(Due: Friday, December 16, 2011)
Your task for the 2nd Quarter Advanced Project is to create a children's storybook about 1 of the 9 Geography Essential Skills. As you're doing your project, think back to your favorite books when you were a kid and try to determine what makes them so great. Did they rhyme? Were they funny? Did they have beautiful, colorful illustrations? Did they features lots of animals or other fun characters?
Requirements:
- Your book must accurately teach about 1 of the 9 essential skills.
- A 1st or 2nd grader should be able to enjoy, as well as learn, from your book.
- Your book must be at least 8 pages in length, not counting the cover. (But a cover must be included.)
- Colored illustrations should be included on every page. Each of the illustrations needs to be hand created by you. This can be done using crayons, colored pencils, etc. or by creating illustrations on your computer. Simply searching for images on the internet, however, will not be acceptable.
- Your book must look as much like a real book as possible. It should have a front and back cover, be bound, list a title and author, etc.
Remember that these are the absolute minimum requirements. Don't be afraid to include more than 8 pages or get creative and add other book elements like a publisher, price, about the author page, dedication, reviews, etc. Dazzle me!
9 Geography Essential Skills
- Five Themes of Geography
- Latitude & Longitude
- Map Skills
- Major Political/Economic Systems
- Continents & Oceans
- Weather & Climate
- Physical Earth
- Culture
- Charts & Graphs
See Ms. Loftin if you need clarification about which topics fit under which skills, or if you just have any questions about the project. Remember to start on this sooner rather than later!
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Create Your Own Country Project
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(Click on the link above this if you want to see the examples I showed during class)
Pop Culture Points
Pop culture points are points you can earn by finding something in pop culture that relates to what we are studying in class. You can find references to Geography in many different pop culture sources such as TV shows, movies, songs, books, video games, newspapers, comics, etc. To earn pop culture points, you must complete an index card with the following information:
- MLA Heading
- Source where you found the reference to Geography. Include specific information such as which episode, what part of the movie, what line of the song, etc.
- How does the reference relate to what we are studying in class?
If you are a Non-Advanced student, one extra credit pop culture point will be given for each index card. If you are an Advanced student, you are required to turn in 2 pop culture point index cards per semester. If you choose to turn in more, you will receive one extra credit point for each additional index card.
Geography Mistakes
Extra credit may also be earned for bringing in Geography mistakes you catch in the real world. For these, you will need to turn in an index card that gives the source of the mistake and explains what is wrong with the information.
Post any questions you have, and I'll make sure to answer them. I know October 18 seems like it's a long way away, but it will sneak up on you if you don't get started early.
ReplyDeleteFor the advanced project, do we have to write a report explaining our country?
ReplyDeleteYou have two options I mentioned in class. You can either write a report describing the features of your country, or you can make a presentation of some sort (PowerPoint, Prezi, etc.). You do not have to present the information in front of your classmates though. You would just e-mail me or bring your presentation on a flash drive and I would look at it.
ReplyDeleteMs. Loftin, what if we cannot find the two required pop culture points by the end of the semester?
ReplyDeleteThere are only 10 people in 4th hour
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, I am confident you will be able to find two pop culture points before December. I can think of at least 10 that I've seen just this week. It's all a matter of you paying attention when you're reading, playing games, or watching TV, and trying to make connections with Geography.
ReplyDeleteMs.Latin my country is half under water and the other half is above water can I make my map on two sheets of paper for the uper and lower half.
ReplyDeleteYes, you may do that, or you may just split your map paper in two and draw them both smaller. As long as you fill the whole paper with something, you'll be fine. Good question.
ReplyDeletewill we have time to work on the classroom map on Monday because I didn't quite finish on Thursday.
ReplyDeleteNo, we won't be working on the classroom maps tomorrow. We're starting the island project, remember? Just try to finish as much as you can. If I get the impression that several of you haven't finished the classroom maps, I'll make them due on Tuesday. Either way, though, no more class time will be given to work on them.
ReplyDeleteDo our countries have to be bordered with another country, or could it just be by it's self like Iceland? Also, it has to be located somewhere real on the Earth if you're doing it on there, right?
ReplyDeleteThey can either border another country, or be an island. It's your choice. If it's located on Earth, then I would like a real location. But you can always choose where.
ReplyDeleteI've seen a few people working on their advanced projects in class, and I just want to clear up a couple of things. Your report on your made up country needs to be written in either a report format, or a PowerPoint presentation. I do not just want a piece of paper with a few bullet points listed. That will not get you full credit. Your work needs to be written in complete sentences. If you choose to make a PowerPoint, you should have at least 1 slide for each of the bullets in the instructions above. If you write a report, you might want to dedicate a paragraph to each of those bullet points. Remember that you must create an 8.5x11 map either way. You can create it using your computer, or hand draw one. Please, please, please let me know if you have any questions. Also, feel free to turn your projects in early so I can get a jump on grading them. Only 13 days left!
ReplyDeleteim board :)
ReplyDeleteOn the book project for advanced people, can it be on lined paper or does it have to be on copy paper?
ReplyDeleteDoes it have to be laminated?
ReplyDeleteI personally think it would look better on copy paper. Don't you think so? It does not have to be laminated, but if you want it to be, I can help you with that.
ReplyDeleteOk. Thanks.Do you know when you are grading our notebooks again?
ReplyDeleteEveryone needs to have their notebooks ready to be graded by Friday, December 16.
ReplyDeleteon the book can we three hole punch it and put ribbon or yarn to hold it?
ReplyDeleteThat sounds okay, but make sure it is durable enough to survive a class full of 2nd graders. Why don't you have me laminate the cover for you? Then we can hole punch it afterwards, and hopefully everything will stay together nice and safe.
ReplyDeleteHawk sounds like a good name for an angry bird...
Hawk is Jeffrey
ReplyDeleteis physical earth like ummm climate?
ReplyDeleteNo, climate goes under ummm Weather & Climate. Physical Earth is landforms, plate tectonics, rotation/revolution, etc.
ReplyDeleteMy new name is Pinhead Larry. Josh Spear's name is Dirty Dan.
ReplyDeleteOn the book can we type it on the computer and then print it.
ReplyDeleteYes of course that's fine.
ReplyDeleteMs.Loftin, Do we have to hand draw it? or can it be clip art like off of powerpoint?(:
ReplyDeleteYou can use clip art, but use it well. Like I discussed in class, you need to make sure you add something more to it. If you use several clip art pictures, but cut them out and arrange them to make a scene, that's fine. Just copying and pasting one large piece of clip art per page,though, is not. Do you see the difference? No matter what you use for your pictures, it needs to require some work from you. Typing something into your computer and hitting the print button is not enough work. Please let me know if you're still confused.
ReplyDeleteThanks! If your doing continents and oceans, can it just be continents? or does it have to include oceans too?
ReplyDeleteYou can do just continents or both. It's up to you.
ReplyDeletecan we just staple the book together or do we need to do more to make it more durable...?
ReplyDeleteYou need to make it more durable. Have you ever met a 2nd grader? At the very least, you should consider putting it in a portfolio report cover or a folder with brads.
ReplyDeleteok and if we put a dedication page does it count as one of the 8 pages or no??
ReplyDeleteNo, your 8 pages need to be actual story pages.
ReplyDelete