Students, have you ever wondered how you are affected by the place you live? Would your life be the same if you lived in any other place than you do now? Using the knowledge that you will learn as you explore and travel throughout North Carolina, determine how life would be different for you and your family. Do you think you and your family affect the area in which you live?

You will be a part of a team that will travel to different regions of North Carolina. Your job is to determine how the place affects the people and how the people affect that place where they live. You will rotate through four roles: 1. Locator 2. Describer 3. Transporter 4. Analyzer. You will read articles, explore current issues, visit places in the Mountain, Piedmont, and Coastal Plain region of North Carolina and determine their unique characteristics and similarities and how this affects the population that lives there.

The Process

You will work in a group of 4 rotating through the following roles:

What is the place like? What features does it have? What natural resources does it have? What industries does it have? What is the population? What special attractions does it have?

How do people and things move from one place to another? Why do people make these movements? Show a map of goods being moved from this place to other places.

How is this place similar to Chapel Hill, or to other places you have visited in North Carolina? What makes this place unique?

You will choose one of the above roles and ultimately determine the answer to the Essential Question for your presentation and final report. A variety of activities will follow this internet exploration of North Carolina creating a North Carolina portfolio for the group to publish. You will include the following:

• Postcard for a place of interest you discovered on your journey to each location you visit

Your postcard will have the event/place illustrated on the front with a letter written to a friend or your teacher describing the 4 'W's': what, where, why, and who on the back.

 

• Brochures demonstrating understanding of the four roles

Your brochure must also, include a brief history that summarizes the most important events that shaped that place, its culture, industry and sources of work,

• Write a persuasive letter to an appropriate person(people group) on a current issue(s).

Research any issue that is currently problematic for your area. For example, is your area experiencing a population boom that is affecting habitats, and schools? Is your area suffering from pollution based on industry? What are the concerns you have? Can anything be done about it? Who can you write to to share your concern and / or suggest a way to solve the problem(s).

 

• Keep a journal of your daily activity/adventures sharing your responses to what you experienced and discovered. Have you been there before? Tell us about it. Would you like to go there? Explain. What captures your interest?

• Read a legend or folktale related to your region: using a 'Literature Connection' sheet to share your story. Use the link below and/or use other resources in the classroom.

Legends/Folktales

 

• construct a presentation
• construct a relief map

 

 

 

Steps to follow:

1. You'll be a part of a team of 4 students.
2. You will choose your roles, each time rotating through each role once.
3. You will use the links to research your questions that are related to your role.
4. You will keep a journal entry each time you log on describing your explorations highlighting any interesting facts or places you discovered.
5. You will record your responses to your questions in your journal and then you will record your information in a brochure template.
6. Using an editing checklist, follow the writing process to the final copy to be published.

 You will have a contract stating your travel itinerary, your responsibility for each location, the short story/legend you will report on. Your contract will include a group evaluation sheet/rubric to keep track of your progress.

There will be a group grade and an individual grade as indicated on the rubric.

Conclusion

You learned about the unique characteristics of each region in North Carolina, and how life would be different for you if you lived there. What changes do you think will occur in North Carolina or in a specific region in the next couple of decades? Change is necessary for growth. What change is inevitable? What changes would be positive or negative? How do people affect these changes? This brings us back to our essential question: How are we affected by our environment? Do we help affect our environment?

Awesome Clipart For Kids 6/13/2001. Eduhound.com. 6/12/2001.http://www.awesomeclipartforkids.com/

Destinations: The Outer Banks. 2000. National Geographic. 6/12/2001. http://www.nationalgeographic.com/destinations/The_Outer_Banks/

North Carolina Cities. 6/15/01 http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Parthenon/5827/nccities.html

North Carolina Maps: Where To Go. 6/13/01. North Carolina Division of Tourism. http://www.visit.nc.com/where_to_go.html

North Carolina Enyclopedia: Historical Highlights of North Carolina. May 5,1998. State Library of North Carolina Webteam. http://statelibrary.dcr.state.nc.us/nc/history/history.htm

North Carolina. KidsClick! Search Engine. 6/13/01. http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/s

North Carolina Historical People & Places. 5/14/01. Educational Technology Division of the North Carolina Department of Instruction. 6/12/01 http://www.itpi.dpi.state.nc.us/nchistorical/default.html

Process Guides: Interview Techniques and Persuasive Writing by Dan McDowell. July 5,1999. San Diego Unified School District. 6/12/01. http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/