A+basic+idea

Ok, here is my basic idea:

Students will research an historical event using K-12 Databases and Discovery Streaming. Younger kids could use the flips to make a news broadcast of the event. (I did this in 3rd grade with the Alamo. I sat behind a desk and gave a 'breaking news' broadcast and my dad filmed me on our gigantic video camera. It was a lot of fun, I learned a lot, and it put it in a creative format to present to the class. It is one of those projects I still remember doing!) Their leg work, works cited, etc. could be turned in on gaggle. For the older kids, they could also use the K-12 Databases and Discovery Streaming for their research. They could also turn parts of it in on gaggle. An interview or spoken part of the report could be done through Audacity, which I think is one step up from sitting in front of a flip camera. They could even create a podcast of their research, in leiu of writing a paper. EasyBib, a bibliography help site could be utilized for all grades to help them with writing a works cited (which is important even in elementary!!). There are a lot of ways to adapt this. They could make a final presentation in movie maker, create a newspaper, make an artifact project to go with it, the list goes on, and most of it involves technology. Let me know what you think. (Oh, and we could always throw media literacy into this, especially with a visual project. There is a great site on PBS Teachers that talks about media literacy and how to integrate it into other lessons.)

My 3rd graders are learning how to make a Prezi right now. I do like the idea of using the flip camera or video on a digital camera. The kids could do the recording and then upload it into their Prezi presentation along with researched facts and information and photos of what they researched. I don't know when (or if) they are rescheduling the due date for the project but I will need to look into our Soc. St. unit and see what best fits with a research project we could do that would be interesting and easy to research.