Where On Earth DoI Live?

This unit will take about 6 weeks:

In this unit, students will first gather information on the 7 continents and 4 oceans in collaborative groups. Then students will create a "tour" of the world using Google Earth. Students will then present their tours to their peers. Once students have developed an understanding of the continents and the oceans, we will narrow our discussion to North America. We will then focus our attention to our state, Alabama. Students will go back into collaborative groups, research Alabama and create brochures getting people to come to Alabama, using Microsoft Word. Students will follow a checklist to guide them along in their research. When they have completed their brochures, students will present them to their peers and post them our website. Next we will narrow our search to the city we live in, Tuscaloosa. Students will watch a Google Earth Tour of important places in our city. Then they will take turns taking digital cameras home to take pictures of their favorite places in Tuscaloosa. As we download the pictures, each student will create a webpage of his/her favorite places and write captions for each picture. These webpages will be presented to peers and linked to the class webpage for parents and other members of the community to see.