What I Did On My Summer Vacation
Overview:

Remember back, as students, when we returned to school from summer vacation and the teacher always had us write what we did on our summer vacation? Take this same assignment and add a new twist. This one time boring assignment can set your students' imagination free. (Note: if a student "didn't do anything" during the summer, use Camp BAH - Back At Home)

Grade Level: 3rd through 8th
Time Allotment:

Minimum of 5 class periods
Materials:
  • NetWize eBuddies
  • Internet connection
  • travel brochures
  • travel posters
  • travel videos (optional)
  • MS Office Suite
  • MS Publisher (optional)
National
Standards:

Technology

  • 1. B: Students are proficient in the use of technology.
  • 4. B: Students use a variety of media and formats to communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences.
  • 5. A: Students use technology to locate, evaluate, and collect information from a variety of sources.

Geography:

  • 4. Understands the physical and human characteristics of place
  • 5. Understands the concept of regions
  • 6. Understands that culture and experience influence people' perceptions of places and regions

Language Arts:

  • 1. Gathers and uses information for research purposes.
  • 7. Uses reading skills and strategies to understand and interpret a variety of informational texts.
Objectives:

Students will be able to:

  • research, through the use of the Internet, the location of their summer vacation trip.
  • give the demographics of the location of where they visited.
  • plot on a world and or United States map their vacation location.
  • use MS Word to author a brochure of their vacation location.
  • use MS Power Point to author a "commercial advertisement" of their vacation location.
 

Procedure:
1.   Motivate the students by having a travel motif in your classroom with travel posters, brochures, suitcases, souvenirs, pictures of summer vacations etc.
2.   Have a classroom discussion encouraging the students to share their experiences, highlights, sights, etc. of their summer vacation.
3.   Discuss with the students places they traveled. List destinations on the board.
4.   Categorize destinations according to any or all of the following: hemispheres, continents, countries, states, home.
5.   Have students discuss activities participated in during their vacation.
6.   For those students that stayed at home, discuss their activities: baseball, swimming, etc. They will use these activities for Camp BAH.
7.   Using NetWize eBuddies have students use the following sites to research their destination:
8.   Using the demographic worksheet, have the students fill in the information from their research.
9.   Using the information gathered through research, have the students create a brochure using MS Word. (Directions included)
10.   Having completed the brochure have the students produce a television commercial using MS Power Point. (Rubric included)
Evaluation:
  • Brochure
  • Power Point presentation Rubric
  • Teacher evaluation
Extentions: Determine the mode of transportation. Construct a graph using the following site Grapher:
http://www.ambleside.schoolzone.co.uk/ambleweb/mentalmaths/grapher.html
Internet Resources:
Download this in Word
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