Lesson: Travel Objective: To have students write about visiting and exploring another country based on their imagination and incorporating facts presented by the teacher.
Strands: Imaginative and Narrative Writing Content Curriculum Areas: Social Studies, Language Arts, Multicultural
Lesson Plan:
1) Teacher selects a particular country to focus on (i.e. Mexico). Shows students on the map where it is and what are some of the possible places to visit (i.e. Cancun, Cabo San Lucas, Mexico City, Ixtapa, Puerto Vallarta etc.)
2) Brainstorm lists relative to that country regarding the following categories:A) Modes of Transportation (to get there and also while they're there)
B) Tourist Activities/Local Interests
C) Foods
D) Land Forms (i.e., mountains seashore, etc.)
E) Celebrations
F) Artifacts
G) Currency
H) Foreign Phrases
3) Teacher fills the students in on additional background information from texts:
Mexico: The Culture by Bobbie Kalman
Passport to Mexico by Carmen Irizarry
4) Students can look at books, artifacts, and maps for additional information. Encourage students to incorporate specific details, from brainstormed lists and research, into their story to make it more credible, factual and interesting
5) Possible Prompts:A) Imagine that you have traveled to this country and tell a story about what you do while you're there
B) Imagine that you've met a new friend from this country, and write about your adventures together
6) Sharing: students share a favorite passage from their writing
Materials in Trunk:
1) Maps of country and of world
2) Artifacts from the country--postcards, dolls or toys, currency, brochures, etc.
3) Modes of Transportation-toy models
4) Books (listed above)
5) Pencils/Pens and Paper for writing
Adaptation Ideas:
1) With materials in trunk from Washington, D.C., students plan their itinerary of where they'd like to visit and what they'd do while they're there. Students then write a travel log/journal of their experiences.
2) <>Read The Places You '11 Go by Dr. Seuss.
<>Brainstorm places they'd go (from world map) and how they might get there (modes of transportation)
<>Students can then write of their adventures
<>Possibly have them design and write postcards to their friends and family at home about what they've been doing and put these into a book form (Postcard Book)
<>Another possibility is to have the students create a passport stamp then they could put them into a passport for the class
**The idea of this trunk is that people would add to it as it passes along so that the artifacts and information on various countries grows and expands.