Classroom Action Plan--Mary Crampton--Minnesota
Using The Greatest Places in the Geography classroom
Classroom Plan includes:
activity--- students identify "Greatness".

Lesson/Unit Title: The "Greightest"

Teacher: Mary Crampton
Central Middle School
8025 School Rd.
Eden Prairie, MN 55344
(612) 975-7300
fax: (612) 975-7320
e-mail: [email protected]

Overview: (one paragraph or bullets)
Students will determine qualities of greatness and establish a list of criteria for determining great places in their community.
Students will identify a Great place and illustrate or write about their place.
Other students will try to determine the place and criteria for greatness elected by their classmates.
This will be a model for a trip to the Science Museum which will include the OMNI presentation. They will have to identify criteria used by producers to determine greatest places
.
Grade Level or Ages: 7th and 8th grade students

Greatest Places Theme(s):
Determine own great places criteria
Connection with local places
Celebrating Diversity
Connections and interrelationship
Curiosities

Geography Standards Alignment:
Maps and other geographic tools for information in a spatial perspective
Mental maps and spatial context
Spatial organization of the earth
Physical and human characteristics of places

Integration Strategies: See overview.

Outcomes:

Time Needed: Time will vary.

Objectives:

Materials:
Key Words:

Activity(ies):
Students will brainstorm criteria for greatness in small and large groups.
Students will brainstorm "What can be Great?"
Students will be assigned to develop a list of criteria for greatness and search their locale--school, community, state, nation, for a great place.
Student groups will create a presentation about their great place. (possibilities include posters, pictures, videos, computer projects, poems, songs, stories....)
Class will hypothesize about locations of each great place, and the criteria used to select it.
This exercise will be repeated in anticipation of a trip to the SMM and OMNI presentation of Greatest Places.--Students will brainstorm criteria for world's greatest places, then decide which criteria were used to produce the film.
Museum trip will include a selection of Greatest Places in the museum, with criteria listed by student groups.


Assessment Strategies:
Students will be asked to show how their "Greatest" selections, match their criteria. A rubric or check list will be developed.