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Fifty States

Return to Fifty States, Five Lessons

 

Subjects
  • Arts & Humanities
    Language Arts, Visual Arts
  • Educational Technology
  • Social Studies

  • Geography

Grades

3-5, 6-8, 9-12, Advanced

Brief Description

Students at the (Your School's Name) Travel Agency have been contracted to write and design travel brochures for a variety of states and/or provinces. After analyzing what makes an attractive and interesting travel brochure, the students get to work.

Objective

Students

  • visit a travel agency or invite a travel agent to visit the classroom (optional).
  • analyze a variety of travel brochures and discuss what makes an effective brochure.
  • research the state, province, or location for which they will design a brochure.
  • create a draft of the brochure.
  • comment on one another's work.
  • create final brochures.
  • use technology tools to create the brochures (optional).
  • share their work with classmates.

Keywords

brochure, design, province, state, travel

Materials Needed

  • selection of travel brochures
  • library and/or Internet resources (list of Internet sources provided)
  • art supplies

Lesson Plan

Inform students that the U.S. government has hired them to produce travel brochures that will highlight the uniqueness of each of the 50 U.S. states.
(Note: Teachers might easily adapt this activity to Canada and its provinces or to other countries.) Students can work individually or in teams to produce brochures that highlight a state, its major attractions and features, and some basic data.

At the start of this activity, it would be ideal to invite the owner of a local travel agency to visit the class. He or she could talk to students about what is involved in the job and bring in a variety of brochures on which students might model their own brochures. The travel agent might also bring slides and share the agency's Web site. As much as possible, the agent should focus on travel within the country. (Alternative: Students can take a field trip to a travel agency.)

Students can work in groups or as a class to study a selection of travel brochures. They should brainstorm a list of some of the features found in those brochures, paying particular attention to the colorful pictures and language used in the brochures. Encourage students to include some of the best features in the brochures they create.

Students can use a variety of resources in their research, including encyclopedias, CD-ROMs, library books, and the resources listed at the end of this section. They also might write letters to the tourism department of the state they are researching. 

When it is time to put together the actual brochures, have students create pencil sketches of what the brochures will look like and then meet in small groups or as a class to share their brochures with their peers and solicit critiques.

When the brochures are complete, ask students to share their work with their classmates. Student presentations might be videotaped or photographed, and students might repeat their presentations at parent open house night.

Internet Resources
Appropriate grade levels for each resource provided in parentheses.

 

Assessment

Students write the one thing they liked best about each student's or group's brochure. Each student should receive a copy of the class list of positive reviews. The class discusses each brochure and decides on the one feature that distinguishes each designer's brochure.

Lesson Plan Source

Education World

Submitted By

Gary Hopkins National Standards

FINE ARTS: Visual Arts

  • GRADES K - 4
    NA-VA.K-4.1 Understanding and Applying Media, Techniques, and Processes
    NA-VA.K-4.3 Choosing and Evaluating A Range of Subject Matter, Symbols, and Ideas
    NA-VA.K-4.4 Understanding the Visual Arts In Relation to History and Cultures
    NA-VA.K-4.5 Reflecting Upon and Assessing the Characteristics and Merits of Their Work and the Work of Others
    NA-VA.K-4.6 Making Connections Between Visual Arts and Other Disciplines
  • GRADES 5 - 8
    NA-VA.5-8.1 Understanding and Applying Media, Techniques, and Processes
    NA-VA.5-8.3 Choosing and Evaluating A Range of Subject Matter, Symbols, and Ideas
    NA-VA.5-8.4 Understanding the Visual Arts In Relation to History and Cultures
    NA-VA.5-8.5 Reflecting Upon and Assessing the Characteristics and Merits of Their Work and the Work of Others
    NA-VA.5-8.6 Making Connections Between Visual Arts and Other Disciplines
  • GRADES 9 - 12
    NA-VA.9-12.1 Understanding and Applying Media, Techniques, and Processes
    NA-VA.9-12.2 Using Knowledge of Structures and Functions
    NA-VA.9-12.3 Choosing and Evaluating A Range of Subject Matter, Symbols, and Ideas
    NA-VA.9-12.4 Understanding the Visual Arts In Relation to History and Cultures
    NA-VA.9-12.5 Reflecting Upon and Assessing the Characteristics and Merits of Their Work and the Work of Others
    NA-VA.9-12.6 Making Connections Between Visual Arts and Other Disciplines

LANGUAGE ARTS: English

SOCIAL SCIENCES: Geography

TECHNOLOGY

See more geography lesson ideas on the Education World Geography page. Click to return to the Fifty States lesson plan page.

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Originally published 09/06/2002
Last updated 06/02/2010