Colonial American Gazette

Grade Levels: 3 - 6

Objectives

• Students will use traditional and Internet material to research life in colonial America.
• Students will write articles and make drawings about various aspects of colonial life.
• Students will review materials submitted by other students, and revise and edit the articles for publication in a mock publication called the Colonial American Gazette.
• Students will share the completed publication.

Materials

• Reference materials concerning colonial America and access to the Internet

Procedures

1. Create a schedule and responsibility chart for gathering the articles and artwork from participating classes.
2. Identify some keywords that students might use to find information about life in colonial America, for example the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, new world, the lost colony of Roanoke, Salem witch trials, slavery, and the Mayflower.
3. Allow students to search the Internet or look through reference materials for information.
4. Have students research information about life in colonial America and write articles or create artwork about what they have learned.
5. Have students work with peers to revise and edit all the articles before printing or posting final products.
6. Have students share what they are learning about colonial America.
7. Have students organize the articles and artwork for the Gazette.
8. Students will share the finished product with all project participants.
9. Print copies of the Gazette for all participants.

Standards Correlations

National Technology Education Standards

• Students will use a variety of media and formats to communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences.
• Students will use technology to locate, evaluate, and collect information from a variety of sources.
• Students will evaluate and select new information resources and technological innovations based on the appropriateness to specific tasks.

  National Social Studies Education Standards
  

• Students will understand that historical knowledge and the concept of time are socially inflected constructions that lead historians to be selective in the questions they seek to answer and the evidence they use.
• Students will identify and describe significant historical periods and patterns of change within and across cultures.
• Students will systematically employ processes of critical historical inquiry to reconstruct and interpret the past, such as using a variety of sources and checking their credibility, validating and weighing evidence for claims, and searching for causality.

Use the following rubric for evaluating students' ability to complete this project:

4 – Exemplary Understanding
Student:

• navigates the Internet quickly and efficiently.
• consistently contributes to the project.
• writes a well-organized, thorough article, using information found through research.
• edits and revises written work so that published articles are easy to read and free from errors.

3 – Competent Understanding
Student:

• navigates the Internet with very few problems.
• makes valuable contributions to the project.
• writes an article based on information found through research.
• edits and revises written work, locating and correcting errors in grammar and usage.

2 – Developing Understanding
Student:

• can navigate within a site, once a specific site is reached.
• contributes to the project with occasional prompting.
• writes several sentences based on information found through research.
• edits and revises written work with teacher prompting.

1 – Emerging Understanding
Student:

• demonstrates enthusiasm about the Internet.
• contributes to the project only when prompted.
• orally contributes one or two facts obtained through research.
• revises and edits work by following teacher directives.

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