General Notes from Mary (Whose Comments Are Highlighted in Case Yo Have a Question)

Title: All About Our Town Using Brochure Creation to Teach Nonfiction Writing and Information-gathering Techniques Grade Focus: 3, 4, 5 Subject: Social Studies, Writing Technology Integration: Discovering the Internet, PowerPoint Presentation, Digital Imaging Recommended Time to Completion: Eight 40 to 60-minute sessions

INTRODUCTION: Students will learn how to gather information and create nonfiction written communication by exploring a variety of information resources about their town. They will use different information-gathering techniques, from reading brochures and web sites to conducting interviews. Students will synthesize information by collecting facts about important and interesting places in town, choosing one place to write about, and then selecting the relevant information about that place to include in a paragraph. Students will use technology to create a presentation that shows the information they discovered. They will also create a brochure that showcases their chosen area of the community.

PREREQUISITE EXPERIENCE: Students should know how to use a search engine safely. They should also know how to use Microsoft PowerPoint to create a slideshow and be familiar with a publishing program such as Microsoft Publisher or a word processing program such as Microsoft Word. Prior to this lesson, the students should be exposed to expository nonfiction stories.

TEACHER PREP TIME: 2-3 Hours Reserve two 40-minute sessions in your school's computer lab. These do not need to be on consecutive days. Visit and familiarize yourself with Top 10 Tips for Great Pictures:

http://www.kodak.com/eknec/PageQuerier.jhtml?pq- locale=en_US&pq-path=317

- 1 - You may also want to bookmark it on your classroom or lab computers. Gather a variety of resources about towns, cities, and travel. Visit web sites about your community and the local attractions. ConventionBureaus.com may help you get started; it lists convention and visitor's bureau sites around the world.

http://www.conventionbureaus.com/

You might also encourage your students to visit a mapping web site. Bookmark any web sites you will use on your classroom or lab computers. Decide how you will create the final brochure. You can use a program such as Microsoft Word or Microsoft Publisher. Or you can use an online tool such as ReadWriteThink Printing Press (ReadWriteThink is a tool for designing and printing brochures).

http://interactives.mped.org/view_interactive.aspx?id=110&title=

You will want to familiarize yourself with the software or tool you will be using and may want to generate some sample templates to share with the class. The Sample Our Town Brochure should give you some ideas about a brochure template; you may want to make copies of this to distribute to students.

http://www.readwritethink.org/lesson_images/lesson856/sample.pdf

Make copies for each student in the class of the following:  http://www.readwritethink.org/lesson_images/lesson856/edit.pdf  New Town Interview Questions http://www.readwritethink.org/lesson_images/lesson856/interview. pdf  Brochure Planning Sheet http://www.readwritethink.org/lesson_images/lesson856/planning.p df  Camera Note http://www.readwritethink.org/lesson_images/lesson856/camera- note.pdf

Edit the following as necessary:  Letter to Parents 1 http://www.readwritethink.org/lesson_images/lesson856/letter1.pdf

- 2 -  Letter to Parents 2 http://www.readwritethink.org/lesson_images/lesson856/letter2.pdf  Letter to Parents 3 http://www.readwritethink.org/lesson_images/lesson856/letter3

Review these training videos from Nortel LearniT, as applicable to the brochure creation and publishing mode you will use:

 Discovering the Internet, http://nortellearnit.org/technology/Discovering_the_Internet/  Imaging, http://nortellearnit.org/teachnology/Imaging/  PowerPoint Presentations, http://nortellearnit.org/technology/PowerPoint_Presentations/

If you need help with Microsoft Publisher, use the web site below: http://office.microsoft.com/en- us/publisher/HA101004921033.aspx

MATERIALS: Digital cameras - If they are not available, you may choose to use disposable cameras. Ask a local store to donate them or send a note home requesting funds to help purchase them (see Letter to Parents 1).

Samples of a variety of travel brochures. Ideally these will be from local attractions. Your local visitor's bureau should be a good resource. You will want at least three or four different brochures and should get more than one copy of each if possible.

A local phonebook

Local maps

Books about cities and towns

Computers with Internet access

Chart Paper

PROJECT: Students will use technology to investigate their community and create a presentation that showcases different parts of their community and the people living there. Students will create a tourism

- 3 - brochure for their area using a publisher program such as Microsoft Publisher or by using PowerPoint or Microsoft Word. Students use a variety of print and non-print resources to gather and evaluate information including data from interviews. Students may choose to illustrate their brochures using digital images.

ASSESSMENT/GRADING: There are several opportunities throughout this project for informal assessment. There is also a rubric that can be used for the assessment of the brochure.

TIME MANAGEMENT TIP: Students will work together in pairs or groups throughout this project.

- 4 - Engage

1. Each community has its own landmarks, symbols, and people that make it a unique place to live. Is the building architecturally interesting enough to convince the audience that this is the place for them to visit? In this lesson, you will explore your community using a variety of print and non-print resources.

2. Your class will place five pieces of chart paper around the classroom in a circle. At the top of each one, a volunteer will write a category such as entertainment, restaurants, services, businesses, or historical landmarks.

