With a partner you will be required to: Research and write about a
historical topic, draw posters, construct a model, create your own skit, or make
a video and to explain the significance of the topic in front of the class.
I. Choose a
topic which existed as a part of American history during the time frame we are
studying: (Pre-history-Civil War). A list will be e provided.
II. Once you
choose your topic you will need to do the following:
1. Research
information which identifies and describes your topic in detail and the
significance it had during that time period.
2. Directions for
the written material:
A. It should have a title
B. Double-spaced typed
C. The material in the paper should describe what your topic is and how it was
significant to that particular time period.
D. The content of the paper should be two pages in length.
E. Record the required three sources at the end of your written material when
you are completed.
3. Construct a
model
A. Construct (build) an actual model of the topic itself.
B. Provide enough pictures on a poster paper to enhance your model and be
able
to thoroughly explain what it is and its significance in American History.
4. Create and act
out a skit of a particular event or place in time. You should have
written script and props for the setting of that particular time frame.
Props can be big posters, clothing, or any objects that would match the
appropriate era.
**You may make a
video of the event to show the class or do the skit in class the day it is
due.
Demonstration
1. You will then
need to demonstrate and explain your topic to the class using the written
material you gathered.
2. Following your
explanation, you will demonstrate your material to the class.
3. Your
presentation should last approximately ten minutes. (You will not read
from your written material. You will present the material with your
knowledge of the topic and occasionally using note cards to help you with your
presentation.)
4. The class will
then be required to ask you questions about your demonstration in which you
have to answer to the best of your knowledge.
Grading Your Demonstration
1. Did the
presentation demonstrate effort, planning, and organization?
2. Was the
presentation interesting and worthwhile?
3. Did the
presentation demonstrate enthusiasm and commitment?
4. Did the
presentation allow students to understand and learn about the ways people
lived at that period of time?
Project will be
worth 100points and part of your test grade for the quarter. (Equivalent
of two 50-point test grades)
Topics for History Projects
Build a Viking
ship or a Spanish galleon
Revolutionary-Civil War warships
Build
Tenochtictlan or another ancient city of the Americas
Crusades
Pirates
Early explorers
French fur
trading and exploration of Great Lakes
Build a fort
(Jamestown, Ticonderoga, etc.)
Build New
Amsterdam and Explain it
Mayflower and the
Massachusetts Bay Colony
Colonial
punishment
Salem Witch
Trials
Design
Philadelphia
New England
whaling/fishing/trading ports
Design a New
England town
Make a log cabin
Make a slave ship
Make a Southern
plantation with the Great House
Build one of the
first universities of public schools
Build a fort from
the French and Indian War (page 154)
Portray battles
from:
The French and Indian War
Revolution (ex.: Bunker Hill, Trenton)
War of 1812 (ex. Battle of New Orleans)
War with Mexico
Civil War
Boston Massacre
Boston Tea Party
Do physical maps
of colonies or a colony during Revolution
Valley Forge
winter of 1777-78
Naval battle
John Paul Jones
Swamp Fox
Designs of the
Federal City (Washington, D.C.)
Build
Independence Hill
The Whiskey
Rebellion
Indian battles
Build the USS
Constitution
Scene where Star
Spangled Banner was written
War of 1812,
Battle for Lake Erie
Design and early
factory in the Industrial Revolution
Design the early
roads
Make a Conestoga
wagon
Make a steamboat
Make the Erie
Canal
Trail of Tears
Oregon Trail
Life of the
mountain men
The Battle of the
Alamo (build it)
Spanish
missionaries
Gold Rush to
California
Railroads
Steamboats
Water locks and
how they work
John Brown
Fort Sumter
Andersonville