Teaching is a Gift: Friday Freebie

Canada's Links to the World

OUTSIDE THE BOX

A few months ago I was looking for a new way to teach the social studies topic "Canada's Links to the World". The grade six students are asked to identify and describe Canada’s economic, political, social, and physical links with the United States and other regions of the world. Students need to use a variety of inquiry methods and research tools to investigate the importance of international connections for Canada’s well-being and inﬂuence in the world. Students also identify current international issues that concern Canada, and describe Canada’s response to them.

For the past few years I have had the students each create their own wiki project online. It is really intense and meaningful for the class to create and collaborate in this way. Unfortunately, this year, a lack of access to the computers in our school, combined with the timing of the annual standardized testing in math and language meant that there was no way the students would be able to complete the project the way I had presented it in the past.

Click on the image above to go to the product on TpT.

Enter the Outside the Box project from Mr. Hughes of "An Educator's Life" . This hands-on project is meant to allow students the chance to get to know a geographical region or area, such as a country, state, county, or province.
Everything I needed was included except the student reference materials for research! My students used a variety of sources for research. Some of the research was done at home and the rest done during class time. I used the research recording sheets found in the packet, and I reminded students that their sources had to be written in proper MLA bibliographic format.

By using this great project my students researched and learned about a region of the world with a focus on:
-Map skills (longitude/latitude, hemisphere, etc.)
-Economy (Imports/Exports)
-Interesting Facts
-Culture
-Population

I added a new section to one of the circles. I asked my students to research a plant and an animal indigenous to the country they were researching. This was a link to the BIODIVERSITY unit we are studying in science.

After my students completed the research guide (included in the package), they transfered the information to the 6 included circles. They then cut out the circles and glued them to cardstock and cut them out again. Finally they turned those circles into a cube..hence the OUTSIDE the BOX title!

This student chose Romania for his project. You can see how much work went into his map.

This student chose to research France. You can see he has glued all his circles to cardstock, cut them out and is ready to assemble them.

Students carefully folded the tabs before they added glue and assembled the boxes.

Students carefully laid out the project pieces before they glued them together. It was important to orient all the pieces correctly so they would be legible once hung from the ceiling.

Almost finished!

Getting the pieces just right!

The section I added about a plant and animal indigenous to the country being researched. This linked nicely to our science unit on Biodiversity.

The view from below.

Carefully folding the tabs. I recommend that students use a ruler to get a nice, crisp edge.

Using a ruler to make a nice, straight fold.

I suspended all the finished projects using fishing line from a rope strung across the ceiling of my classroom. You can see I also have some beach themed bunting up.
It all looks very festive!

I hung the projects 14 to a clothesline.
The kids LOVE that they are hung low enough to read.

The finished products look amazing and the students had a great time researching their country and constructing their project.

The finished products all look amazing!
The students are really proud of the job they did!

I varied the lengths of fishing line to give a staggered view of the projects once hung.

It looks like a party in my room! We have travelled all over the world in less than 80 days! I gave the students a month to complete the project. Most of that was spent on research and writing the rough copy.

The final versions took several days in class to assemble, but they were worth it!

Mr. Hughes has lots of fantastic products in his TpT store. Here is a great FREEBIE that you can grab while you are checking out his Outside the Box project. His prices are very reasonable!