1st Grade U.S. Symbols Research
First graders in Ms. Long’s class at Davis Elementary are doing research projects on the U.S. Symbols (SOL1.11). One great place to do research is PebbleGo because they have pages about all the U.S. Symbols, but did you know you can make your own webpage for research like PebbleGo? The advantage to making your own is you can include everything you want and customize it for your class. I wanted the students to be able to see on a map where some of these symbols are located and be able to zoom down and actually view them. So I created a webpage about each symbol using CheckThis. With CheckThis, making a website is as easy as typing a few sentences, uploading some pictures, and adding links to whatever media you want to include. I embedded some Google Maps for the interactive zooming feature (the students were surprised to see that the Statue of Liberty is on an island in the water). With Google Maps you can click the Satellite view and actually see the real place, which the students enjoyed doing. I also added a Soundcloud recording of myself reading the webpage for students who needed help. You can record your own voice right in Soundcloud then link to it in Checkthis. Finally I added a poll so anyone who visits the website can vote on their favorite U.S. symbol. The students were able to complete their research in just an hour, and hopefully everyone, including Ms. Long, learned something new! Here are the links to the individual sites: Bald Eagle, Washington Monument, Statue of Liberty, U.S. Flag. Or you can see where I put all the links on one page for the students here.