Communities Across Iowa

A Collaborative Online Project Across Iowa

Project Description: Classes in grades 3-6 will learn about their unique community in Iowa and will submit their findings to Walnut Grove Elementary by email. Information will be posted on the Walnut Grove Website to be shared with other students throughout the state. All information will be accepted electronically through email either in the body of the message or as a Microsoft Word attachment. Digital images may be submitted (no more than ten images please,  in GIF or JPEG format, low resolution) as an email attachment. Digital images should be named.
Registration: 
To register for project, send teacher's name, grade, school name, town, to Ann Dea  adea@cbcsd.org by April 15, 2003 You will be sent email confirmation of your registration.
Date: All materials are due by May 1, 2003 but you may send them sooner if you have them completed.  Your class name will be posted when student work is received. Work will be posted when we receive it. We will have all work posted by May 15, 2003. Send your information and images to adea@cbcsd.org
Communites Across Iowa site will remain on our webpage as a resource for students and teachers across the state.
  • Objectives: Classes will learn about their unique community in Iowa and will communicate their informaton to Walnut Grove Elementary by email.  Students will conduct research about their community and report information in quality paragraphs for each of these areas of interest: (Links are provided to online resources). 
    • Walnut Grove students will create webpages for each unique community using the information and images submitted.
    Standards and Benchmarks:
    Language and Reading Standards
    1. Read grade level fiction and nonfiction text fluently with comprehension
    2. Apply reading strategies to content/technical reading
    3. Summarize, state main idea, paraphrase and make inferences
    Writing Standards
    1. Compose narratives, descriptions, messages, summaries, reports, paragraphs, news, directions 
    2. Combine information from multiple sources to write reports
    3. Use concise language and word order for clarity of expression
    Social Studies Standards
    1. Apply understandings of how communities meet the needs of people to the local community - transportation, specialization, services and producers.

    2. Identify geographic features unique or relative to your community
    3. Relate understanding of community government to the local community
     

    Technology Standards - Performance Indicators
    Prior to completion of grade 5 students will:
    1. Use technology tools (e.g., multimedia authoring, presntation, Web tools, digital cameras, scanners,) for individual and collaborative writing, communication and publishing activities to create knowledge products for audiences inside and outside the classroom.

    2. Use telecommunications and online resources to participate in collaborative problem-solving activities for the purpose of developing solutions or products for audiences inside and outside the classroom.
    Suggested Activities: 

    Divide your students into heterogeneous groups. Each group will be responsible for a task. Suggested groups: Geographers, Historians, Tourist Guides, Employment Service (types of jobs, goods and services), Population Experts, Government Experts, Transportation Experts. 
    Students will research information concerning their task from primary sources, on their community's web page or in books. Students may use  Kidspiration Software or other graphic organizers to help in orgainizing the sentences for  their paragraph. Write a good paragraph about your selected topic using strategies and patterns of text structure that good non fiction writers use.

    Search on the TopoZone website to find the latitude and longitude of your community.

    Locate the population of your community using the US Census webpage

    Locate participating communities on a map of Iowa plotting the latitude and longitude for others to see.

    Determine the classification for your community (rural, urban, suburban) 

    Discuss and list the characteristics of the urban, suburban, and rural community. May do a read aloud on this topic using Walk Around A City by Peter and Connie Roop, Walk Around A Town by Peter and Connie Roop, Walk Around a Suburb by Peter and Connie Roop or by using other quality nonfiction.

    Using Kispiration software compare and contrast different types of communities 

    Exchange email with participating classes to learn more about their school and community. Your  class email address will be posted on your community project web page.

    Conduct an interview with the mayor or members of the city council concerning their responsibilities and the operation of a local government.Create a PowerPoint slide show communicating your information.

    Use the digital camera to take images of your community. Learn to set the camera to the lowest resolution so images may download faster. 

    Write an advertisement explaining why people should visit your community. Your advertisement should tell whether your community is in a rural or urban area.
     

     
    Walnut Grove School
    Council Bluffs Community Schools
    2920 Avenue J
    Council Bluffs, Iowa 51501
    Last updated 3/17/02
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