Classroom Ideas
The First Americans
Native American Groups
Divide the class into groups. Assign each group a Native American tribe. Each group will research their tribe and make a presentation to the rest of the class. Topics will include homes, food, daily activities, clothing, etc.
Cloze Practice
A cloze piece has full sentences used in the virtual field trip with blanks where students can write in the information that is missing. This task requires close listening to the trip in order to complete it.
Coral reefs are the _______ type of ecosystem in the world. They’ve been around for over _____ million years.
Answers: oldest; 240
Alternatively, you could have students create 5-10 cloze statements and they could share those with the class.
A third alternative is to distribute the cloze worksheets before watching the video. Students can fill them in as they watch.
Art and Social Studies
Use various materials to create a small-scale home for a group of Native Americans, e.g. a wigwam. Can be done in groups.
Explore Vocabulary
Identify key vocabulary terms while previewing each video. Prompt students to find the meaning of each word as they watch the video. Example: What do the words bartering and artifact mean? Think about the meaning of this word as you watch this video.
Create Quizzes
Students create a quiz based on the information presented for their peers. This can be used as a review for a test, or class activity where students are responsible for teaching other students assigned topics.
Visual Learning
Offer videos to struggling learners as another form of accessing information and creating knowledge.