Project Template

Name Kaitlyn Coirazza

Duration 5-6 Months

Project Title Communities Around the World

Grade Level/Subject Area(s) 3rd Grade

ELA
Social Studies

Purpose To teach students that communities around the world

share similarities and differences.

CCLS/ISTE Standards English Language Arts

RL.3.1 Ask and answer questions to demonstrate
understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as
the basis for the answers

RL.3.3 Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits,

motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions
contribute to the sequence of events

RI.3.1 Ask and answer questions to demonstrate

understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as
the basis for the answers

RI.3.2 Determine the main idea of a text; recount the key

details and explain how they support the main idea

RI.3.4 Determine the meaning of general academic and

domain-specific words and phrases in a text relevant to a
grade 3 topic or subject area

RI.3.5 Use text features and search tools (e.g., key words,
sidebars, hyperlinks) to locate information relevant to a
given topic efficiently

SL.3.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative

discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with
diverse partners on grade 3 topics and texts, building on
others' ideas and expressing their own clearly

SL.3.2 Determine the main ideas and supporting details of

a text read aloud or information presented in diverse
media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and
orally.
SL.3.3 Ask and answer questions about information from
a speaker, offering appropriate elaboration and detail
Social Studies Framework
3.5 Communities share cultural similarities and
differences across the world.
A. The structure and activities of families and schools
share similarities and differences across world
communities.
B. Communities around the world can be diverse in
terms of their members, languages spoken,
customs and traditions, and religious beliefs and
practices. People in world communities celebrate
various holidays and festivals.

ISTE Standards
1. Creativity and Innovation
Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct
knowledge, and develop innovative products and
processes using technology.
A. Apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas,
products, or processes
B. Create original works as a means of personal
expression or group expression

2. Communication and Collaboration

Students use digital media and environments to
communicate and work collaboratively, including at a
distance, to support individual learning and contribute to
the learning of others.
A. Interact, collaborate, and publish with peers,
experts, or others employing a variety of digital
environments and media
B. Communicate information and ideas effectively to
multiple audiences using a variety of media and
formats
C. Develop cultural understanding and global
awareness by engaging with learners of other
cultures

3. Research and Information Fluency

Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use
information.
B. Locate, organize, analyze, evaluate, synthesize,
and ethically use information from a variety of
sources and media
C. Evaluate and select information sources and
digital tools based on the appropriateness to
specific tasks

4. Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision


Desired Outcome - Knowledge
Desired Outcome - Skills
Essential Question(s)
Project Plan
Phase 1: Activity(ies) to set the
stage for the project
Making
Students use critical thinking skills to plan and conduct
research, manage projects, solve problems, and make
informed decisions using appropriate digital tools and
resources.
B. Plan and manage activities to develop a solution
or complete a project
6. Technology Operations and Concepts
Students demonstrate a sound understanding of
technology concepts, systems, and operations
A. Understand and use technology systems
B. Select and use applications effectively and
productively
C. Troubleshoot systems and applications
D. Transfer current knowledge to learning of new
technologies
Students will identify characteristics of daily life, schools,
traditions, and values, in Ghana, India, and Thailand.
Students will identify similarities and differences of daily
life, schools, traditions, and values in America vs. Ghana,
India, and Thailand.
Students will understand that countries around the world
are all diverse and unique.
Students will be able to create a publication expressing
the similarities and differences between life in America
and life in another country.
How is life similar or different for Elementary students
throughout the world?
Activity 1: Students will receive a pen pal from a different
country (Ghana, India, or Thailand). Over the course of a
few months, students will write back and forth with their
pen pal. Students will first write a physical letter to their
pen pal, but will then correspond using email whenever
possible.
Over the course of the letter writing phrase, student letters
will need to include:
Picture of themselves
Interesting facts about themselves

