Unit Rational
This unit is packed with writing ideas and could take from 4 – 6 weeks to complete
depending on what lessons are used and whether extensions are provided or created.
While Documenting a Virtual Roadtrip could be used anytime during the year, the
authors see it as a great beginning-of-the-year unit to help you evaluate how well your
students are writing. It also allows the teacher to review or teach the writing process and
peer evaluation process.
Many teachers want to start the year with a question in writing like the traditional, “What
did you do this summer?” This fun and team-building unit will help you to start the year
with a bang. Get your students excited about a real, content filled, self-directed project
that makes them think critically about their writing skills.
This unit touches on five of the seven major forms of writing allowing you to set the
groundwork for the rest of the year. If you wanted to add more ideas to the unit the other
two forms could easily be added.
We understand that good writing takes time. We do not feel in this unit that every form of
writing should go though the complete Steps to Teach Writing process or all of the steps
in the writing process. These would be taught throughout the rest of the year in depth (see
your KSD writing curriculum). We should however identify the steps we do take for the
students so that they will understand what steps they have done and know that they did
not go through all of them.
Writing Elements of the Unit
Persuasive Writing:
The persuasive letter is the focus for fifth grade. In this unit we want you to begin
introducing this format in the prewriting and drafting stages. There are examples in your
Macmillan reading kits with transparencies to help teach this genre of writing.
We recommend you use the example, Persuasive Components Labels, and the key
components sheets for Persuasion & Persuasive Letter to help students discover the
elements of a persuasive letter. You can also ask students to write a letter to their partners
to persuade them to go to the destination they have chosen. This letter is only evaluated
in partnerships for persuasive content, in rough draft form, according to our unit. You
may also extend this by having students find the same persuasive letter components used
to teach the lesson.
Virtual Road Trip Writing Unit
Summer 2002
Jancola and Welch
Recount Writing:
The journal for this activity was designed to make compiling information easier and
manageable. The first page of the virtual road trip can be seen as a pre-write for the
second page, which takes one of the stops each day and expands on it in journal format.
It’s important to remember the audience for the journal is comprised of the group
members and the teacher. Journals are usually written in rough format. They should still
be complete and account for the time spent at the stop that day, so look for completeness
and ideas in a chronological order.
Use the journal example and key components pages for journal and recount to help teach
the expectations for this part of the project. The journals should be completely filled in.
Remember to check that students are writing sources for the information because they
may want to use these for the next assignments. You may want to provide a checklist that
students and teacher can use to check-off project components as they progress.
Narrative Writing:
The realistic fiction story is a writing piece that we will be taking students all the way
through the writing process as they work in pairs. Introduce this element of the project by
handing out the 6 trait writing rubric discussing how these traits might look in a story.
Show the example Virtual Roadtrip story and have students find each item on the
checklist. An extension of the journals that have already been written, the story is meant
for a larger audience. There will be a more complete or finished feel to it when it is done.
Details and style are important to keep the reader’s attention. Tell students to pick their
favorite day of the trip. You may want to exclude the final day so that the next step in the
project will be new information.
Have them together write a rough draft making sure to coordinate and add ideas from
both perspectives. After they have finished the rough draft and revised, they need to find
another group to exchange stories with. Both groups should evaluate the writing based on
the 6-trait rubric. Have them pick traits they think were done well and a few that the
group might want to revise before publication.
Have students divide the story in two pieces. They can type their part on the computer
and put them together after they have read each other’s work a final time. If you have
time, groups may read their stories to the class. After they are finished, the teacher should
use the rubric to evaluate each story.
Explanation Writing:
Students need to find information and pictures about their final destination and create
posters or PowerPoint presentations. The teacher can teach the idea of this form of
writing by using the key components for explanation & poster, and the corresponding
rubrics. This does not need to be content intensive but should display easily to understand
information about their destination. To brainstorm, students might want to list some of
Virtual Road Trip Writing Unit
Summer 2002
Jancola and Welch
the important facts about their destination and then tie in how this destination relates to
them. What would they have done on a trip? They might want to decide a format in
which to display the information to meet the requirements of the expectations according
to the rubric. From this list students can begin to create or compile elements of the poster
or PowerPoint. The final version can be shared in a brief presentation to the class.
Report Writing:
The next piece is the character analysis. This is often done to evaluate the role of a
character in a story. We envision that after working with a partner for this length of time
students will have developed their own roles in the project. At the same time that you are
working on this project you will also be reading a story related to this topic. At the end of
this project we want to tie these to pieces together by having each individual do a
character analysis of a character from the story and, then, one of their partner.
This evaluation might be taught in this way. First read a short story such as a spotlight
book from your Macmillan series and do a character evaluation from it as a class. Look at
the key components for report writing and character analysis. Hand out the analysis form
and have students in partners evaluate the story. Finally have them independently
evaluate themselves.
Additional Resources
Publications:
Standard USA travel atlas
AAA
Auto publications
Road Trip USA (guidebook)
The Car by Gary Paulsen
Get Up and Go! by Sylvia Whitman
- Nonfiction, history of American road travel
The Story of America’s Roads by Ray Spangenburg and Diane K. Moser
- Nonfiction, chronicles the building of the American road system
Washington on My Mind by Falcon Press ISBN 1-56044-495-9
- Photos and quotes of Washington; idea generator for Washington places to see
Ladies, Start Your Engines: Women writers on cars and the road edited by Elinor Nauen
- Short stories
Websites:
Yahooligans.com – States information
http://www.yahooligans.com/Around_the_World/U_S__States/
http://www.yahooligans.com/reference/encyclopedia/index.html
Virtual Road Trip Writing Unit
Summer 2002
Jancola and Welch
Mapquest.com – Driving Directions
http://www.mapquest.com/directions/
Mapquest.com – Maps
http://www.mapquest.com/maps/main.adp
Technology Lessons:
SchoolKiT module, Travel Across USA (postcard from Hawaii)
Recommended Destinations:
Disney Land
Disney World
Yellowstone National Park (WY)
Lake Tahoe
New York
The Great Lakes
Yosemite National Park (CA)
Abraham Lincoln’s Birthplace
Monticello/Montpelier/Mount Vernon
Arches National Park (UT)
Bad Lands National Park (SD)
Extension Activities
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Create your own menu. (Excel)
Build a budget. Include costs for hotels, gas, food, and souvenirs. (Excel)
Generate your own map of your trip. (KidPix)
Design a PowerPoint presentation that chronicles your road trip.
Assignments
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Brainstorm ideas of where you would want to travel
Persuasive Essay (draft)
Get driving directions and Travel Itinerary Template
Research points of interest
Journal days 1-7
Creative Writing: Describe the best day of your trip
Destination Poster/PowerPoint (include bibliography)
 Partner evaluation/character analysis/personal essay
Virtual Road Trip Writing Unit
Summer 2002
Jancola and Welch