4th Grade State History Project

For our PA State History project, we made 3 picture postcards. First, we learned about the different geographical regions in PA. Then, using Google, we researched 3 of them further. This took the most time. Google is usually our go to search engine. We also like Ask.com.  Next, we did a Google search on each of the 3 individually. Taking notes, on as much as we could, we wrote down, tourist attractions, geographic interests, & locations. Next, we chose one specific site from the list on Google. For example, Clarion, PA was its own website where we found numerous events & pictures. We were careful to give credit to the site for the pictures we used.

            Having saved the picture to his laptop & written down the copyright info, we looked to our notes. I had him handwrite, in cursive, a paragraph detailing the region we were doing. He wrote it as if sending a postcard to friends or family. For instance, The Autumn Leaf Festival. This festival is in September & in one of the regions we chose. He specified the dates, location & region in his paragraph.

            We printed out the picture from the website as a 5 x 7. Then, we folded the paper in half so one half had the picture & the other half was just white paper. After he wrote the paragraph about the region, we cut it out of the notebook. Lined paper made it easier for him to write evenly & straight. Using Elmer’s glue, we put a light coating on the back of the cut out notebook paper. Then, we glued it onto the folded paper, the white part.

            We repeated this for the other 2 regions. As a result, we learned about 3 very neat sounding events in our state. He was also able to match counties with regions. If we had been able to print the pictures onto cardstock, then it may have been easier to make what would have actually been a postcard.

            All in all, it turned out to be a very good project.

One side note: This can easily be altered for ANY state :)