Directions:  See your teacher about which state you both decide upon.  The purpose of this activity is to generate a travel brochure for each state, so each student must sign up on the class roster to ensure equal state distribution.  When gathering information about your assigned state, make sure that the material you include is interesting and the pictures you use will capture the attention of others.  When planning your brochure, ask yourself what things would draw you to that state.  The reason states make travel brochures are to encourage people to come visit them.

Click on the "State Fact Worksheet" for your brochure outline.  The things you should include in your brochure are listed on this sheet.  Use this as a rough draft in order to better organize your information.  Make sure you have the fact sheet checked by your teacher before inserting the information into your Microsoft Publisher Brochure Publication.

To type directly on the state fact worksheet, click on link to open the worksheet, then save it to your student folder.  You will then open it in word in order to fill in your answers. When you have completed your assignment, click on file, save as, choose your student folder from the list window, name your file Travel Brochure, and click save.

Assignment 2:

Open Microsoft Publisher.  Choose the informational brochure you wish to use to construct your state's travel information.  Make sure you use enough graphics to make it appealing to someone who is looking for a place to visit.  Also, including a road map of the state for interested tourist is helpful for those not familiar with the area.  Include all the information stored in your State Fact Worksheet (you do not need to include all state graphics, just the ones you think would enhance the look of your brochure.    Name your travel brochure state (where state is the name of the state you researched).

Assignment 3:The next assignment is to learn how use critical thinking skills in writing questions that you will construct in the form of a scavenger hunt in your next assignment. You will read Jack and the Beanstalk (I know its been a long time since I had read the story!!!), then determine what type of questions were asked based on Blooms Taxonomy. Examples will be provided so you will know how to construct your own. Click on Jack and the Beanstalk below and follow the directions provided in the assignment.

Assignment 4:

Now that you have become familiar with your state, open Microsoft Word to create a 20 question interactive scavenger hunt in the form of a web page.  The directions to how questions will be asked was covered in the Jack and the Beanstalk assignment.  You will use Bloom's taxonomy to create questions that reflect higher level thinking skills.   Remember to make your scavenger appealing to your audience.  The most creative and well thought out scavenger hunts will be posted on Nicholson's Lesson Plan Blues State Scavenger Hunts with you as the author.    In this assignment you may use animated graphics to make your final product eye appealing for your audience.  Save the scavenger hunt with your name_statename. When you have finished the scavenger hunt, have another classmate answer your questions, saving the file with their name_statename. The instructions for creating an interactive scavenger hunt is listed below:

• Open Microsoft Word

• Save it As a Web Page

  • Chose File>Save As, then in the File Save As Type box, chose Web Page and save your page as listed above
• On the top line using WordArt, place the name of your state center
• On the second line, type By: followed by your name
• Under your name, insert a horizontal line
  • Position the insertion point on the blank line below your name
  • Click Format, and then Borders and Shading
  • At the Borders and Shading dialog box, click the Horizontal Line button that displays at the bottom of the dialog box
  • At the Horizontal Line dialog box, click the horizontal line of your choice
• Apply a background theme to you page:
  • Click Format>Theme to display the theme dialog box
  • Click a theme in the Choose a Theme list box to preview displays on the right side
  • Click OK to close the dialog box and apply the theme to the document
• If you can't find a theme you like, you can also apply formatting to the background:
  • Click Format and then Background. Apply a solid color, or add fill effects
• Creating Hyperlinks:
  • First type the questions you wish to have answered (Ex: What is the state flower?)
  • Choose the key word in the sentence you are looking for. In the above example, hold the left mouse down while selecting the word flower.
  • Click Insert>Hyperlink
  • At the Insert Hyperlink dialog box, key the Web page address of where you would find the answer in the Type the file or Web page name text box.
  • Click OK. (This changes the color of the text and also adds underling to the text.)
  • Continue adding links to every question. Have students look through a site to get their answers will make it more challenging
• Add animated graphics to you Web page that are appropriate for the your state (Insert>Picture>From File). The following web sites have some state animation graphics you can use:

 Go Graph
Animation Library
Flaming Text Photos
2 Cool Graphics
Clip Art Warehouse
Beard Brothers Animating
Millanimations

• Locate the state song and save it to your folder (right click>save target as>name it statesong.
  
• Display the Web Tools Toolbar by clicking View>Toolbars>Web Tools
• Position the insertion point center on the line below the horizontal line
• Click the sound button on the Web Toolbar (has a speaker on it)
• At the Background Sound dialog box, click the Browse button
• At the File Open dialog box (with your folder displayed), double click the state song.
• At the Background Sound dialog box, click the down-pointing triangle at the right side of the Loop text box, and then click Infinite at the drop-down list.
• Click OK to close the Background Sound dialog box

Assignment 5:

You will now create a Power Point presentation about your state. Click on the link below for step-by-step directions on how and what to include in in your presentation. Extra Credit will be given for including a Flash movie in your presentation!!!!

Creating a Power Point Presentation