My students need atlases, encyclopedias, colored pencils, and 25 blank books to research, illustrate, and publish their own history books about Classical Civilizations.
"The challenge of history is to recover the past and introduce it to the present," David Thelen said. My students need to experience history in depth, and to subsequently triumph in the challenge of retelling it by becoming researchers and writers of history.
My 6th grade students go to a public school in Hawaii.
They live in an urban area that has a wide range of incomes and family backgrounds. The school is classified as a high-need or high-poverty school.
My students are great kids who are good-natured and ready to learn. The class as a whole is very artistic, and they enjoy drawing at any given opportunity. They also enjoy playing sports and some of the girls are into sewing and clothing design.
Growing up on an island tends to create a narrow world view, and although our class population is mixed in terms of race and ethnicity, my students do not have a good understanding of world cultures or historical civilizations. My students also need to strengthen their writing skills. They do not write with sufficient details or explanations to convey a strong meaning or theme.
My Project
To give my students an opportunity to learn history on a meaningful level, while becoming better writers at the same time, I have developed an integrated Language Arts and Social Studies unit. In this unit, students will research a Classical civilization; either Ancient Greece, Rome, India, or China, and write textbooks on their civilization.
To supplement their research, I have requested student atlases and an encyclopedia on ancient civilizations. Students will be participating fully in the writing process as they research, draft, revise, edit, and then publish each section of their book.
In order to publish their writing and encourage their best efforts, I have also requested hardcover blank books for them to write in. By putting their writing in a hardcover book they will feel like real writers. My students are very artistic and will include excellent illustrations for their textbooks, so I have requested 10 sets of colored pencils to be shared amongst them.
By donating to this project my 6th graders will be immersed in history by researching and writing their own textbooks on a Classical civilization.
Through writing and publishing they will become better writers and will be introduced to non-fiction writing, which will have increasing importance for them as they get older. The history books will have a reaching impact at our school as the 6th graders share their work with other classes and store their books in the library, so every student can see them.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Mrs. Matsuoka and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.