Traci Bellas-Regions of North Carolina

My unit involved the creation of a class website and interactive links to engage students in a study of the regions of North Carolina.

The unit will cover 4th grade SCOS learning objectives:

• Social Studies: 1.01, 1.02, 1.03, 5.02, 5.03
• Language Arts: 1.04, 2.02, 2.03, 2.04, 2.05, 2.06, 3.01, 3.06, 4.01, 4.03, 4.10, 5.07, 5.08
• Technology Skills: 1.03, 1.04, 1.08, 1.09, 1.11, 1.13, 1.15, 2.03, 2.05, 2.08, 2.09, 2.10, 2.11, 2.12, 3.04, 3.07
• Information Skills: Competency goal 4

Included in this unit were kid friendly research tools, links to copyright and Fair Use guidelines, web evaluation tools, and online safety rules for students.

Since students will simultaneously be reading a novel related to our study of North Carolina, they can respond to a question regarding what we have read in their blog, at least once a week, during a prescribed time in class. My webpage also serves as a consistent form of communication between my students and families, as I have a homework blog and student literature blog for class novel studies. I can easily update homework information on a daily basis since it is in blog form.

Students will access a Webquest link from my website to investigate geographic regions of North Carolina and its cultures. Students may also use the Internet to research additional information. Links on my class website offer students website evaluation tools, copyright and Fair Use guidelines, and information about online safety. Since my students will need to cite their sources, I have also provided a link to a citation creator.

After this research has been completed as a class, cooperative groups will select or be assigned a specific region and will create a Power Point presentation highlighting specific features of their region. A sample multimedia presentation has been created for students to view. Students will include a graph in their Power Point presentation, which represents numerical data they have gathered from their research, such as population of large cities, tourist revenue that has been exported from a spreadsheet program.

Student projects will be assessed by a rubric I created, which can be accessed by a link on the parent web page. Student knowledge will also be assessed at the end of the unit through the Jeopardy-style quiz game about the North Carolina regions.

This unit will predominantly be presented through in-class computer cart usage or computer lab. I will also publicize community resources that provide computer and Internet access and offer an allotted computer time after school if a student need exists. I plan on taking a survey of my families to find out about their accessibility to computers and the Internet. This will help me gauge the amount of access students have and their ability to complete independent technology work.

The diverse learners in my class will have their needs addressed through the variety of modalities that are offered within the unit. Students will participate in cooperative learning. The creation of a graph through a spreadsheet will help my visual-spatial learners, along with the ability search for information and interact with the learning environment through the Webquest. Auditory learners will be supported through the oral presentation students present about the North Carolina regions.



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