USA Internet Activity

Credits:

Steve Gandy

Mountain View Elementary School

Broomfield, Colorado

steve@stevegandy.com

 

 

 

Subject Matter:

Language Arts (English), Reading, Social Studies, Technology

 

Grades:

5

 

Software Application:

Any Internet Browser:

Internet Explorer

Netscape

 

and

 

Any word processor:

StarOffice Writer, AppleWorks, Microsoft Word

 

 

 

Summary:

This is a unit of study for 5th grade United States geography. There are 8 parts; they all integrate Internet skills with the social studies content. The 8 parts are:

 

1. Make Bookmarks of Favorites of good planet sites.

2. Browse the web for info. on your state.

3. Download and print pictures from your state.

4. Find a map of your state on the Internet.

5. Copy, paste and print a paragraph about tourism.

6. Find unique information about your state.

7. Find and report the weather report for the capital city.

8. Send an e-mail message to someone in your state.

 

While the activities build on each other it is not necessary to do them all. Teachers may choose certain parts and not others after reviewing them and their students' needs.

 

This Internet Activity can be part of a larger project that involves research and a report. See the lesson titled: Explorers Report and Presentation and GeoDraw USA State Maps

 

Links:

 1.     USA Activity - http://mountain.adams12.org/InternetCenters/States/USAactivityMenu.html

 2.     MVES Internet Activity Menu Page - http://mountain.adams12.org/InternetCenters/NetCenterMenu.html

This is a menu of all the Mountain View Internet Center Activities: USA Geography for 5th grade, Colorado History for 4th grade, Weather for 3rd grade, Picture Dictionary for 2nd grade, and Research for grades 2-5

 

State & National Standards:

CO- Colorado Academic Standards

´ Subject : Geography

´ Standard 1: Students know how to use and construct maps, globes, and other geographic tools to locate and derive information about people, places, and environments

Seeing the world geographically requires an understanding of various tools to be able to interpret and make maps; recognize relationships in and between places; make generalizations; and understand the concepts of distance, direction, location, connection, and association. These abilities and concepts are basic to what makes geography unique--the spatial perspective. Maps, globes, photographs, satellite images, and geographic information systems (GIS) are examples of geographic tools. They are essential to portraying, analyzing, evaluating, and predicting human and physical patterns and processes on EarthÍs surface. They play a critical role in helping people make sense of a complex world, and they improve human capacity to move about and plan activities. Developing locational knowledge--for example, knowing where places are and why they are there--is also a part of being a geographically informed person. Locational knowledge is developed through both academic learning and personal experience. This knowledge, developed through factual learning, serves as a personal framework for objective and personal geographic knowledge. Geographic images and the impressions students have of places are organized by these personal frameworks. Geographic literacy also demands an understanding of how space on Earth is organized. To understand spatial organization requires observation and analysis as well as an awareness that the patterns observed on EarthÍs surface reflect geographic processes. The concepts of distance, direction, location, connection, and association help explain how space is arranged on Earth. Other geographic concepts explain the size and locations of settlements, the connections or lack of connections between and among locations, and the interchange of people, ideas, and goods.

´ Key Idea 1.2: Students develop knowledge of Earth to locate people, places, and environments

´ Grade/Level : Grades 5-8

 Performance Indicator : identifying and locating each of the fifty states in the United States

 Performance Indicator : identifying and locating physical and human features in their own and nearby communities, in the United States, and in regions of the world
´ Subject : Reading and Writing

´ Standard 1: Students read and understand a variety of materials

The goal for students at all levels is that they know and can use strategies--various ways of unlocking the meaning of words and larger blocks of text--to become successful readers. The strategies are applied in increasingly difficult reading material at each grade level. At all levels, students should be challenged to read literature and other materials that stimulate their interests and intellectual abilities. Reading from a wide variety of texts, both assigned and student selected, provides experience in gaining information and pleasure from diverse forms and perspectives.

