Over the past few weeks, I've been leading my fourth graders on a journey across North America! We began in northern Maine and are working our way through each of the regions of the United States (Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, Southwest, and West). Following our study of the USA, we'll head to Canada and then down to Mexico and the Caribbean.
The students are divided into five pairs and have designed "cars" in which they are driving across America. Each week, the students complete projects (researching landmarks, sports teams, weather, etc. for the states in the region of study) to earn points, which allow them to move their cars across the grid-paper map one space at a time. It's not a race; the goal is to get to as many states as possible before our unit is over.
One highlight of this unit has been "hosting" guests from each of the regions! Some guests have been through email, others over Skype, and even a few in person. Today we welcomed two of the moms from Texas for a Southwest Celebration! They greeted us with "Howdy y'all," shared with us about life in the city vs. country in Texas, taught us how to sing "Deep in the Heart of Texas," and danced along with us to "Cotton Eyed Joe."
One of the students whose "home base" is in Texas (although he has lived in Germany for almost his whole life) made Texas-shaped cookies with Texas flag-colored icing! Yum!
The kids were adorable in their cowboy/cowgirl attire!
Yee-haw!
I think this is such a cute idea! You are so creative and really engage your students! Awesome job, looks like such fun!
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