Home Page

5th Grade Social Studies

Social Studies TEKS		Technology TEKS
5.18	Citizenship. The student understands important customs, symbols, and celebrations that represent American beliefs and principles and contribute to our national identity.	N3	Create, name, and save files to personal directory on the network. (1B, 1E)
5.18d	Describe the origin and significance of Memorial Day.	N4	Access files in personal directory and on the student shared directory. (1E)
5.25	Social studies skills. The student applies critical-thinking skills to organize and use information acquired from a variety of sources including electronic technology.	B13	Create folders within personal directory to organize files. (1B, 1E)
5.26	Social studies skills. The student communicates in written, oral, and visual forms.	K7	Keyboard from copy (documents, textbooks, or other printed sources of information). (2A, 2D)
Language Arts TEKS		M1	Create a new presentation or open an existing one on the student-shared directory. (1E, 7A, 7B, 7C, 11B)
5.15	Writing/purposes. The student writes for a variety of audiences and purposes, and in a variety of forms.	M2	*Insert* multiple *New Slides*. (7A, 7B, 7C)
5.16	Writing/penmanship/capitalization/punctuation. The student composes original texts, applying the conventions of written language, including capitalization, punctuation, and penmanship, to communicate clearly.	M3	Use design templates to customize presentations. (1B, 7A, 7B, 10A, 10B)
5.19	Writing/writing processes. The student selects and uses writing processes for self-initiated and assigned writing.	M4	Change backgrounds by selecting *Format* from the menu bar and choosing *Background*. (1B, 7A, 7B, 7C)
5.21	Writing/inquiry/research. The student uses writing as a tool for learning and research.	M5	Add and remove *Text Boxes*. (1B, 10A, 10B)
5.22	Writing/connections. The student interacts with writers inside and outside the classroom in ways that reflect the practical uses of writing.	M6	Change the font size, type, style (bold, italicize, underline), and color. (10A, 10B)
5.23	Viewing/representing/interpretation. The student understands and interprets visual images, messages, and meanings.	M7	Use *Alignment* tools to format text (left, right, center, justify). (10A, 10B)
5.24	Viewing/representing/analysis. The student analyzes and critiques the significance of visual images, messages, and meanings.	M8	*Format* text by using *Bullets* and *Numbering.* (10A, 10B)
5.25	Viewing/representing/production. The student produces visual images, messages, and meanings that communicate with others.	M9	Use the *Spelling and Grammar* and *Thesaurus* features to edit documents. (2E)
		M10	*Insert* *Pictures* from *Clipart Gallery* and *From File* (digital camera, scanner, or other source). (5A, 7C, 10A, 10B)
		M11	Access available tools (standard, formatting, drawing, etc.) by selecting *View* from the menu bar and choosing *Toolbars*. (1B)
		M12	Use *Draw* tools (*WordArt, Text Box, Paint bucket, Lines and Arrows, and AutoShapes)*. (1B, 7B)
		M13	Edit *Slide Transitions* and *Custom Animations* to enhance presentation. (7A, 7B)
		M14	Use the *Slide Sorter* view to organize (change sequence) and edit presentation. (9B)
		M15	Remove individual slides in the *Slide Sorter* view by right-clicking and choosing *Delete*. (9B)
		M16	Insert sound file or record voice into presentation. (7C)
		C1	Use technology to communicate and collaborate with other students on group projects. (8A)

Lesson Title: On Memorial Day: What It Means to Be An American

Software Application(s): PowerPoint

Directions:

Literature Connections:

Bunting, Eve. The Wall. Illustrated by Ronald Himler. Houghton, 1992. ISBN 0-395-62977-2.
A picture book describing the Vietnam Veterans' War Memorial located in Washington, D.C.
Read aloud the book to students as they are seated outside around/near the flagpole. Discuss soldiers and veterans in their families. Students then begin the writing process by drawing, listing thoughts, feelings, wonderings sparked by the story and their understanding of Memorial Day as an act of remembering and honoring those veterans who gave their lives so that we might continue to be a free nation as well as those who are risking their lives for us today. Try to imagine what it might be like to be a soldier risking one's life in service to your country.

To honor those who have given their lives in service to their country and those who risk their lives on our behalf today, students will use PowerPoint to create a multimedia presentation, What It Means to Be An American. This presentation will be a collection of photos from clip art, scanned images, personal poetry, essays, and/or famous quotes. The final product might be burned to a CD along with PowerPoint Viewer and delivered to local area Veteran's Hospitals/Clinics.

Your students' writing will probably be more original if you do not share the example with them. (However, to view this example, right click on it, choose Open in New Window and go to Edit/Edit Slides, or you can choose Save Target As, then save it to your desktop. You can move it when you are finished looking at it.) Just help your students get started, and let them go.

Memorial Day Hotlist

A writing strategy:

Listing. Have the students create not one list, but several. After hearing The Wall, perhaps with a CD of well-known patriotic instrumentals playing softly in the background, the students quickly write all associations that come into their mind. Then they select one of these thoughts (or more) and create a new list sparked by that idea. Then, take a different thought from the original list, and create another list. After several minutes on each idea, students reread their lists, looking for connections or thoughts that seem to go together. Then they focus on the connection, rather than the list, as they begin to pull it all together in freewriting. This new product might take on many forms ... a poem, an essay, a story. The power in listing is often found not in the actual list, but in the connections or in the tone.