LEARN NC

K–12 teaching and learning · from the UNC School of Education

North Carolina regional travel brochure

The students will cooperatively design travel brochures that describe major physical and cultural characteristics of the regions in North Carolina.

A lesson plan for grades 3–4 English Language Arts and Social Studies

By Deborah Harrell

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Learning outcomes

Students will:

  • research the three major regions of North Carolina.
  • compile relevant information into a travel brochure.
  • use desktop publishing program or word processing program. (optional: brochure can be handwritten)

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

8 hours

Materials/resources

  • Information from area Chambers of Commerce
  • Map of North Carolina
  • Print Resources, i.e. atlases, maps, encyclopedias, Social Studies textbooks

Technology resources

  • Desktop publishing program or word processing program
  • Electronic encyclopedia
  • Internet
  • Electronic Periodical Database (SIRS Discoverer)

Pre-activities

The students should know:

  • characteristics of the three major geographical regions in North Carolina.
  • relative and absolute location of the three major geographical regions in North Carolina.
  • major landforms within each region.

Activities

  1. Assign the students the following performance prompt:
    You are a travel agent who organizes business retreats for North Carolina industries. You collect information about the three major geographical regions of North Carolina and identify cultural and recreational activites, major landforms, and accommodations available in each region in order to design travel brochures. These brochures will be reviewed by a local travel agency.
  2. Students brainstorm lists of cultural and recreational activities and landforms found in their assigned regions.
  3. Students will use a map to list at least 5 major cities found in their regions.
  4. Students will request information from Chambers of Commerce within their regions. Additional resources can include atlases, almanacs, encyclopedias (print or electronic), full text periodical databases (SIRS Discoverer), and student textbooks. (The majority of these resources should be available in the school media center or the local public library.)
  5. Students will select appropriate information to include in their travel brochures as outlined in their project guidelines. (See Standard Writing Rubric).
  6. Students will organize and design their brochures to include the required components using either a desktop publishing program, a word processing program, or “paper and pencil.”
  7. Once the brochures have been completed, the students can share their brochures with their peers. This will allow the students the opportunity to assess their peers’ work.
  8. After viewing the other brochures, the students can plan their own vacations outside of their assigned regions or write a response to the following prompt:
    If you could travel to any of North Carolina’s three regions, which would you travel to and why?

Assessment

The students’ final products will be assessed through the use of an itemized grading scale. The assessment checklist can be completed by either the teacher or the students. Please see the attached Standard Writing Rubric

Supplemental information

Comments

This lesson can be extended beyond the outline presented in this lesson plan. For example, students can use maps to calculate travel time and distances, cost of accommodations, gas, or meals as they travel through the regions of North Carolina. Comparisons of recreational activities can be made among regions based on major landforms and climate.

North Carolina curriculum alignment

English Language Arts (2004)

Grade 4

  • Goal 2: The learner will apply strategies and skills to comprehend text that is read, heard, and viewed.
    • Objective 2.06: Summarize major points from fiction and nonfiction text(s) to clarify and retain information and ideas.
    • Objective 2.07: Determine usefulness of information and ideas consistent with purpose.
  • Goal 3: The learner will make connections with text through the use of oral language, written language, and media and technology.
    • Objective 3.05: Analyze and integrate information from one or more sources to expand understanding of text including graphs, charts, and/or maps.
    • Objective 3.06: Conduct research for assigned projects or self-selected projects (with assistance) from a variety of sources through the use of technological and informal tools (e.g., print and non-print texts, artifacts, people, libraries, databases, computer networks).
  • Goal 4: The learner will apply strategies and skills to create oral, written, and visual texts.
    • Objective 4.03: Make oral and written presentations using visual aids with an awareness of purpose and audience.
    • Objective 4.10: Use technology as a tool to gather, organize, and present information.

Social Studies (2003)

Grade 4

  • Goal 1: The learner will apply the five themes of geography to North Carolina and its people.
    • Objective 1.01: Locate, in absolute and relative terms, major landforms, bodies of water and natural resources in North Carolina.
    • Objective 1.02: Describe and compare physical and cultural characteristics of the regions.
    • Objective 1.03: Suggest some influences that location has on life in North Carolina such as major cities, recreation areas, industry, and farms.

  • North Carolina Essential Standards

    • Social Studies (2010)

      • Grade 3

        • 3.G.1 Understand the earth’s patterns by using the 5 themes of geography: (location, place, human-environment interaction, movement and regions). 3.G.1.1 Find absolute and relative locations of places within the local community and region. 3.G.1.2 Compare...

      • Grade 4

        • 4.G.1 Understand how human, environmental and technological factors affect the growth and development of North Carolina. 4.G.1.1 Summarize changes that have occurred in North Carolina since statehood (population growth, transportation, communication and land...