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Subjects
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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
Keywords
brochure, design, province, state, travel
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
LANGUAGE ARTS: English
SOCIAL SCIENCES: Geography
TECHNOLOGY
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