Resource Tool and Fifth Grade ELA, Social Studies and Technology Integration

I had the pleasure of spending some time in the morning with Ann MazzaPalmieri's class 5th Grade class in Cottle Elementary School in the Tuckahoe School District working on an ELA/Social Studies project.  

To explain the process:  I met with Ann at 7:50AM on Wednesday and she explained her idea. "We are reading Esperanza Rising in ELA and studying Latin America in Social Studies.  I want to show the students the cross curricular integration between the two.  How can we do this?"  Through the triad model, Ann determined that there were going to be three groups and that she wanted each group to research a different country in Latin America (Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala).  
We therefore began by creating ONE document on Google Docs with questions.  The questions were general about the culture, climate, geography and people of ONE country in Latin America. Then we made a copy of that document twice and retitled the document for each country (making a few "tweeks" along the way). Finally, we had three different documents for Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico. 

Next, we went into Google Classroom and created three different assignments and within each description we listed the names of the students would be working on each document. Finally, we attached the documents with the ability for students to edit to each assignment. 

THIS WAS ALL COMPLETED BEFORE 8:30!! 

At 10:20 I came back into the classroom and began the activity with the students. They opened up their chromebooks and logged onto Google Classroom. They then were directed to open the correct document. We discussed how they were all on ONE document now so BE careful! Next, I directed them to the Tools then Research button. THIS WAS AN INTEGRAL PART OF THE PROCESS.  We discussed how to use this tool to find websites, maps and images that would be useful to their questions. Students were split up to answer different questions and each student was directed to answer ONE question. Students researched and found information that was relevant to their question and sometimes worked together as deemed fit. Students did an amazing job with this activity and even with a few little hiccups along the way, these 5th grade students wrote a tremendous amount in just 1 HOUR! If you look at the enclosed example, some groups (without prompting) were even giving others in their group POSITIVE FEEDBACK and reflecting on each other's work! I believe the product speaks for itself.

Fifth Grade Honduras Project