Presented by Lisa Alconcel – Computer Resource Specialist Lauren Calcutt – Fifth Grade Teacher Red Mill Elementary School Virginia Beach City Public Schools Virtual Virginia Vacation

Students will study Virginia's regions while planning a virtual vacation. Vacation routes will be tracked as they virtually visit colleges, historic parks, and other sites in each of the five regions.

Virtual Virginia Vacation The Internet, software for spreadsheets and multimedia slideshows, digital cameras, and graphics software will be used. At the completion of the project, students will have covered several Virginia SOL objectives.

Vacation Plan Students will: plan a 14 day family vacation in Virginia. work from a budget of $2300. complete a final project to include: –business letter –daily “trip tracker” –spreadsheet –postcards –slide show –highlighted road map –web site bibliography/links

Project Directions Students will visit: each of the five regions. the birthplace or home of a president or famous Virginian. a college or university they might wish to attend. two recreational sites (Busch Gardens, zoo, etc.). one state park. one Civil War battle site.

Business Letter Students will: complete a college interest survey.interest survey pick three colleges to research.research – or gather notes and general information on each college researched. write a business letter to one college of their choice.

Family Car Information Students will: collect information on the family car’s make, model and year. research the MPG the car gets when traveling on the highway. –The car’s MPG will be used in the formula for gas used and total gas cost.

Spreadsheet Students will enter the: 14 day itinerary (place and city). daily distance traveled. formulas to determine gas used and cost spent on gas. costs for lodging. admission costs for attractions visited.

Spreadsheet con’t. Students will enter: mileage covered via the Internet sites Mapquest & Google Maps. MapquestGoogle Maps formulas to calculate gas used, gas cost, lodgings, and admissions to attractions.

Vacation “Trip Tracker” Students will track: each place to visit and the city location. types of attractions (Civil War site, Recreational, college, etc.). region where places are located. miles traveled each day. Sample Trip Tracker

Map of Virginia ( ) Students will use: stickers for marking the places visited. markers or highlighters to mark routes traveled.

Slideshow Students will: create a slideshow presentation of their vacation (title slide & 14 daily slides). include information on daily slides –day of trip, place visited, location, and region. include clipart and pictures of places they visit. keep a log of web sites used for research and pictures. “set up” show with transitions, special effects, sounds, automatic timing, etc. –(if time allows) Sample slideshow

Postcards Students will: create picture postcards of three vacation days (Civil War site, famous Virginian home, & recreational activity). include a message with at least three facts. use proper grammar, spelling, etc.

Digital Pictures Students will: use digital cameras to take one or two pictures of each other as if on vacation. use graphics software to edit picture. place picture in slideshow to “simulate” being on the vacation.

SOL’s Covered Reading –SOL 5.7 & 5.8 Writing –SOL 5.7, 5.8, & 5.9 Social Studies –VS1, VS2, VS6, VS7, VS10 Computer/Technology –C/T , 5.2, 5.4, 5.5, 5.6, 5.7, & 5.8

Project Resources Presentation handouts can be found via the web at Scroll to the title link: Virginia Virtual Vacation_Lisa Alconcel and Lauren Calcutt, Red Mill Elementary Contact Information: –Lisa Alconcel – Red Mill Elementary School, Computer Resource Specialist –Lauren Calcutt – Red Mill Elementary School, 5 th Grade Cluster Teacher