Summer Camp in the Classroom
Subjects
Grade
Brief Description
Transform your classroom into summer camp. Students learn about wildlife and plants and create camp games and songs.
Objectives
Students will
Keywords
outdoors, biology, safety, habitat, camp, summer
Materials Needed
Optional materials:
The Lesson
Arrange students into teams of five or six for this great end-of-year activity.
Give students on each team time to brainstorm a name for their team, which is about to take off for a week of summer camping. Each team will be given time to complete a variety of activities. Everything students create will be saved to their team folder, either on the computer or in a paper folder.
Summer Camp Activities
Have students visit the RV-America Web site to choose the state they will camp in. Click a state on the Web site to bring up a list of available campsites; additional information is available by selecting one of the campsites.
Students then use atlases or MapQuest to map a route to their chosen destination. The map should be printed and saved (1) to the computer, so they can include it in their electronic scrapbook (They might save it as a PowerPoint or AppleWorks presentation.) or (2) in the team's paper folder. Students should also get from MapQuest the driving directions to their chosen campsite, so they can determine how long it will take to reach it.
Team members might check the weather at the campsite location for the next week. They can do that by visiting the Weather Channel and typing in the name of the destination city. They should include in their folder the current weather and the forecast.
Next, the team should create a supply list of clothing and personal items that each member of the team should bring along and a list of supplies -- for example, a tent, food, cooking supplies, and so on -- that the group will need. All items must fit in a van. If available, a database program can be used to categorize and print a list of items for each team. That list should be included in the scrapbook folder.
Then the real fun begins! Students might visit any Web sites from the list selected by the teacher. (See a sample Web Site List below.) Members of the team should plan a class presentation about the place they visit. The presentations are limited only by the imaginations of team members. The list below illustrates just some of the things members might include in their folders. The tasks a team decides on can be assigned in any way members of the team see fit.
When it comes time to make their presentations, students might choose a simple recipe to share while running their slideshows. They might sing their team song while wearing team visors and T-shirts. All items should be printed for display and included in the final scrapbook presentation.
Remind students about copyright rules. They need permission to copy images or text off the Internet; and all sources must be recorded in the Team Bibliography. Provide a sample bibliography for teams to follow. Bibliographies might be handwritten or kept in a word processing document and printed at the end of the activity.
Web Site List
Assessment
Students will be assessed by teacher observation of
Submitted By
Submitted by VaReane C. Heese, Springfield (Nebraska) Elementary School
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