the whole class the brochure they chose and explain to the class why they chose it.

Session #2- I will show the students the travel brochure that I made. Tell them that they will be making their own state

brochure then presenting it to the whole fifth grade. Today we need to decide which state each student will research. I will put all the students names in a hat and draw them one by one to choose their state. The students have to have at least four places of interest on their brochure. It should be visually pleasing and include pictures. Using the SMARTboard I will show the students the students the brochure that I made and present it to them. The students already know how to find pictures, do online research, cut, and paste from a previous project. I will also pass out a copy of the rubric to each of the students today and we will discuss what needs to be included.

Sessions continued…Session #3- Today we are going to start the travel brochure. Where will we find our information? I will have the students

list online websites and resources that we use. I will write them on the board as a reminder (google, each individual state’s website,). The students will spend the rest of the time looking for information on their state.

Sessions #4, #5, and #6- Students will be researching their state and working on their travel brochure. I will be walking around

observing the students and offering support if needed.

Session #7- The students will plan their presentations and do a run through of it with a partner. The partner will offer

suggestions for improvement.

Session #8 and #9- The students will present their travel brochures while the rest of the class fills out a peer review sheet for

each presentation.

Elements of Project-Based Learning The students identify , what to learn and how to learn it. The students will work independently , with a partner and in small collaborative groups The students need to learn the facts about their state in order to create their travel brochure. their

project’s PRODUCT and or PERFORMANCE creates a need to know essential content and skills. The students will create a travel brochure. This is authentic and will be presented to the rest of the

class. The students will receive feedback:

a) from their peers while working on their travel brochure and include the feedback as part of their revision processb) from their classmates (audience)

The travel brochure will be saved, printed out, and distributed in a packet to all of the students. The travel brochure has an artistic dimension to it. Students make significant use of technology in doing their project The travel brochure requires inquiry to learn and/or create something new. The project requires critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration, and various forms of

communication. Students need to do much more than remember information—they need to use higher-order thinking skills.

Created By:Jennifer Miller

New York has…•breathtaking lakes

•majestic mountains

•exciting amusement parks

•beautiful cities

New York State

Mock Student Work:

Making A Brochure : Making A Travel Brochure

Teacher Name: Mrs. Miller

Student Name: ________________________________________

CATEGORY 4 3 2 1 Attractiveness & Organization

The brochure has exceptionally attractive formatting and well-organized information.

The brochure has attractive formatting and well-organized information.

The brochure has well-organized information.

The brochure\'s formatting and organization of material are confusing to the reader.

Graphics/Pictures

Graphics go well with the text and there is a good mix of text and graphics.

Graphics go well with the text, but there are so many that they distract from the text.

Graphics go well with the text, but there are too few and the brochure seems \"text-heavy\".

Graphics do not go with the accompanying text or appear to be randomly chosen.

Writing - Grammar

There are no grammatical mistakes in the brochure.

There are no grammatical mistakes in the brochure after feedback from an adult.

There are 1-2 grammatical mistakes in the brochure even after feedback from an adult.

There are several grammatical mistakes in the brochure even after feedback from an adult.

Knowledge Gained

The student can accurately answer all questions related to facts in the brochure and to technical processes used to create the brochure.

The student can accurately answer most questions related to facts in the brochure and to technical processes used to create the brochure.

The student can accurately answer most questions related to facts in the brochure and to technical processes used to create the brochure.

The student appears to have little knowledge about the facts or technical processes used in the brochure.

Rubric for Travel Brochure