American Colonies

map Shaping of the American Colonies
Valley MiddleSchool
8th Grade Social Studies
Mr. Schleicher & Mrs. McGaughey

anim.ship

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Welcome to the American Colonies!

We hope your voyage across the Atlantic was pleasant and that you are excited to begin your new lives filled with grand opportunity here in the American Colonies. We look forward to seeing you have a chance to fulfill your dreams and use your talents to enable our colonies to thrive and expand into aprosporous land.

Let's Begin with an Introduction

Welcome to the American Colonies. Mr.Schleicher and I will be your guides throughoutyour journey to your new homes in America. We have created this projectin order for you to become more familiar with this new land and the cultures within the four main regions of our colonies. You will be traveling to these various regions in groups of 4 which will be designated by Mr.Schleicher. We hope that this journey into the heart of the13 colonieswill inspire you and offer you an opportunity to share with the rest of us what you have learned through a presentation developed by each group using the multimedia software, Hyperstudio. The majority of your research willbe through the use of the Internet, but to begin, please read the corresondingchapter in your textbook, Chapter 7. Enjoy your journey and we alllook forward to hearing and seeing what you have learned along the way.

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Standards & Project Guidelines

Below are the 4 destinations for this project. Click on your destination link toreach your group's page. On that page there will be a list of requirements for the project as well as some helpful links to get you started on yourresearch. Good Luck and HAVE FUN!!!

New England Colonies


*Backcountry*		*MiddleColonies*

Southern Colonies

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Grading Rubric

This project is worth a total of 50 points. The points will be given to the group as a whole. Everyone in the group needs to play an active role in participating in this project to ensure every part of the project is completed and doneto the best of the groups's ability. In the rubric, you will find 5 objectives to be met throughout this project as well as the criteria thatneed to be met in order to receive a set number of points. Please read through these criteria and become familiar with them prior to beginning your project. If you have any questions throughout the project,you can referback to this rubric for questions pertaining to the grading criteria.

American Colonies Grading Rubric

Objectives	Low Performance	At or Below Average	At or Above Average	Exemplary Performance
Content	4points Content is minimal OR there are several factual errors.	6points Includes essential information about the topic but there are 1-2factualerrors.	8points Includes essential knowledge about the top, subject knowledge appears tobe good.	10points Covers topic indepth with details and examples. subject knowledge is excellent.
Organization	4points There was no clear or logical organization structure, just lots of facts.	6points Content is logically organized for the most part.	8points Uses headings or bulleted lists to organize, but the overall organization of topics appears flawed.	10points Content is well organized using headings or bulleted lists to group related material.
Requirements	4points More than one requirement was not completely met.	6points One requirement was not completely met.	8points All requirements are met.	10points All requirements are met and exceeded.
Sources	4points Very little or no source information was collected.	6points Source information collected for graphics, facts and quotes, butnot documented in desired format.	8points Source information collected for all graphics, facts and quotes.Most documents in desired format.	10points Source information collected for all graphics, facts and quotes.All documented in desired format.
Presentation	4points Delivery not smooth and audience attentionoften lost.	6points Delivery not smooth, but able to maintain interest of the audience most of the time.	8points Rehearsed with fairly smooth delivery that holds audience attention mostof the time.	10points Well-rehearsed with smooth delivery that holds audience attention.

Click to Run Rubric
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Hyperstudio Storyboard Sample
Requirements

The project needs to incorporate the following elements:

An Introductory Page including a title and thenames of the creators on the team.

transportation and route

Plus a minimum of 5 content pages discussing the findingson:
work
home

daily life activities

key defining features of this region - what separatesthis from the other colony regions.

A Closing/Summary Page that includes a list of the primary sources used in the project.

The following graphic elements must be included:

3 graphic images

1 recorded sound clip
1 transition effect
1 I-Movie clip either acting out a scene or speaking aboutsomething pertaining to the project
1 animated graphic

These effects are to be used to enhance the project. Technlogy can be great fun with all the great graphics and specialeffects available through the Internet, but they can also be a distractionif not used appropriately. Keep this in mind as you create your projects.

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Final Presentation

The grading criteria are listed in the grading rubric. The date of the presentations will be announced at a later date in class. We will be discussing the schedule as well as further detailed information about these presentations during theproject. In the meantime, if you have any questions, please feel freeto talk to Mr. Schleicher or Mrs. McGaughey.

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North Dakota State Social Studies Standards

For further information on North Dakota Department ofPublic Instruction,including state social studies standards
Click Here

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This site was created by Naomi McGaughey for a University of North Dakota Department of Teaching nad Learning Technology for Teachers class.

Spring 2002