Ms.+Geist+Humanities+Grade+4+Page

HOW DOES ART ILLUSTRATE A CULTURE OF LEARNING?

How can art illustrate the culture of a state?

How can art illustrate learning?

===Check out our progress so far! Here is an  [|iMovie] of our students thinking, collaborating, and creating! Please remember this is a work in progress :) ===

Here is the overview of how we plan to incorporate this PBL project into our curriculum:
UNIT OVERVIEW: States and Regions of the United States

Key Questions:

~What are the states and capitals in each region of the US?

~What are the important natural resources and industries in each United States region? ~What are the major physical features of each United States region?

~How do physical features and location affect the climate of each US region?

~What are the major events that have shaped each United States region?

~What is the culture of each region?

Standards:

7.2.6.A. Describe the physical characteristics of places and regions.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">7.2.6.A.2. Comparison of the physical characteristics of different places and regions (e.g., soil, vegetation, climate, topography).

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">7.3.6.A. Describe the human characteristics of places and regions by their population characteristics

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">7.3.6.B. Describe the human characteristics of places and regions by their cultural characteristics.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">7.3.6.B.1. Ethnicity of people at the county and state levels (e.g., customs, celebrations, languages, religions). 7.3.6.B.2. Spatial arrangement of cultures creates distinctive landscapes (e.g., cultural regions based on languages, customs, religion, building styles as in the Pennsylvania German region).

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Students will:

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">1. Research a state that they are interested in learning more about

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">2. Create a state shaped poster collage including key characteristics of that state (The culture of the state should be represented)

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">3. Join a group of students with states matching one of the 5 regions of the US

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">4. Present their state facts/projects to their group and compare and contrast state similarities/differences within the region

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">5. As a group, represent their US region to the class using their choice of media: Google Doc Presentation, iMovie, visuals, oral presentation with props, flip camera presentation...etc

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">6. Create a scrapbook representing each region of the US through photos, drawings, and creative expression/design

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Activating Strategy:

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">1. What is Culture? Use the Presentation and discussion

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">2. Introduce regions of the US using

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Cognitive Teaching Strategies:

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">State Projects: (individuals)

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">3. Introduce states by brainstorming ways each state is unique

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> What characteristics make the states different?

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Which of these characteristics should be included on our reports?

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">4. Assign a state to each student for research (4G=odd states to AM, even states to PM)

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Provide library books, websites and a “State Report” fact sheet/graphic organizer. The students will use this information to write an informational 5-paragraph essay (during writing period) and to create their state project (during social studies).

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">5. Give each student a large cutout of their state to trace. The students may decorate this cutout however they choose using pictures, drawing, words, 3-D aspects, etc. The design should represent the culture of their state and include at least 10 facts or photos about their state. Explain the rubric for this state project.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Regions Projects: (Small groups)

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">6. Group students from 4-N & 4-G by US regions. Students in each region group will share their state projects and info about their state with their group.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">7. The teacher (and students) will read mentor texts (picture books/informational books) that represent the culture of each region.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">8. Students in each group should then compare and contrast the states in their group to find similarities that represent the culture of that region.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Summarizing strategy:

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">9. As a group, the students will decide how to present their region to the class. They can use props, presentations, skits, iMovie, posters, pictures, etc to represent the characteristics of their US region. Their state cutouts can also be used as a representation of the region.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">10. Students will create a scrapbook representing the landforms, climate, industries, crops/products, cities, tourist attractions or other characteristics that show the culture of each region. They will compile this information using their US Regions social studies book, their state projects and class presentations.