Fold-Out Geography Passport

1. Students gather brochures and information about a place where they have traveled. Or students find out more about an area they are learning about such as the Amazon Rainforest or the Sahara Desert. The sample art features United States national parks, but this fold-out book format works for almost any location that is filled with natural wonders.
2. Cut small paper squares from a Crayola Marker & Watercolor Pad. Use Crayola Colored Pencils to sketch a different scene on each paper.
3. Cut and glue a long strip of Crayola Construction Paper for the book base. Glue the pictures down with space to make frames around them. Leave a double space between pictures so when the book is folded there will be an even border.
4. Fold the pages back and forth. Decorate one page as the cover. Include the name of the place and the student's name. The passport is ready to go!

LA: Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.

LA: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content.

LA; Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

LA: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions with diverse partners on grade level topics, texts, and issues, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.

SCI: Ask questions about the natural and human-built worlds.

SS: Describe ways in which language, stories, folktales, music, and artistic creations serve as expressions of culture and influence behavior of people living in a particular culture.

SS: Use appropriate resources, data sources, and geographic tools to generate, manipulate, and interpret information.

SS: Show how groups and institutions work to meet individual needs and promote the common good, and identify examples of where they fail to do so.

VA: Intentionally take advantage of the qualities and characteristics of art media, techniques, and processes to enhance communication of experiences and ideas.

VA: Select and use the qualities of structures and functions of art to improve communication of ideas.

Invite a travel agent to speak with the class about the travel business and how travel agents interest people in particular destinations. Prior to the visit, students compose questions for the guest. After the meeting, students post learning to a class blog.

Encourage students to create their geography fold-outs of places that they have traveled to in the recent past. If students have not traveled much, encourage them to investigate something that interests them such as the national parts in the United States. Students use their research to assist with creating sketches for the fold-outs. A summary of each scene should be included with each page of the fold-out.

Students create a travel brochure for a selected destination. Included in the brochure are pictures and summaries of points of interest at the destination. Students can create original replicas of scenes from the destination for the brochures.

In small groups, students collaborate to compose a short story about a point of destination. Students use their research as a basis for their story. Illustrations are included in the story. Students may read and audio-record their story, digitally uploading the audio file and attaching it to the uploaded sketches. Classmates can view the story at a future date.