January 7, 2009
Dear Parents:
Our habitats capstone project has begun. This note is going to be lengthy but hope you will take
the time to read through and know some of the things that your children will be doing for the
project that will be videotaped and photographed along the way.
Great websites for Georgia Habitats and Symbols
http://homeschooling.about.com/cs/unitssubjgeog/a/susga.htm
www.georgia.gov/00/channel_title/0,2094,4802_15173574,00.html
www.enchantedlearning.com/usa/states/georgia/
www.newgeorgiaencyclopeida.org
www.cobb.k12.ga.us/~bullard/Computer%20Lab/Georgia%20habhttp://naturalhistory.uga.edu/~
GMNH/habitats/habitats.htmitats.htm
http://www.valdosta.edu/~mgvaldez/topic.html#One
http://www.lilburnes.org/Students/Habitats/index.htm
http://museum.nhm.uga.edu/htmldocs/scienceboxes/explokithabitats.htm
www.uga.edu/gardenclub/m2s/mountains.html
www.valdosta.edu/~lmterry/topic.html
Who is doing what diorama and Groups for Powerpoints. (If student wishes to do an individual
Powerpoint they will get extra credit).
BLUE RIDGE
COASTAL PLAIN RIDGE AND VALLEY
ISLANDS
PIEDMONT
CUMBERLAND
D’Anne
Braydon
Connor D.
Nicole
Emma
Jacob
Nicholas
Camille
Faith
Maci
Mya
Ashlea
Valeria
Kieran
J.J.
Matthew
BARRIER
Addison
Callie
Conner E.
Above are websites that might help you complete the habitat diorama project that is due next
Thursday, January 15, 2009.
Student will use the information that they acquire from the diorama project to complete an
individual or group Powerpoint.
The facilitator will give the students various projects based on Georgia Symbols (need to do
1/7/09), Land Regions and Landforms (completed a Powerpoint presentation) which will address
all standards that will encompass habitats. This will prepare the students for the next nine weeks
when we begin to work on the Georgia Habitat unit.
The Georgia Habitat project encompasses differentiating between habitats of Georgia and the
organisms that live in each of the five land regions. Students will need to research the animals
and plants indigenous to a particular area. The instructor will place students into cooperative
learning groups, based on their specific interest. They will need to research the five regions of
Georgia more in detail as this was a unit from social studies that was previously touched upon.
The groups of students will be creating a Power Point presentation of the various regions of
Georgia. Students will give a complete description of the characteristics of the habitat. They will
give the location of the habitat by incorporating a Georgia map. Students will include
information on at least five animals and five plants supported by the habitats, specifically what
makes the habitat a good “fit” for the animals and plants. Finally in their presentation, they will
discuss the impact that humans and/or forces of nature have on the habitat and its ability to
support the plants and animals. A rubric meeting the science and technology standards will be
given to the students. Students will need to answer the weekly blogging essential questions in
Wordpress. They will write a script and use the podcasting for doing their oral reports on their
region. The students will create a daily research journal and then summarize the material into a
hard copy using Microsoft Word and will save this material to their flashdrive. The groups will
use Photo Story to create a digital diorama of their regions. The student groups will write letters,
via Microsoft Word, to the Georgia Wildlife Action Plan and Georgia Comprehensive Wildlife
Conservation Groups about saving and protecting endangered animals in their specific area. A
digital movie, using Movie Maker 3, will be created by the students to document the process of
growth in technology as well as, mastery of the habitat standards. The movie will be presented
to other classes and their parents. Their work will be linked to the website, via Share Point, for
all to view.
The teacher will be creating flipcharts of material that will guide the students through the five
regions and give them some further insight on the standards that are important. The facilitator
will create assessments via the Promethean board and use of Activotes. The Activotes, for a
rapid response to the questions, will allow me a further means to evaluate learning while
ensuring a high level of engagement on the part of my students. We will be able to graph the
results and the facilitator will know who has mastered the standard. The final technology projects
will be another way for the teacher to assess the students’ mastery.
In the last nine weeks of school we will review what we learned and continue using the
technology. The teacher hopes that this capstone project will be a positive, memorable activity
for her third grade class. It should help the students make that all important shift toward taking
an active role in their own learning.
Monthly:

Create different digital Photo Stories, i.e., All About Me, Georgia Symbols, and Georgia
Habitats.

Podcasting –creating oral book reports, resource based papers and writing scripts on
various topics which are standard based.

Power Point presentations. The groups of students will be creating a Power Point
presentation of the various land regions of Georgia, Georgia symbols, Landforms and
Famous People.
Culminating activity:

Power Point Presentation. The groups of students will be creating a Power Point
presentation of the various land regions of Georgia. Students will give a complete
description of the characteristics of the habitat. They will give the location of the habitat
by incorporating a Georgia map. Students will include information on at least five
animals and five plants supported by the habitats, specifically what makes the habitat a
good “fit” for the animals and plants. Finally in their presentation, they will discuss the
impact that humans and/or forces of nature have on the habitat and its ability to support
the plants and animals.

Students will create a Digital Movie using Movie Maker 3 to document the process of
growth in technology. The movie will be presented to other classes and their parents.
Their work will be linked to my website, via SharePoint, for all to view.
Evaluation/Assessment Procedures:
The students will be evaluated over each nine weeks. A rubric for each work to be produced
(daily digital journal, blogging, podcasts, digital movies, Power Point project, and digital movie)
will be given to each student and posted on my website for the parents to view. These rubrics
will state the expectations of the project. Teacher notes, observations and promethean board
projected quizzes as well as traditional quizzes will be given. The final project and grade will be
based on the Digital Movie created on Georgia Habitats.
LoTi Level (beginning of Teach21 program): 3
Perceived LotTi Level of this project:
5
If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to e-mail me or call me.
Thank you,
Josephine Modica