Artifact Bags

Today in class we presented our artifact bags to each other.
My bag included:  

    File:Question book magnify2.svg - Wikimedia Commons
  • a bullet
  • moctezuma's headdress
  • metal armor 
  • stone weapons 
My bag was meant to represent the Spanish conquistadors and the Aztecs fighting. 

  • a sword 
  • armor
  • a horse
  • a cross
Kristen's bag was meant to represent the Spanish conquistadors. 

The other group represented Christopher Columbus in their bags. I thought Michaela's artifacts were really creative. She went out of her way to to go to the flee market to get these artifacts. She had a pilgrim, a compass, a picture of a boat, and the Italian flag. I also liked how Alexis's presentation was very engaging. She had us guess what the artifacts are going to be about based on the pictures on her bag. Rachel and Kim had a can of corn and cinnamon sugar to represent the items that were brought over during the columbian exchange.

I thought this activity was very engaging and fun! I had a great time putting together my bag and making the artifacts. When we would open their bag and pick out the artifacts, everyone was enthusiastic and were excited to figure out what the artifact was! This activity was worthwhile because it allowed me to remember the topics related to Christopher Columbus since it was visual and hands on. I think students will really enjoy this activity because they are allowed to be creative with making and finding their artifacts. They can also put their own twists on them while staying true to the meaning of the artifact. Students will enjoy presenting their bags to the class and getting everyone to guess what their artifacts were. If I was doing this in my class I would use this activity after I teach the lesson. I would assign the different conquistadors, places, and wars as different topics for the artifact bags. It is a good way to assess how well the students understand and retained the information that was taught.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Job Interview

Image
In today's class we had a mock job interview. This was a way to role play instead of giving a final and I thought it was a great way to not get us so overwhelmed with a final but also to prepare us for he future! All of the administrators did a really great job!! They all dressed professional and acted professional as if it was real, and I really loved that. Amanda did really well with her questions. I thought the questions made us think critically and they weren't questions that were "yes" or "no" or one word answers, but they made us explain ourselves and use examples from class and fieldwork experience. I liked her question about if she was a fly on the wall and how our future classroom would look. It was a fun question to think about to make us less nervous but also got a look into our minds to see how we are planning for the future. Another question I really liked was the one about if we had to choose a color how would it reflect our philosophy of t
Read more

Origins of Social Studies

Image
What is Social Studies?  history has dominated the discipline lectures and discussions are primary teaching devices occasional audio visual aids and field trips homework assigned from textbooks Elementary  small group and independent work manipulative, films, TV, computers integrated approaches  greater instructional variety than other subjects  Social Studies Powerful Elements  Meaningful- engaging, connects students with real world situations Integrative- draws on more than one discipline, subject or skill set Value-Based- strengthens students sense of democratic values and social responsibility  Challenging- incorporates different perspectives and draws on students critical-thinking skills Active- participatory, makes use of manipulative or physical environment  ***FIVE PRINCIPALS OF EFFECTIVE TEACHING***   How People Learn? What is Learning? Percentage of what we learn which is retained in memory  When we read           10% When we hear  
Read more

5 Themes of Geography

Image
5 Themes of Geography  1. Location 2. Place 3. Region 4. Movement 5. Human Environment Interaction Location Absolute-specific using longitude and latitude  Relative- general area such as next to the school or down the road To  teach: give students a coordinate on the map of NY and have them find the absolute location of the place. For relative location give the students a place that they are all familiar with such as the school or supermarket and ask them to name things around there that would help someone locate it.  Place An area defined by its features that make it unique from other places. To teach: give students a list a familiar places such as the school, park, baseball field or their house and ask them to describe its features that make it unique from other places. They can discuss the windows, doors, color, nature around it, and its size.  Region An area that is defined by certain similar characteristics. Characteristics can be physical, natural, human, or cu
Read more