Backpacking Through Europe
Rational
For my mini-unit I plan to take my second grade students on an imaginary backpacking trip through Europe. Having gone to Europe last year, I decided that this would be fun, as well as a great learning experience for the students in the classroom. After introducing the unit, the students can vote on four countries they want to visit and draw pictures about what they want to learn while they are visiting these countries. Then they can prepare for the trip. My students voted on visiting England, France, Germany, and Italy. The students construct their own backpacks out of cereal boxes, butcher paper, and construction paper. They all bring in a copy of their birth certificate to begin processing for their passport. The class boards Wiley World Airlines to fly to England, and when the plane arrives, the classroom will be decorated to look like London, England. Next week, the room will appear like a boat as we depart for France via the English Channel. From there we will ride the Eurorail to Germany and then to Italy. For each country visited, the students wanted to learn about the people, national language, famous places, sports, clothing, food, and the type of currency that is used. They will also learn how to convert United States currency into the proper currency of each country. A letter was sent home to all of the parents requesting that they send a scrapbook to school with their child for this project. Throughout the entire trip they will be able to save memorabilia from each country in their scrapbooks. For every event that occurs during their trip, a guide sheet will be made for gluing into their scrapbooks. The guide sheets will be explained later in the mini-uint. Also, they will add photographs to their scrapbooks after they have learned about certain famous places. Reprints of photos actually taken will be used to make the trip more realistic for the children. The entire trip will take about 8 weeks to complete including 2 weeks of preparation time. Bon Voyage!
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