Country Report PBL Unit

SJTeach.org> Piedmont Room 27

Mr. Curry's 6th Grade History/Social Science
Berryessa Union School District San Jose, CA

Get to know a little bit more about our world.

Students will be challenged to research and share what they learn about a selected nation of the world. They will use printed referance resources, electronic resources (Encyclopedia on CD-ROM and 3-D Atlas), internet informational web sites (such as the CIA World Fact Book).
All reference sources used MUST be noted, using MLA style

With the information they gather, students will share that information in the following ways:

Required by all: Written report of 5+ pages, on MS Word (.doc) including 2 different types of maps, at least 1 table of information (such as crops or segments of the economy), at least 1 graph (such as ethnic groups or GDP) and at least one Venn Diagram comparing/contrasting something (such as the country vs. the United States) AND one neatly constructed time line. An MLA-style bibliography must also be included.

Outline | Outline Rubric | Written Report Rubric

One of the following (accompanied by an oral presentation):

Printed brochure format
Power Point Presentation slideshow
Web site with working links
Display board with report and pictures

See the specific Objectives covered in this project
at the Objectives web page

Social Studies

During 6th grade, students have learned about ancient cililizations and many basics about cultures in general from representational ancient civilizations.

In this report, they will apply what they have learned about the "geographic, political, economic, and social structures" of their assigned country.

Language Arts

Students will apply what they have learned in reading, analyzing and applying informational textx.

Students will apply what they are learning about writing a research report.

Outline (MSWord .doc)
Outline (html)
Template
Rubric

Written Report Template (.doc)

You can also use the free web-based Google Documents to do the report. The class account user name is piedmontlancers and the password is student.

Minimum 5 Pages
All Areas in outline must be covered fully.
Full paragraphs of 5+ sentences for every section including an expository style

Topic sentence
3-4 detail sentences
Concluding sentence which restates the topic sentence

How to make a timeline online for the report.
Click on the link for the timeline maker.
Timeline Maker: http://www.teach-nology.com/web
_tools/materials/timelines/
Input the 4-6 most important dates and events and a title for the timeline, such as Finland History Timeline.

Create the timeline...it saves as a web page.
Hit the Print Scrn key on the very top row of the keyboard.
Open up Power Point and create a blank page.
Click on Ctrl + V to paste the screen shot on the power point slide. Center it as best you can. Add some word art and/or pictures.
Go to File>Save AS and save it with a name such as JerryTimelineFinland and save as a .jpeg (not as a .ppt)
Answer yes to the questions that pop up and then save the new jpeg file with the rest of your work.

CIA Fact Book https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html
NationMaster (Make graphs with nation statistics) http://www.nationmaster.com/
National Geographic Map Machine http://plasma.nationalgeographic.com/mapmachine/
Outline Maps (printable) http://abcteach.com/directory/researchreports/maps/countries/
World Almanac for kids http://www.worldalmanacforkids.com/explore/nations.html
Tourism Worldwide Directory http://www.towd.com/
Info Please : www.infoplease.com
Encylopedia Brittanica : http://www.britannica.com/
Encarta CD Encyclopedia: ask teacher for in-class use of CD-Rom
Venn Diagram Creator http://www.readwritethink.org/materials/venn/index.html
Ask.com for Kids: http://www.askforkids.com/
Encarta World Atlas http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/mapcenter/map.aspx
Graph Maker: http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/graphing/index.asp
NEW:Timeline Maker: http://www.teach-nology.com/web_tools/materials/timelines/
Super Photos for each Country at Flickr http://www.flickr.com
Animation Factory: http://www.animfactory.com See the teacher for the password and for the Animation CD-Rom with great flag animations and great Power Point templates.

Template
Rubric

Following the template (created and modified in Microsoft Word .doc), students create a brochure about their country.

Story Board
Template
Template #2
Rubric

Use the story board to plan your power point by choosing a main point for each slide, based on your written report.
Use the Power Point template to create your presentation, with images you saved (and for which you list on the bibliography). Be sure to save the Power Point as yourname_country.ppt (such as SallyF_Brazil.ppt)
Use the rubric to guide you in making your power point, as it will be the basis for grading it.
Cool Country Power Point Backgrounds

http://www.indezine.com/powerpoint/templates/categories/countries/index.html

Story Board
Template
Rubric

Download the free Mozilla 1.7.12 browser with html editing composer.
Use story board to plan your web site
Open template in that browser and go to File>Edit Page
Insert all the files you saved previously and modify the template for your country.
Then File>Save As <yourinitials_country.html> (such as /sallyf_brazil.html) onto same device or folder as the items you inserted and then bring to the teacher so he can help you upload to our class web domain at www.sjteach.org

See student project sample:

Bibliography
Learn MLA Style

EasyBib MLA Maker

Students will use MLA Style format for showing resources used in all project elements.
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/557/01/

Example for web site:
"Encyclopædia Britannica World Atlas" Encyclopædia Britannica. 2005. Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service.
16 Oct. 2005 <http://www.britannica.com/eb/atlas>.

Find and use images, especially for whatever non-written presentation project you chose (website, Power Point Presentation, Dispaly board, etc)