Learn about your county
This activity will allow fourth grade students in North Carolina to learn more about the counties that surround their home county. Using online images, students will create a multimedia presentation to share with others.
A lesson plan for grade 4 Computer/Technology Skills, English Language Arts, and Social Studies
Learn more
- Discover NC! LEARN NC's county by county field trip guide
- UNC School of Government Library List of North Carolina county websites
Related pages
- County government in North Carolina: Students will become familiar with aspects of county government in North Carolina.
- Teaching suggestions: Governing the Piedmont: This set of teaching suggestions was designed to help students understand an article about the colonial government of the Piedmont.
- Changes in a democratic society (Lesson 2 of 3): This lesson is the post-seminar activity to follow Changes in a Democratic Society, Lesson 1. Students will participate in tiered assignments reflecting on the Westall painting, "The Sword of Damocles," and the prior day's Paideia seminar on that painting.
Related topics
- Learn more about County Government, North Carolina, counties, government, graphic organizers, language arts, social studies, and technology skills.
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Learning outcomes
- The students will collect information about their county and surrounding counties and enter that information in a graphic organizer.
- The students will become familiar with their county and the surrounding counties.
- The team of students will create a PowerPoint (or HyperStudio) report about a historic site found in a surrounding county.
- Students will share their project with other fourth grade students in the school.
Teacher planning
Time required for lesson
10–14 days
Materials/resources
- North Carolina map with counties labeled or blank
- North Carolina resources from the media center
Technology resources
- Computers with Kidspiration, internet access, and PowerPoint (or HyperStudio)
- Computer with LCD projector or other projection device
Pre-activities
- Using a North Carolina map with counties shown, students will color and label their county. (Attached North Carolina maps: labeled or blank) Students will use a different color to show the counties that touch their county. These counties will also be labeled.
- Using the NC ECHO website and other websites, students will have the opportunity to examine photos of their county landmarks.
- Students will have prior knowledge and understanding of using the internet.
- In preparation for slideshow presentation, students will create an eight to ten slide PowerPoint presentation (or card stack in HyperStudio) with text boxes and buttons for placement of information they gather.
Activities
Day 1
A large North Carolina map will be displayed with our county noted. Students will use their small individual map (attached: labeled or blank) to help label counties that touch our county. Each of these counties will be listed along with our home county. Students will have the opportunity to sign up for a county they wish to explore in order to complete this assignment. As a teacher, I would ask if students have a grandparent, cousin, or friend who live in a neighboring county. They may want to explore that county in order to share their knowledge with other family members.
Day 2
Using the LCD projector, the teacher will open the Kidspiration template and as a class, the graphic organizer will be completed on the home county. This is a link to an interactive North Carolina counties map. (Alternatively, you may also use LEARN NC’s interactive county map.) We will use the information found here to begin our study of our home county. A link will also be created to our county webpage in order for students to gain information on county name, county seat, population, schools, and mayor. The NC ECHO website will be used for information about our county.
Day 3
Students will need their own computer to open the graphic organizer created in Kidspiration. Using skills learned from Day 2 joint efforts, students will work on their individual adjoining county. (Links to the surrounding counties have been created and attached to Kidspiration worksheet.) An example of a completed graphic organizer for Lincoln County is attached.
Day 4
Students will use PowerPoint (or HyperStudio) to create eight to ten slides (or cards) to hold information about their county. Each slide will have a text box created and labeled with county name, county seat, population, schools, mayor, and interesting sites in the county.
Day 5
The Kidspiration page will be copied and pasted onto the second card/slide of PowerPoint presentation (or HyperStudio stack). Each heading will become a link for moving to slides about county name, county seat, population, schools, mayor, and sites.
Days 6–9
Students will begin writing paragraphs, one each about county name, county seat, population, schools, mayor, and sites.
Days 10–12
Pictures from county homepages and NC ECHO will be placed in students’ presentations.
Day 13
Surrounding county presentations will be printed and linked with the home county presentation.
Day 14
Share slideshows with other fourth grade students within your school. Sample slideshows can also be placed on the school webpage.
Assessment
Students will print and turn in graphic organizer from Kidspiration.
Students will print presentation to make a mini-book about the selected county.
Supplemental information
If you do not have access to Kidspiration, you can view the attached images of the counties graphic organizer and the completed Lincoln County example.
The lesson template includes a place for students to write the name of the mayor, however, not every county seat in our state uses a mayoral structure.
Comments
I plan to use this activity with my Title I reading students. I see these students for 45 minutes therefore we have a limited amount of time to get things accomplished during one class setting. Throughout the year my students enjoy showing off their technology skills to other students in their classroom. There are additional pictures of landmarks in our county that I feel my students would like to include in our presentation. Using the digital camera, additional pictures, not included on NC Echo site, will be placed on our slides.
North Carolina curriculum alignment
Computer Technology Skills (2005)
Grade 4
- Goal 3: The learner will use a variety of technologies to access, analyze, interpret, synthesize, apply, and communicate information.
- Objective 3.07: Locate, select, organize, and present content area information from the Internet for a specific purpose and audience, citing sources. Strand - Telecommunications/Internet
English Language Arts (2004)
Grade 4
- Goal 4: The learner will apply strategies and skills to create oral, written, and visual texts.
- Objective 4.05: Use planning strategies to generate topics and organize ideas (e.g., brainstorming, mapping, webbing, reading, discussion).
- Objective 4.10: Use technology as a tool to gather, organize, and present information.
Social Studies (2003)
Grade 4
- Goal 4: The learner will analyze social and political institutions in North Carolina such as government, education, religion, and family and how they structure society, influence behavior, and respond to human needs.
- Objective 4.01: Assess and evaluate the importance of regional diversity on the development of economic, social, and political institutions in North Carolina.
- North Carolina Essential Standards
- Social Studies (2010)
Grade 4
- 4.C&G.1 Understand the development, structure and function of North Carolina's government. 4.C&G.1.1 Summarize the key principles and revisions of the North Carolina Constitution. 4.C&G.1.2 Compare the roles and responsibilities of state elected...
- Social Studies (2010)