3. Students will be divided into five groups. Each group will start at a different piece of chart paper. Each group will have about 2 minutes to brainstorm places in your community that fit in the category listed at the top of chart paper. When the 2 minutes is complete, rotate to the next chart paper and brainstorm that category. Continue until all groups have had a chance at each category.

- 5 - Explore

1. Do you know why a city would use a brochure? When people go on trips, what helps them decide what they will do? When families move, what do they use to help them learn about their new home? A brochure is a great way to present information to people using words and photographs.

2. Write the words "All About Brochures" at the top of a piece of chart paper and hang it where everyone can see it. Examine some brochures on your own or with a partner. What do you notice about the brochures? Write the characteristics you notice on the chart paper. Look at several different brochures.

3. You are going to create a brochure about your town for a new student just moving in. During this project, you will be photographing or gathering images and writing about places in your town. Use the categories you posted at the beginning of the lesson (e.g., entertainment, restaurants, services, businesses, or historical landmarks). Try to include the most important ones for someone new to your community.

- 6 - Explain

1. Look at the New Town Interview Questions http://www.readwritethink.org/lesson_images/lesson856/interview. pdf The brochure you will be creating will be aimed at a student who is new to the area. You need to decide what information would be useful to that student. To help you do this, you are going to ask someone in your house about their experiences with moving to a new place.

2. Make a list of people you could speak with to find out more about your community. Look for people who live in your community and people who are prominent members of your community (e.g., police chief, mayor, etc.) Ask you teacher for help in setting up interviews. Use NortelLearniT resources about CareerBytes to help you with your interviews. http://nortellearnit.org/resources/career_bytes/default_page#900d 3316)0565)4206)aaa5_c1007c05a4ca

- 7 - Elaborate

1. In addition to gathering information, each student will also be responsible for finding or creating images to help visualize this information. Tip: When you decide what images (pictures), or text that you want to use in your brochure, be sure to check for a copyright notice. If you are searching web sites for graphics, please note that some web sites want you to use their materials for educational projects while other do not. A good practice for you should be to look for an e-mail contact address on the Web page you want to use materials from and use it to send a request for permission to use it in your class project.

It is also important that you completely identify materials that you use in your brochure. This is called “making a citation” of someone else’s work. The format that is typically used is as follows:

Last Name, First Name of Author (if known). “Title of work/article/page.” Title of Complete Document (if applicable). Date last modified. URL (date visited).

2. Use this time to finish your research and prepare your brochure.

3. If you are using Microsoft Publisher and need help, use the web site below: http://office.microsoft.com/en- us/publisher/HA101004921033.aspx

4. You can refer back to Sample Our Town Brochure, for an example. Be prepared to present your work to your class. The teacher will assign you a time for your presentation.

- 8 - Evaluate

You will be evaluated based upon your participation throughout the project.

Each brochure will be assessed using the following rubric:

http://www.readwritethink.org/lesson_images/lesson856/rubric.pdf

This rubric looks not only at grammar and spelling, but how well you conducted your research and how well the writing communicates information to a specific audience.

- 9 - Extend

1. Students can make a brochure for the new students coming up into their grade. (For example, fourth-grade students make a brochure for third-grade students about what it's like to travel in the fourth-grade "world").

2. Students can choose a place and make their own travel brochure.

3. Science in Reading Study sea life on North Carolina’s coast in Science (animal adaptations, and in social studies). You will want a couple of picture books such as Alphabet City and City of Numbers, both by Stephen T. Johnson. The City and Town Booklist will give you some additional ideas. Use these books as read-alouds and for independent reading during the project. You might choose to prepare a list of book responses for students to work on when they finish assignments early. These can include comparing and contrasting the book towns to the students' own town, making a "city" dictionary, or writing a book review.

Related Resources

Instructional Materials

Alphabet City by Stephen T. Johnson (Puffin, 1995)

City of Numbers by Stephen T. Johnson (Puffin, 1998)

Paragraph Puzzle http://www.readwritethink.org/lesson_images/lesson856/parapuzzle.pdf

- 10 - Assessment Rubric for Informational Writing http://www.readwritethink.org/lesson_images/lesson856/rubric.pdf

Chart paper

Travel and attraction brochures

A local phonebook and local maps

Disposable cameras

Computers with Internet access

Overhead projector

Handouts

City and Town Booklist http://www.readwritethink.org/lesson_images/lesson856/booklist.pdf

Sample Our Town Brochure http://www.readwritethink.org/lesson_images/lesson856/sample.pdf

Editing Checklist http://www.readwritethink.org/lesson_images/lesson856/edit.pdf

New Town Interview Questions http://www.readwritethink.org/lesson_images/lesson856/interview.pdf

Brochure Planning Sheet http://www.readwritethink.org/lesson_images/lesson856/planning.pdf

Letter to Parents 1 http://www.readwritethink.org/lesson_images/lesson856/letter1.pdf

- 11 - Camera Note http://www.readwritethink.org/lesson_images/lesson856/camera- note.pdf

Web sites

Top 10 Tips for Great Pictures http://www.kodak.com/eknec/PageQuerier.jhtml?pq-locale=en_US&pq- path=317

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