Phase 2: Activity(ies) that engage Activity 2: Students will read books and watch videos
students in learning (including
field trips, other explorations,
visiting experts, etc.)
Description of their school life
Description of their home life
Favorite things about where they live
Questions asking about their pen pals school and
education
Questions asking about their pen pals life at home
Questions about their pen pals traditions
Answers to any questions their pen pal asked
about their pen pals countries
A. Ghana
Students will participate in a read-aloud of My
Painted House, My Friendly Chicken, and Me by
Maya Angelou. This story is about a South African
girl, however, the aspects of life described are
incredibly similar to a childs life in Ghana
Students will use our-Africa.org to watch multiple
videos about life in Ghana. Students will
specifically watch Welcome to Ghana,
Weaving, and Drums and Dance. After
watching these videos, students will interact with
Padlet to express what they learned about life in
Ghana.
Students will independently read the article,
Ghana from
http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/explore/countri
es/ghana/#ghana-beach-boats.jpg. Students can
choose if they want to read and annotate the
article printed out or if they want to read it online
and write a short summary using Word.
Students will complete a Venn Diagram comparing
Ghana and America
B. India
Students will participate in a read-aloud of the
book Going to School in India by Lisa Heydlauff.
This book describes the challenges many children
in India face in order to get to school. When
finished, students will complete a quick Kahootl on
what they learned.
Students will read India: A True Book during
Literacy Blocks (Informational Text). Students will
read and annotate for text structure, focus, and
main ideas.
Students will complete a T-Chart comparing India
and America
 C. Thailand
Students will read parts of Thailand: A True Book
during Literacy Blocks (Informational Text).
Students will complete the IFC Assessment 3.4:
Main Idea and Supporting Ideas.
Students will watch a video about Thailand kids
found at https://vimeo.com/69277061
Students will complete a Venn Diagram comparing
Thailand and America

Activity 3: Students will complete their own research on

countries around the world. Students will use National
Geographic Kids, Time for Kids, or other appropriate
websites to research life in Ghana, India, or Thailand.
When completing their research, students will use IFC
Assessment 3.6: Main Points to take notes on what they
learned.

Activity 4: Students will Skype their pen pals: meeting

them in person and having the opportunity to ask them
any remaining questions about their life in Ghana, India,
or Thailand.

Phase 3: Activity(ies) in which Activity 5: Students will create a publication (newspaper,

students share their knowledge in Photo Story, magazine, Infogram, blogpost, or profile)
a culminating event, as well as showing the similarities and differences between life in
reflect on the project and their America and life in their pen pals country.
learnings

Project Schedule
Time Frame Objective Task

September- Students will demonstrate Students will write at least 3 letters to

December understanding of their pen pals their pen pal
(4 Months) country by asking their pen pal
questions about their home and Students will receive at least 3 letters
reading letters sent by their pen pal from their pen pal

January Day 1 Day 1

(Week 1) Students will demonstrate
understanding of Ghanas customs,
traditions, families, and schools by
discussing the book My Painted
House, My Friendly Chicken, and Me
as a whole class.
Students will read and answer
questions about My Painted House,
My Friendly Chicken, and Me by Maya
Angelou.

Day 2 Day 2
 Students will demonstrate
understanding of Ghanas customs,
traditions, and families by discussing
videos about Ghana.
Students will demonstrate creation
by assembling a Padlet as a whole
class to show information learned
about Ghana.
Day 3
Students will demonstrate
understanding of the article Ghana
by summarizing or reading and
annotating the article independently.
Day 4
Students will demonstrate analyzing
by comparing and contrasting life in
Ghana to life in America using a
Venn Diagram.
January Day 5
(Week 2) Students will demonstrate
understanding of Indias children and
schools by discussing Going to
School in India as a whole class.
Students will demonstrate
remembering by recalling facts
learned about schools in India on
Kahootl.
Days 6+7
Students will demonstrate analyzing
by examining the book India: A True
Book using annotations in small
group Literary Blocks.
Day 8
Students will demonstrate analyzing
Students will watch videos, Welcome
to Ghana, Weaving, and Drums
and Dance, from our-Africa.org.
When finished, students will complete
a Padlet as a whole class. On Padlet,
students will write 3 Post-Its to show
a fact learned, something surprising,
and a question they still have about
life in Ghana.
Day 3
Students will read the article, Ghana.
Students can read and annotate the
article or read it online and then
summarize using Word.
Day 4
Students will work in small groups to
create a Venn Diagram showing the
similarities and differences between
life in Ghana and life in America.
Teacher will then lead a whole class
discussion on the similarities and
differences found by students.
Day 5
Students will read and answer
questions about the book Going to
School in India.
Students will complete a Kahootl quiz
on the information learned from the
book Going to School in India.
Days 6+7
Students will read and annotate parts
of the book India: A True Book.
Students will make annotations for the
text structure, focus, and main ideas.
Teacher will help lead discussion
around finding the main ideas.
Day 8
Students will work in partners to
 by comparing and contrasting life in
India to life in America using a T-
Chart.
January Day 9
(Week 3) Students will understanding of
Thailands customs, traditions,
families, and schools by discussing a
video about children in Thailand.
Days 10+11
Students will demonstrate analyzing
by examining the book Thailand: A
True Book using annotations and
IFC Assessment 3.4 in small group
Literary Blocks.
Day 12
Students will demonstrate analyzing
by comparing and contrasting life in
Thailand to life in America using a
Venn Diagram.
January Days 13-15
(Week 4) Students will demonstrate analyzing
by researching their pen pals
country using research based
websites like National Geographic
Kids.
February Days 16-18
(Week 5) Students will demonstrate
complete a T-Chart showing the
differences between life in India and
life in America. Students will also
write similarities for the countries at
the bottom of the T-Chart. Teacher
will then lead a whole class discussion
comparing and contrasting India and
America.
Day 9
Students will watch a video about
childrens life in Thailand and then
discuss what they learned as a whole
class.
Days 10+11
Students will read and annotate parts
of the text Thailand: A True Book to
find the text structure, focus, and main
idea.. Students will independently
complete IFC Assessment 3.4: Main
Idea and Supporting Ideas. Teacher
will lead a discussion on finding the
Main Idea.
Day 12
Students will independently to create
a Venn Diagram showing the
similarities and differences between
life in Thailand and life in America.
Teacher will then lead a whole class
discussion on the similarities and
differences found by students.
Days 13-15
Students will complete their own
research on their pen pals country.
Students will use classroom iPads or
computers to research using National
Geographic Kids or Time for KIds.
While researching, students should fill
out IFC Assessment 3.6: Main Points
to keep track of new information
learned.
Days 16-18
Students will Skype their pen pals
throughout the week. Students will
 understanding of the similarities and
differences between countries by
asking and answering questions
during Skype sessions with class
pen pals.
not only ask questions of their pen
pal, but will also answer any questions
their pen pal asks them.

