Using their imagination, students created their own unique country. The criteria was to create a new country on Earth, with a flag, constitution, government, language, cultural symbols, economy, and inhabitants.
Above is a sample passport; students created a passport for their nation, and they got their passport stamped when they went and visited other countries.
Above: a flag of a country
Above: a map of a nation, with type of government, population, currency, national day, products, exports, language, and motto.
Above: cultural symbols of the nation
Students presented their countries on poster board
Students went around the room visiting other projects and having their passport stamped.
It was a tremendous success! This is a
challenge centre that can be done in a classroom. I used the book "How
to Build Your Own Country" by Valerie Wyatt and I broke the book down into teachable components and designed each day around various themes: language, government, constitution, cultural symbols, national anthem, trade and natural resources, taxation, education system, and diplomacy and international relations.
With an older group of students, one could take this further and have mock elections, or use current events to drive some of the discussion. With the group I worked with, we started generally discussing current events and talked about the three types of government.
Thank you grade 3 and 4 students. You are ever inspiring!
Fighting an enormous cold, and dealing with computer issues have kept me away from blogging, but not teaching. I have just finished working with the Operation Civilization students, and wrapped up the book club with Grade fours, and I am starting to work with grade two's next week in a science workshop called Gizmos and Gadgets.What a busy spring it has been. First off, I have to show the projects created in the Future is Wild Challenge Centre Program that took place during the first two weeks of April. Here are their fantastic projects:
The students created their own creature uniquely adapted to a biome...it is such a fun project and the budding scientists enjoy it immensely.I often allow for more creative interpretations...some of the students cross animals that wouldn't generally breed, but we are talking about millions of years in the future and how animals will change and adapt and we use the Future is Wild DVD's to help scaffold the learning. Students are responsible for creating: habitat, den and living space, life cycle and family life; predator and prey, physical attributes, adaptations, and the fun part: create a latin name for the animal. Students created a three dimensional model of their creature, and presented their learning to their peers. We touched on concepts such as natural selection, endangered animals, species of animals, and classification systems.
Fighting an enormous cold, and dealing with computer issues have kept me away from blogging, but not teaching. I have just finished working with the Operation Civilization students, and wrapped up the book club with Grade fours, and I am starting to work with grade two's next week in a science workshop called Gizmos and Gadgets.
What a busy spring it has been. First
off, I have to show the projects created in the Future is Wild Challenge
Centre Program that took place during the first two weeks of April.
Here are their fantastic projects:
The students created their own creature uniquely adapted to a biome...it is such a fun project and the budding scientists enjoy it immensely.
I often allow for more creative interpretations...some of the students cross animals that wouldn't generally breed, but we are talking about millions of years in the future and how animals will change and adapt and we use the Future is Wild DVD's to help scaffold the learning.
Students are responsible for creating: habitat, den and living space, life cycle and family life; predator and prey, physical attributes, adaptations, and the fun part: create a latin name for the animal.
Students created a three dimensional model of their creature, and presented their learning to their peers. We touched on concepts such as natural selection, endangered animals, species of animals, and classification systems.
Happy Earth Day..the beauty of nature is here in our wonderful city. Come and join in on the Earth Day Parade down Commercial Drive. The power of nature and being outdoors is important for our mental and physical well being. I encourage students to get involved in learning more about the environment, and doing their part, and most of all, getting out doors as much as possible.Meanwhile, I have been busy trying to fight a nasty cold...and keep up with the paperwork. This week, I am seeing a great group of students in the Operation Civilization Program. I will be posting their projects soon.I just finished with my grade 5/6 book club, and I have some great photos of our last Future is Wild Program offered a few weeks ago...As well this week, I will be letting schools know the students who have been accepted into the Gizmos and Gadgets Challenge Centre for grade 2/3 students. I had so many applications and only 12 spots...I hate to disappoint schools and wish that I could service all the students who send in applications, but I can't.
I want to thank all the gifted contacts who work so diligently in filling out the forms and sending them to me. I understand that it is a great deal of work, and I am trying to figure out a better system; a way of going paperless? I am working with the board to try a find a way to make this process easier for all; I will keep you posted if we find a solution!
