My Top Five Unit Choices

Option 1: My first choice would to focus my unit on the Culture of Spain. During these lessons, the students would not only learn about the typical dances and types of food that people eat, but they would also use the internet to have a pen pal with another student (of the same age) from Spain. If we could not find an English speaking class to be pen pals with, the students from both classes would still have to convey ideas through the use of digital pictures and simple vocabulary. The pen pals would focus on the “every-day” things in their life. This unit would focus on grades 5 to 6.

Option 2: This unit will focus on fourth grade language arts. The students will each pick a famous poet and learn a piece of that poet’s work. They will use IMovie to produce a 3-5 minute video. This video will include a vast number of possibilities. They will not only be required to memorize and “perform” a poem by their chosen author, but they will be graded on creativity of performance and clarity of speech. They will also be required to give the viewer background information on their poet. This information will also be turned in as a hard copy.

Option 3: In my third option, I would make use of Blogs. This unit would focus on second graders and learning basic graphs. The students would design their own simple surveys (Ex: who has a younger brother?) and then graph the answers from the class. The students will establish a class Blog to explain their surveys or experiments. Each student will post an explanation of their survey and then attach a picture of their graphed results. The site will be accessible to parents and others who want to see the student’s work.

Option 4: My fourth option will also focus on fourth grade. In this unit the students will be learning about the Incan culture. They will each find a part of the culture that they want to specifically focus on, and then they will establish a collaborative podcast about that culture. They will not only be graded on their information presented, but they will also be graded on the collaborative efforts in the project. They will all be expected to produce a podcast that flows nicely between topics, is coherent and sensible.

Option 5: My last option, also for fourth grade, is to concentrate on science inventions. The students will have to research current inventions, and create one of their own. The invention must be plausible and equipped with full explanations. They will create a powerpoint to show their process of “building” their invention. This could be as simple as a catapult for marshmallow throwing. In the powerpoint they must include the sites and areas that they pulled information off of for their invention.