´ Expectation by Grade or Topic : Fifth Grade

 Suggested Expectation : monitor own comprehension and make modifications when understanding breaks down by rereading a portion, using reference aids, and using contextual information;

 Suggested Expectation : summarize long text passages;

 Suggested Expectation : draw inferences using contextual clues;

 Suggested Expectation : compare and contrast different texts;

 Suggested Expectation : select, use, monitor, and reflect upon appropriate strategies for different reading purposes;

 Suggested Expectation : identify sequential order in expository text;

 Suggested Expectation : use word recognition skills to understand unfamiliar words (for example, decoding multi-syllable words, affixes, root words);

 Suggested Expectation : select appropriate definitions from the dictionary;

 Suggested Expectation : use the pronunciation guide in the dictionary to correctly say unfamiliar words;

 Suggested Expectation : paraphrase the key ideas in fiction and non-fiction;

 Suggested Expectation : confirm meaning using context cues.
´ Standard 2: Students write and speak for a variety of purposes and audiences

Writing and speaking are essential tools for learning, for success in the workplace, and for responsible citizenship. Developing a range of writing and speaking abilities requires extensive study, practice, and thinking. Students need frequent opportunities to write and speak for different audiences and purposes, and they need to be able to communicate expressively, informatively, and analytically. Growth in writing and speaking abilities occurs by applying skills to increasingly challenging communication tasks

´ Expectation by Grade or Topic : Fifth Grade

 Suggested Expectation : organize their writing so that there is an introduction, logical arrangement of ideas, and a conclusion;

 Suggested Expectation : use transitions to link ideas;

 Suggested Expectation : chose vocabulary that communicates their messages clearly and precisely;

 Suggested Expectation : revise drafts by adding, elaborating, deleting, combining, and rearranging text;

 Suggested Expectation : create readable documents with legible handwriting or word processing at the appropriate time.

 

Local Standards:

INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGY CONTINUUM

Standard #3 Telecommunications: Students use telecommunications to retrieve and exchange information which supports and enhances District 12 curriculum frameworks.

 

3C     Uses web-browsing software to access information sources using the Internet       3C.1   Uses teacher-selected Internet sites and/or links to retrieve information for classroom assignments

3C.2   Uses search strategies to locate information

3C.3   Saves and/or prints information from the Internet

3D     Develops skills in analyzing the accuracy and credibility of information from electronic resources and cites those sources appropriately  3D.1         Distinguishes among sources of information (i.e. university, commercial and government sites)

3D.2   Recognizes the difference between content and advertisements on web pages

3D.3   Cites electronic sources correctly

3D.4   Evaluates the usefulness of information obtained using electronic resources

 

Lesson Outcomes:

Students will become familiar with the United States. They will learn vocabulary that is specific to weather, geography, and tourism in their state. They will have experiences that enhance their understanding of the country.

 

Students will gain Internet research skills and have experiences that will aid their future use of the Internet as a source of information.

 

Assessment:

Much of this lesson is experiential and not meant to be evaluated in any traditional way. Teacher participation in the process is important in this lesson. The teacher should be an active "guide" while the students are exploring the web sites and activities. Modeling the behaviors of discovery and problem solving are key to a successful experience. As the lesson progresses the teacher can then evaluate, on an individual basis, who is mastering the social studies and the Internet skills content.

 

 

Student Prerequisites:

Students need a signed district Internet Acceptable Use Policy on file.

 

Students should have participated in the Introduction to the Internet lesson plan.

 

 

Lesson Preparation:

Teachers may want to have assigned certain states to individual students or student groups. This lesson may fit in as the research portion of a larger state report project.

 

Teachers should visit all linked sites from the USA Activity web site to ensure that they are all still working.

 

Time Frame:

8 class periods. 45 Min. per class.

 

Implementation Steps:

Full directions for each of the USA Activity parts are included online so none are needed here. Teachers should be familiar with those directions before leading their class into them as there may be certain details they would want to exclude or add.

 

Links:

 1.     USA Activity - http://mountain.adams12.org/InternetCenters/States/USAactivityMenu.html

 

RESOURCES

Lesson Resources:

See the various Internet links contained within the activity. Follow the link below.

 

Links:

 1.     USA Internet Activity - http://mountain.adams12.org/InternetCenters/States/USAactivityMenu.html

 

STUDENT PRODUCT(S)

Product(s) Description:

Various, see the individual activities.

 

REFLECTION

Comments:

We have used this lesson successfully since 1998.

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Developed under a grant from Sun Microsystems, Inc. Open Gateways at Mountain View

Elementary School by Steve Gandy, Technology Coordinator - mountain.adams12.org/TISS

© 2003