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Kathie
Chaffee
09 Project
Summary
Falconer Central School
1. General Overview of the
Proposed Project:
In 5th grade our
students are really exposed to U.S. history for the first time. One
of the things that gets their interest and excites them is learning
that their ancestors played a part in our history. I never get time
to address this interest as much as I would like to. This year I
will assign a writing project in which they will research their
immigrant ancestors. They will be asked to interview parents and
grandparents to find one immigrant ancestor who interests them.
They will then find out as may facts as they can about that person.
They will at least need a name and the country their person came
from. I am hoping they might be able to find dates and even cities
where they lived in the old country. We will use the Ellis Island
web site and other internet sources to find out all we can about
their person.
The second step will be to research the
country they came from. I want them to find basic facts about it.
For instance, they will need to find it on a map, tell about it’s
government, geography, and culture. I want them to try to find out
why their ancestors might have wanted to leave.
2. Clear Purpose and Objective:
As we study American History, it
is really the story of the immigrants who came here to live. My
purpose in this is to personalize this experience so they have a
better understanding of the hardships and sacrifices of our
immigrant ancestors. Each student will find an immigrant ancestor
and learn as much about them as they can. They will research the
country they came from and form a clear understanding of what life
was like in “the old country.” They will learn research skills, use
the internet, and write a paper on their ancestor.
3. Stakeholders: grade level, who will
benefit, who will participate in this project.
This will be accomplished with 5th
grade students. All 5th grade students in my class will
participate and will benefit from the experience.
4.
U.S. History Content Area
Content area will be U.S. immigration history.
5.
Outline Describing Content
A 2 page research report with 3 sources,
is required. This will be word processed and include maps of the
country and copies of pictures and documents when available. An
oral presentation will be the culminating event.
6.
Software to be used, internet materials, contacts, etc.
We will use our computer lab to do research
and our laptop cart to work on word processing. Students will be
encouraged to use Grolier Online and other Elementary level sources
for their research.
7.
Level of Student Involvement
Students will choose their own ancestor with
teacher approval. They will write and research each paper themselves
using guidelines provided by the teacher. They will evaluate the
papers and presentations by listening and asking questions.
8.
Evaluation process (include students when possible)
Each report will receive a grade in social
studies and again in English. The class will use a checklist to
help evaluate each other’s presentation.
9.
Timeline: how you envision the project being carried out
between start up and conclusion
Students will be given an outline of the
assignment in November. By the first week in January they will be
asked to bring in details of the ancestor they have chosen. We will
research during January and will complete the writing element by the
end of the month. By Feb. 13th they will have their
presentations completed.
Kathie Chaffee
Falconer Central School
Grade 5
Social Studies
After our last project on immigration I hoped
this one would be better and I was pleased with their effort this
time. All of them learned many things and are applying their
knowledge as we finish up the year.
I have had them do large history based
research in the past but the biography project is great. Students
of this age really get into people. Many students came up to me as
they were researching and wanted to discuss interesting facts they
learned. One of my students did JFK and I was delighted when he
tried to challenge me on JFK facts. I signed up for our portable
laptop cart and we used this for 2 weeks when our research was
done. They had fun with this and most remembered how to use them
from the earlier project. Things went very smoothly.
I assigned their people at the end of
February. This was just right. I gave them until the end of March
to do the research. We used Step Up To Writing forms and each
student had to have 30 facts before I would let them write. It took
about 2 weeks to get all papers typed and in. I also did lessons on
citations and work cited pages.
I could not afford to get the Thomas Jefferson
historical interpreter form Williamsburg. He wanted a lot to come,
plus mileage and board. I will work on that for next year.
Instead, I asked a former student in who does Civil War reenactments
and 2 World War II veterans to talk about their experiences. They
were supposed to talk on our Biography day but one of my veterans
ended up in the hospital and the other one wanted to wait for his
friend. I have had to schedule this for June. My students all
shared their biographies with each other and it was a wonderful
experience. Kids asked some really good questions and it actually
took much longer than I anticipated. I was glad that my speakers
had to wait until later, because we would never have had time.
I will do this one next year. Everything went
perfectly. The time given for each section worked well and only one
student is still not done. That one will be finishing up while the
rest are on a field trip. I could have predicted that. One of my
most challenged students did Rosa Parks and when I taught about her
in class recently this child actually stood up and shared her
information with kids in another classroom. She was very animated
and excited. It brought tears to my eyes because she very seldom
volunteers anything. I am so glad we did this, I feel I really
succeeded in bringing history to life for these kids.
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