ScribbleMaps in 5th Grade

ScribbleMaps

5th Grade Tech and Social Studies Project

The thing I like most about my job as a Technology teacher is doing cross-curricular projects.  I haven't gotten to much of these types of projects yet this year because we have spent a lot of time in both 5th and 6th grade talking about Digital Citizenship and for 5th grade especially, learning the ins and outs of their laptops.  This is the first year that 5th grade is 1:1 with their own MacBook Airs here at Postville and after we got the basics down we have been able to move into really using our computers to learn, as opposed to learning to use our computers.

For the first cross-curricular project in 5th grade this year, I connected with our 5th/6th grade Social Studies teacher to see what they were learning in 1st quarter and to figure out a way that I could take that topic and extend their learning in a techie/fun/creative project.  As it turns out, they were learning about Native American regions in the United States.  I thought this would be a great way to get some map and geography skills in as well as becoming experts on a particular Native American region from North America.

After doing some research online about different websites and apps we could use, I discovered ScribbleMaps.  It is a free tool (paid upgrade is available, but we didn't need it!).  I chose this because it allowed us to add text, pictures, and videos right to the map.  Here is the EXAMPLE that I created to show them.

Here are a few pictures of the kids working on their ScribbleMaps.

Before we started working on the maps, I created a folder in Google Classroom so they could all have access to the same documents to take collaborative notes.  In my classroom I have a range of student abilities from TAG students to Level 1 and 2 ESL students so the collaborative notes were very helpful to the students that needed some extra support. It really helped the ones that have a hard time finding information that is relevant in their online searches.

I am very excited to see their end results.  They will be turning them in tomorrow and I will have them each post it on their 5th Grade Blog.  Be sure to check back and see how they turned out.  They would love some comments and feedback as well.  I always comment on them, but it seems to mean so much more when it comes from someone else.