COUNTRY FAIR PROJECT

An interdisciplinary project for Social Studies, Language Arts, Math, Science/Technology, and Art

DATE OF COUNTRY FAIR: OCTOBER 31, 2003

In this project, you will work in a group to:

• write research reports
• create visuals about countries
• put on a culture fair, and
• use PowerPoint to present your information.

This project is interdisciplinary, meaning you will use skills from every class to complete the project:

• Social studies class: research your country and prepare your PowerPoint presentations.

• Art class: make travel posters, T-shirts, postcards.

• Language Arts class: write travel brochure, letters, reports, and "geo poems."
  
• Math class: construct circle and bar graphs about literacy rates, population density, amount of arable land, and other statistics.
  

Here is a list of products you must create with your partner:

• Political and Product Maps
  You must create a political and a product map about the country. It must be 11" x 14" or larger. You must include a small locator map. The title of your map should be the name of the country, and a small flag with an explanation of the flag's meaning must be included on the same paper with the map.

• Land, Location, and Climate Report
  You must research and write a report providing this information about the country. This is a five paragraph research report with an introduction, a paragraph about the landforms in and surrounding the country, a paragraph about the location of the country, including relative and absolute location, a paragraph about the climate, and a conclusion paragraph. It is crucial that the report be accurate, interesting, organized, and informative. This form will help you stay organized. Here is a link to help you begin your research: Factmonster. After you've written your first draft, be sure to use the rubric to evaluate your work.

• Travel Poster OR T-Shirt Design
  You will develop either a travel poster or a T-shirt that highlights an important landmark, museum, or something unique about the country. You can use sites such as VirtualTourist for information and ideas.

• Postcard and Persuasive Letter
  Each student designs a postcard and writes a persuasive letter to a friend or family member telling reasons the person should visit the country. You and your partner must each create a postcard and write a letter, and they must be original and different. The artwork on the postcard can be a printed image from the Internet or a careful drawing.

• Charts
  Each group creates charts comparing its country with others; you will compare economic or social data, including life expectancy, population density, population of largest cities, literacy rates, amount of arable land, imports and exports, trade partners, and per capita GDP. The countries you will be comparing on your charts will be the USA, your topic country, and another country (of your choice) on the same continent as your topic country. You may use this chart to organize your research. You will end up with nine different charts or graphs. Some will be bar graphs, others may be simple box charts. You can begin your research with InfoPlease and Factmonster. If you need help making graphs and charts in Microsoft Word or Excel, click here for instructions. If you choose to make your graphs and charts by hand, be sure they are neat and precise.

• Travel Brochure
  Each group will create a travel brochure explaining some details of life in your country. Include sections titled "how to get here" (airports, trains, boats, etc.),"what to bring" (example: what type of clothing is appropriate in the climate of the country?), "places to visit," "money" (example: what is their form of currency and how much is it worth?), "special holidays," "the people of _______," and "useful phrases" (giving a few examples of important words for travelers in the country's native language). VirtualTourist is a good place to start.

• Geo Poem
  First, you will make an outline of your country on a large sheet of paper. Then lightly draw eight guidelines in pencil across the map. Follow this pattern for the non-rhyming poem:
  • Lines 1 and 8: the name of the country
  • Line 2: three to four physical features
  • Line 3: one to three cultural features; for example, landmarks, museums, main cities
  • Line 4: bordering countries or bodies of water
  • Line 5: a short description about the climate
  • Line 6: three historical events that shaped the country
  • Line 7: issues or problems of importance; for example, poverty, poor land, war, pollution or whatever applies to your particular country.

• Government Report
  Students research and report on the form of government for each country. This report will be in the form of a short, three paragraph informative essay. Paragraph one will be the introduction in which you tell us the country, when it was formed, and any circumstances that led to the formation of the country (for example, a certain war may lead to a new country being formed). Paragraph two will tell us the current form of government, and also must explain or define the form of government in your own words. Paragraph three be a conclusion in which you will tell us the people who currently head the government and a few details such as how long they have been in office. Again, this report must be organized, in your own words, interesting and accurate.

• PowerPoint Presentation
  Each group will prepare a PowerPoint presentation. The multimedia presentation will consist of 11 or 12 slides. You should include clip art, maps, flags, music and pictures in your media presentations. For an introduction to PowerPoint, read this simple page. For help on specific parts of PowerPoint, go to the tutorial.

• Slide 1: country and group members' names
• Slide 2: flag
• Slide 3: geography (description of the terrain)
• Slide 4: map of the country
• Slide 5: culture (religion, holidays/festivals, sports, foods,language)
• Slide 6: tourist attractions
• Slide 7: capital and main cities
• Slide 8: natural resources
• Slide 9: imports and exports
• Slide 10: per capita gross domestic product (GDP), literacy rates, life expectancy
• Slide 11: Is the country developed or developing?
• Slide 12: If you had soft background music playing, tell us what it was and where you got it. You also have the choice of adding a slide between Slides 5 and 6 in which you play a short clip of music and tell us what it is and where you got it.

The Country Fair

Our completed projects will be displayed in the hallway at Hendricks. On the day of the fair, you will stand at your project while others visit you to learn more about your country.
You must have one of the following ready for your visitors:

• A prepared food dish representative of the country.
• Traditional clothing worn in the country.
• A recording of music popular in the country or the National Anthem of the country.