Unit Overview: In this interdisciplinary unit students will study the history of their town in a variety of ways and compare that history to the history of the state of Maine and to present day Bowdoinham.

The Bowdoinham History Unit is done by fourth graders. There are two classes that do the unit at the same time. Although the unit works with the specific history of Bowdoinham, the activities could be used in a similar unit about other towns or cities. The materials with minor adaptations could be used at any grade level from grades 4 through 8. I have used this unit at the end of the year and have used it over a six to eight week period.

The unit starts out with 3-5 web search activities to give the kids an overview of the history of Bowdoinham. The kids learn some basics of Bowdoinham history by going to the Bowdoinham History Web Page that I have created over the last couple of years. The page links to category pages that each may have several articles on that subject. The first searches that the kids do are directed to a single article. As they learn to navigate the pages they are asked to select which article on the page they think might contain the required information. Each time the kids start a new type of search, they work in teams of two and after that they usually work by themselves, although an adaptation for kids who do not read well is to remain with a partner.

Next the kids work on time lines of both Bowdoinham and Maine history. They use the Bowdoinham Web pages to work on the Bowdoinham part and two web sites on Maine history and the book From Sea to Shining Sea to find the facts on Maine. Each child selects five facts that they think would fit on the Bowdoinham time line and five facts that they think should go on the Maine time line. They need to justify why they think their facts should be included. Then the construction of two parallel time lines begins using the same time intervals. The resulting time lines are displayed and comparisons of the two histories can be made from that point on in the unit. Differentiation activities include adding art to the time line and setting up the framework of the time lines.

After that the kids develop a pamphlet about Bowdoinham. Half of the kids do a pamphlet about historical Bowdoinham and half will do one on modern Bowdoinham. The assignment asks them to create either an 1850 Bowdoinham Pamphlet or a Present Day Bowdoinham Pamphlet. A product descriptor is given to the students describing what they need to do on the different sections of their pamphlet. The kids need to do five different activities depending on whether they are doing the modern or the historical pamphlet. Information is gathered from the Bowdoinham History site. Next the information is edited and the kids word process it into three columns in Claris Works. At this point they cut and paste to get the pamphlet looking just right and print them. Color is added and the pamphlets are completed. These are displayed and saved for the presentations to the parents. Students are evaluated on a rubric.

The students next do two different maps of Bowdoinham ( one historical and one modern). The first map shows Bowdoinham in 1800. They include the surrounding towns, several prominent physical features, and finally they color them. The present day map has similar directions, but the town boundaries are very different and the kids can easily see how the town has changed physically. There is also a lesson about why early towns in Maine developed along rivers.

Following that the next activity is to interview two adults who live in town. The kids find how long the people have lived in town, how long they have lived in the state of Maine, some things that they like about living in town and any disadvantages that they see to living in Bowdoinham. The data is compiled for display. Graphs are made during computer lab time showing why people like living in Bowdoinham using spreadsheet. Special education students are guided to school personnel who live in the town. Talented students compile data to present to the class.

The next activity is a walk around Bowdoinham.. The kids took notes on the walk and later wrote descriptions of the different places that were described. They also helped to find the locations of the places to be put on an interactive map. The map that they came up with was scanned and I created links from the map to the student descriptions.

The culminating activity is a project that the kids build about some aspect of Bowdoinham history. The kids are given a list of 40 possible activities and encouraged to look outside this list if they would like. The projects reflect several hours of student work. The writing component documents what the kids have done and adds details about their aspect of Bowdoinham history. They are asked to revise this writing and to do the final draft on the computer. They are also given a lesson on how to cite various resources.

The project and the writing are actually introduced early in the unit and the final products and accompanying written report is presented first to the class, then to the school, and then to parents and other interested townspeople. The evening celebration has been very well attended, not just by parents, but by the community at large. Last year's celebration is documented on the Bowdoinham History Web site. (www.col.k12.me.us/bhm/bhmhis)

Enrichment activities, beside differentiated assignments during the unit, included constructing an on line interactive history quiz, interviewing a town elder, and organizing presentations for the Bowdoinham History Night.

This unit covers many of the language arts and social studies standards and therefore I feel that it is a good use of student time. In addition to the standards met, the students use technology to find information about their town and contribute to the history site, use a variety of activities that lend themselves to many different learning styles, and involve the community in the unit. One unique thing about this unit is the tie from local to state history and the tie from local history to the present.

I believe that the unit aligns well with many of the state and local standards in social studies and language arts. I have only mentioned three as required in the application, but there are others that could easily have been used. The activities in the unit are varied and encourage student creativity. During the unit, we use parent and community volunteers to help students achieve the objectives.

The assessment for the writing section is done with the project rubric. Students rate themselves and then the teacher rates the kids on the selected criteria. The time line is assessed through the student fact sheet and the reasons that the kids give for including their fact and the construction of the actual time line.

In conclusion, I feel that this unit does many things. It uses technology effectively. It encourages a variety of learning styles. It meets many standards. It met the needs of a variety of student abilities. It drew many community members into our school, and lastly it was a lot of fun for the students and teachers.