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Social Studies Lesson on Costa Rica #2

Sara Broughton

Title: Designing a Travel Brochure

Date/Time/Length: Thursday March 29, 1997: 9:15-10:15 a.m.; 12:35-1:35 p.m. and Friday March 21, 1997: 9:15-10:15 a.m.

Performance Expectations: The students will create a travel brochure demonstrating their knowledge of Costa Rica. Creativity, neatness, and accurate information are expected and will be taken into account when assigning a grade.

Content Area: Language Arts and Social Studies

Strategy: writing, drawing, using previous knowledge, and presenting activity

Materials: construction paper, crayons or markers, and pen or pencil

Directions: The students will have two hours on Thursday to work on this activity. Each student will be given a large piece of construction paper which they will use for the actual brochure. They will then spend the next two hours creating their brochure by adding illustrations and text. The students are to pretend they are working for a travel agency so they want to make Costa Rica seem as appealing as possible. They want to convince people that a trip to Costa Rica will be the vacation of their dreams, therefore their brochures should be pleasant to look at and should highlight places of interest. Some examples are: the rain forests, the beaches, museums, and the National Theater. The students should label their pictures and include brief descriptions and information about Costa Rica. The teacher should have some examples of travel brochures so the students can get some ideas. On Friday the students will present their brochure to the rest of the class. This is an opportunity for the students once again to demonstrate their knowledge of Costa Rica. This activity will be used as a means of assessment for the entire Costa Rican unit. The brochures will be displayed in the halls for the entire school to see.

Adaptation: Once again the students might need more time to work on this activity. The teacher may want to have the students write their information on a piece of scratch paper and then check for spelling, grammar, punctuation, and accuracy, since each of these things are very important for an actual travel brochure.

Evaluation: The students will receive a grade for this activity. The type of grade is up to the individual teacher. A rubric should be given to the students so they know exactly what is expected of them and how the points are going to be distributed. This activity will be a major part of their grade for the unit.

Reference: none