1. Conservation City Project!
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2. Conservation City Teacher Ideas
PROJECT DETAILS: This project involves students creating a “Green” City that focuses on using natural resources to stay environmentally friendly. Working in pairs or groups, the students will be in charge of designing a map of the city, writing a descriptive paragraph of the city , and generating a list of at least ten rules or laws that will help to create this environment. Students will present all of their work as a PowerPoint Presentation, model, video or poster that includes all the sources of alternative energy used and explained.
This project was originally created for a fifth grade class, but can easily be adapted to other grade levels (especially ones that are familiar with PowerPoint.)
This project has three main objectives:
To have students identify ways in which we can conserve energy.
To have students be inventive and creative and allow them to take initiatives into solving world problems.
To have students create a PowerPoint Presentation using clip art, animation, and design.
This project was designed to be used as a follow-up project to a series of lessons/ unit/ chapter pertaining to our Earth’s Natural Resources and Conservation. It was designed in such a way for students to be able to show what they had learned and to then go a step further by using their own ideas to help create a better world for us all.
This project works best for a class that is already familiar with the workings of PowerPoint. I used this with my class after we had done several other smaller presentations so that they were comfortable setting one up one their own. I have found that if you allow the students to use the design and animation tabs often enough, they will typically get to the point where they are teaching themselves new and more creative ideas each time.
I have the students brainstorm their ideas before going to the computer lab. It typically takes about a week for the students to create and then present their work.
FUN ADDITIONS FOR PRESENTATION DAY: 1. One of my groups handed out wearable circle pins that they covered with recycled paper and goods to advertise their city. Their classmates loved this “Go Green” Pin Another idea is to provide fresh food selections to munch on from your school or home gardens Create a stamp from recycled goods to give a “seal” of approval on their project rubrics. 4. Go one step further, have the students send in some of their ideas to your local and state representatives.
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CONSERVATION CITY PROJECT
Due ________________
The United States government has given you a large piece of land or area to establish an environmentally friendly city! Yes, it is time to go GREEN! Before you have people come and live there, you must come up with some laws or rules that will keep your city and its citizens environmentally safe. You also need to decide what type of natural resources you will use to power your city. You will present your work in a PowerPoint presentation. Follow these guidelines to make your presentation.
Step 1: Write the words to your presentation.
Slide 1: Title Page
Make sure to include the name of your proposed city and you, the chief designers.
Slide 2: Slogan or Motto
Think of a catchy slogan or motto for your town. Display it here on the second page. It will get us excited about your Conservation City.
Slide 4: Diagram or Map of your City
You will want to draw a map or diagram of your city on a sheet of 8x11 paper. Make sure to label your map and show the resources and places that you described in the previous slide. A map key or legend can be helpful. When this is completed, we will scan this onto the computer and paste it into your slide presentation.
Slide 3: Descriptive Paragraph
On this page, you will briefly describe what your city is like. Describe the type of terrain, or land. Tell what natural resources can be found in this area.
This slide and the following slide can be used as a hard-copy print out for the students to outline the project in detail.
Slides 5-14 (or more)
List the laws or rules that you will have that will make your city environmentally friendly. How will you keep your city “green?” Think about the air, land, and water. Include all the alternative sources of energy. Put one law per slide. Have an explanation for the law. Give a penalty for breaking the law.
Final Slide
End with a final thought that you want to leave your audience thinking about. This might involve your motto or slogan again.
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Step 2: Edit and Revise. Use vocabulary words. Look back over your work to proofread and check for misspelled words and proper grammar. Also check to see that you used vocabulary words from our lessons in science: Vocabulary words: Step 3: Clip Art Each of your slides should contain a piece of clip art to match the topic on the slide. The clip art on slide 4 is the actual map that you drew and scanned into the presentation. Step 4: Animation and Sound You can now spice up your work and make it exciting to look at. Add animation to your slides. You can do it for the entire slide or within the body of the slide with the text or clip art. If you would like to add sound, you can do that as well. Have fun with this, but make sure to have your entire presentation ready before playing around with the animation. Step 5: Practice Makes Perfect Now it is time to rehearse. Practice running through your presentation so that you can present it to the class without reading it word for word. When you give your presentation you will not want to stand in front of it, but instead you will stand to the side.
This is the back side of the student project guidelines handout. Fill in the vocabulary box with terms from the lessons that you are using to teach about conservation.
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CONSERVATION CITY RUBRIC Name __________________________
Requirements 5 4 3 2 1
Students created an illustrated map or model that clearly represents the model city (or island) that he/she created.
Students designed and described a city with resources that are important to the overall well-being of the residents of the city. (Title, Slogan, Descriptive Paragraph)
Students created a list of laws or guidelines (at least ten) that the city must follow in order to maintain an environmentally-friendly city. (Explanations and penalties included.)
Students displayed creativity, neatness, and order (took time) with their project. (Using animation, sound, design, and WordArt on PowerPoint.)
Students used proper grammar, punctuation, and spelling.
Students used vocabulary words from alternative sources of energy science lessons.
Students worked well together as a group. (Shared ideas, listened to one another, took turns working.)
Students presented their work to the class using eye contact and clarity.
TOTAL
This can be used for your grading rubric. It is helpful for the students to see the rubric before grading so that they can best see what they will be graded for.
5- Excellent Good Satisfactory Needs Improvement Unsatisfactory
 Additional Comments:
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The Name of Your City!
Chief Designers Here
This is the beginning of an example of what the conservation city report will look out. Use this is a guideline to present the idea of the project to the class.
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7. Put your catchy motto or slogan here!
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Description
Write a descriptive and persuasive paragraph that describes what your city is like.
What makes your city a special place?
How is it different from others?
Why is your city a green city? How and where are you using alternative sources of energy?
Why is it energy efficient?
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9. Copyright © Julie Weaver 2013
If you have a 2-D Drawing, you can scan your work and use it as a picture here! You can also make a model.
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10. Copyright © Julie Weaver 2013
This slide and the following one show examples of student created maps from my class.
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Law #1- Name it.
Explain exactly what you mean. Name your law and explain how why it is helpful to the city. List a penalty or fine for breaking the rule. (Be creative and think green for the penalties. Remember you are the leader of this new city and you need to be just and fair.)
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Laws #2-10
Put one law on each slide. Add clip art to enhance the slide after you have completed your slides.
I CHALLENGE YOU TO DO MORE THAN 10!- Can you do 20? 20 is the maximum!
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Final Thoughts
Write something hear that will leave your audience thinking more about your idea. Seeing your motto again here can help.
This is the final page of the example PowerPoint to give to your students.
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