MAIN CONCEPT:

During a field trip students participate in a tour of the local community after brainstorming their own questions in a "Do-It-Yourself History Survey."

OBJECTIVES:

• To help the students become more familiar with their community.
• To help the students establish an appreciation of their community's rich history and become familiar with its architecture.
• To help the students acquire a greater appreciation and awareness of the history of their local area.
• To help the students understand how the history of their local area affects their present lives.
• To help the students use their visual and auditory skills while also improving their writing skills.

• Computer, modem, CD-ROM, a telecommunications network providing access to the World Wide Web, and a bookmark for Oral History sites
• Word Processing Software
• Community Map
• CD-ROM (such as Grolier's Encyclopedia)
• Journals for students to record information
• Video of local community's past and present
• Portraits of Our Mothers (p.70 - "Do-It-Yourself History Survey")
• Cameras
• Picture Postcards of the Community

1. Students think of their own questions about their community for a "Do-It-Yourself History Survey", such as: What are the most famous streets in your city? What or who are they named for? Which is the most historic building? How did it get there? What, if any, battles were fought in or near the city? Who was the leader of the group?

2. The students are shown a video about their community's past and present and take notes in order to be able to answer their questions in the "Do-It-Yourself History Survey."

3. Students develop a questionaire of things to look for on the field trip before participating in a tour of the local community.

4. During the tour students take pictures with the cameras and write notes in their journals on information learned about the community.

5. Upon returning to the classroom, students write an essay about the local community based on their notes taken during the video and the tour. They write about what they saw and liked, and perhaps what could be improved.

6. Using a picture postcard of their town, students write some interesting information about their town using facts and figures learned in this lesson.

7. Students write and mail the postcard to a friend.

1. Using the computer each student word processes his/her essay about the local community. Working in pairs students edit, spell-check, and revise their stories on the community.

2. Following a demonstration of the use of the scanner students scan the pictures which they took with the cameras on the field trip. With the help of a teacher or a volunteer students scan the pictures, wordwrap their essays around the pictures and print the final product.

3. A classbook is compiled of all the essays and pictures of the local community.

4. A copy of the classbook of the local community may be given to the children's section of the local library.