Days 19-23
February Days 19-28 Students will have 5 days to create a
(Weeks 6+7) Students will demonstrate creation publication that shows the similarities
by designing a publication that and differences between America and
shows the similarities and Ghana/India/Thailand. Students can
differences between America and choose to create a
their pen pals country (Ghana, India, Infogram
or Thailand). Newspaper
Blog
Photo Story
Profile

...or anything else that the teacher

deems doable.

When student publications are

complete, students will collectively
take 5 days to present them to the
class. Pen pals will Skype in for
presentations whenever possible.

Monitoring/Assessing the Project

Benchmarks/Formative 1. Pen Pal Letters
Assessments Picture of themselves
Interesting facts about themselves
Description of their school life
Description of their home life
Favorite things about where they live
Questions asking about their pen pals school and
education
Questions asking about their pen pals life at home
Questions about their pen pals traditions
Answers to any questions their pen pal asked

2. Padlet on Ghana
3. Venn Diagram on Ghana vs. America
4. Kahootl on India
5. T-Chart on India vs. America
6. IFC Assessment 3.4 on Thailand
7. Venn Diagram on Thailand vs. America
 8. IFC Assessment 3.6 on Independent Research

Assessing the Project (Include
rubric(s))
Student publications will be assessed on the following...
1. Content (50 Points): Shows at least 3 similarities
and 3 differences
2. Visual Appeal (25 Points): Includes at least 3
appropriate visuals, content is easy to read, order
of information makes sense, shows creativity and
effort
3. Professionalism (10 Points): Publication is free of
spelling and grammatical errors
4. Preparation and Presentation (10 Points): Student
is prepared to present with all materials, and
shows clear rehearsal of presentation
5. Collaboration (5 Points): Students show
collaboration by presenting own ideas, and being
engaged in peer presentations by asking and
answering questions

See rubric below.

Evaluating the Experience Students will write a detailed self-reflection expressing

what they learned and what they would still like to learn
about countries around the world.

Criteria Excellent Good Fair

Content Your publication Your publication Your publication only

shows at least shows two similarities shows one similarity
three similarities and two differences and one difference
and three between the two between the two
differences countries countries
between two
countries

Visual Appeal Your publication Your publication Your publication

meets all of the meets two of the meets one or none of
following: following: the following:
-Has three -Has three -Has three
appropriate visuals appropriate visuals - appropriate visuals -
-Is easy to read Is easy to read Is easy to read
-Shows creativity -Shows creativity and -Shows creativity and
and effort effort effort
-Order of -Order of information -Order of information
 information makes makes sense makes sense
sense

Professionalism Your publication is Your publication has Your publication has

free of any spelling only a few spelling multiple spelling and
or grammatical and grammatical grammatical errors
errors errors

Preparation and You came You came prepared You did not come
Presentation prepared to to present with prepared to present
present with materials or it was with materials and it
materials and it clear you rehearsed was clear you did not
was clear you for your presentation rehearse for your
rehearsed your presentation
presentation

Collaboration You presented You presented your You did not present
your own ideas and own ideas but you your own ideas
you were engaged were not engaged in effectively and you
in your peers your peers were not engaged in
presentations by presentations your peers
asking and because you did not presentations
answering ask or answer any because you did not
questions questions ask or answer any
questions