Passport to Adventure

1. Passports began as letters of safe passage from an area’s ruler. Now they are international documents that confirm your identity and citizenship. If you use a passport to visit other countries, it may have some national stamps and seals to show where you are going or have been. Invite students to look at passports from various countries. Students find out how people get passports in their home countries.
2. Ask students to make a passport-like journals in which they record adventures. Suggest they keep a diary of their school year, camp, travel, and/or fun events with friends!
3. Create the pages. With Crayola® Scissors, cut brightly colored paper in half lengthwise. Glue ends together with Crayola School Glue to create a long strip. Air-dry the strip.
4. Fold the long strip in half so the narrow ends touch. Fold in half two more times. Unfold and refold to make a zigzag of pages.
5. Design the cover. Cut two pieces of cardboard or recycled file folder slightly bigger than the passport. Glue the covers to the ends of the accordion book. Air-dry passport.
6. Encourage students to decorate their passport covers with shimmery Crayola Gel Markers. Attach photos to the inside cover.
7. Start recording. On the inside pages, students capture the places they have been in person or in their imaginations. Illustrate people, places, and events.
8. Create stamps. Shape white Crayola Model Magic into stamps with handles. Press down to flatten the bottom. Incise designs with plastic dinnerware or build them up with tiny snakes or bits of modeling compound. Air-dry stamps overnight.
9. Students cover their work areas with recycled newspaper. Pour Crayola Washable Paint into a clean recycled produce tray. Press stamp into the paint. Have students print designs on passports. Air-dry.

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

LA: Ask and answer questions in order to seek help, get information, or clarify something that is not understood.

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

MATH: Know relative sizes of measurement units within one system of units including km, m, cm; kg, g; lb, oz.; l, ml; hr, min, sec. Within a single system of measurement, express measurements in a larger unit in terms of a smaller unit.

MATH: Use the four operations to solve word problems involving distances, intervals of time, liquid volumes, masses of objects, and money, including problems involving simple fractions or decimals, and problems that require expressing measurements given in a larger unit in terms of a smaller unit.

SS: Identify examples of institutions an describe the interactions of people with institutions.

SS: Explain the purpose of government.

SS: Give examples of how government does or does not provide for the needs and wants of people, establish order and security, and manage conflict.

SS: Give examples of conflict, cooperation, and interdependence among individuals, groups, and nations.

VA: Use different media, techniques, and processes to communicate ideas, experiences, and stories.

VA: Use visual structures of art to communicate ideas.

Possible classroom resources include: Passport to the World: Your A to Z Guided Language Tour by Craig Froman; Children Just Like Me: A Unique Celebration of Children Around the World by Anabel Kindersley & Barnabas Kindersley

Invite a local government official to visit with the class to discuss policies regarding citizen safety as well as domestic and international travel. What is the purpose of a passport? How does it help to keep citizens safe when traveling to another country? How does the use of passports internationally help to keep our citizens safe? After the meetings, students post their new learning to a class blog.

Survey the class to see if any members have passports. Ask if these students could bring their passports in to show them to the class. What countries issued the passports? What countries have these students traveled to? Identify these countries on a world map. Calculate the number of miles each of these countries is from the students' home country.

Have students work in small groups to design a trip to five different locations. Determine which countries will be traveled to first, then second, etc. Calculate the number of miles between each destination. Find the sum of the total number of miles to be traveled in the trip. Don't forget to get passports stamped!