What do you know about the town where you grew up? Are there any interesting buildings in your hometown? Our town is full of interesting places and we're helping our city research those buildings so they can become part of the historic plaque program!
My 5th graders will trace the history of eight buildings and find out what they were used for.
Because we are not researching for easily accessible information, we need laptops to provide more computers for research in our classroom.
My students will use creativity to create a class book about their building. Each student will create a page about their building. They will have to use their creativity to present the page in a manner that will captivate the reader. This will be an ongoing project and the book will be added to each year as future students research other buildings. We will use our camera from a previous LSG Fund grant to take photographs of the buildings to include in our book.
Critical thinking is all over this project. There is not one, easy to find answer out there for my students! They have to use critical thinking as they explore websites, tax records, old newspapers, old pictures, interview family and friends, and dig anywhere they can think of to find information.
My Project
My students are learning how to collaborate with their peers. They are working with a partner to research the building. But they will collaborate with others in our class as well. If someone should find out information about another group's building, they will share this information. They are also collaborating with adults. They are enlisting the help of their parents and grandparents to help them with the research. Students will interview relatives to see if they remember what the building was used for and to see if they have pictures of the building. My students are also collaborating with our downtown development department. We are doing research that they will use to create the plaques. We may also have to go to other government agencies to get information, as well as our local library. Students will collaborate with many community resources. Students are going to have to use their communication skills effectively to find this information.
You can help my students become real world researchers by helping to fund our request for laptops.
My students will use creativity, collaboration, communication skills, and critical thinking as they research in this community project.
DonorsChoose is the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.
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. Martel and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
