Help with 5th grade States research project

I'm a 5th grade teacher who is interested in revamping our social studies curriculum in which each student becomes an "expert" on one of the states. After various projects during the year, the study concludes with a State Fair during which the kids present display boards of traditional topics such as famous people, products, governor, etc. This year we want the kids to select a topic related to "their" state and do research and a display board presentation at the State Fair about that topic. For example: California might offer topics like The Golden Gate Bridge, redwood trees, the Border Patrol issue, the Gold Rush, or Ansel Adams and his work at Yosemite. I would like help in creating a list of possible topics for each state from which the students can each choose a topic that interests them. I would love a list of ideas from you about your state. Can't wait to see what you offer. This is what Gayle wrote about earlier in a previous forum.

Tags: 5th, States, United, grade, project, research

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Permalink Reply by Ann on October 2, 2007 at 8:32pm

We have a variety of little stops around the state of New Jersey. There’s Grover Cleveland’s birthplace in Caldwell. You can go to Liberty State Park and take the ferry to Ellis Island. There are many American Revolutionary sites: Washington's Crossing State Park, the Old Barracks at Trenton, Princeton Battlefield State Park and Monmouth Battlefield State Park. We have different villages to see how things were in New Jersey long ago: Lenape Indian Village at Waterloo, Waterloo Village in Stanhope, Basto Historic Village in Hammonton, and Allaire Village in Allaire. One of our favorite stops is the Sterling Hill Mine in Ogdensburg. They have fluorescent rocks that glow orange, blue, green, and other interesting colors.

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Permalink Reply by beckyherl on October 3, 2007 at 10:22am

You can send for a free travel brochure of Kansas at http://www.travelks.com/s/VisitorGuideE.cfm.

Check out the ready made travel adventures for Kansas at http://www.travelks.com/s/index.cfm?SSID=3

Information on the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Museum
Greensburg, Kansas became famous about 6 months ago as a EF5 destroyed the town. See pictures here.

Mueller-Schmidt House Museum
Tour the state's capitol at http://www.kshs.org/places/capitol/tour.htm

Kansas Heritage Tours

Famous Kansans Collector Cards

There is much more but maybe these sites will get you started? Have fun!

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Permalink Reply by Nancy Bosch on October 3, 2007 at 7:17pm

More from Kansas

Wizard of OZ
NASCAR
History of Basketball
Dwight Eisenhower
Orphan Trains
Kloudbusters
Kansas Corn Mazes
What a good idea--I'm passing this forum on to some fellow teachers. Hopefully by the time they check you'll have all 50 states represented!

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Permalink Reply by Wendy on October 3, 2007 at 8:32pm

MICHIGAN: KID-FRIENDLY SITES

http://www.michigan.gov/mikids

http://www.midnr.com/edu/flash/DNRIntroPages/DNRlaps.html

http://www.midnr.com/edu/flash/DNRKids/KidsPark.html

http://www.michigan.gov/hal/0,1607,7-160-17451_18670-77702--,00.html

http://kids.mackinacparks.com/

http://www.michigan.gov/som/0,1607,7-192-29938_30241-119964--,00.html

http://www.hfmgv.org/village/

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Permalink Reply by Gary Torstenson on October 3, 2007 at 11:04pm

Here are some thoughts from Nevada:
Yucca Mountain (possible future nuclear waste storage site)
Nevada Test Site, Area 51, Hoover Dam and the building of Boulder City, Nevada Ghost Towns such as Rhyolite or Berlin (site of Ichthyosaur State Park), the endangered Devil's Hole Pupfish, Genoa (Nevada's first town), Fort Churchill, U.S. Mint in Carson City, Pyramid Lake, Comstock Lode and Adolph Sutro's tunnel, Safety hazards of Nevada's thousands of abandoned mines, Sarah Winnemucca (Paiute Indian), Decreasing water levels of Lake Mead and a growing Clark County population, Lehman Caves. Here is the Nevada Kid's Page website; http://dmla.clan.lib.nv.us/docs/kids/ that may provide some help.