Here are 2 ideas for you:

1) Travel Brochure Pass out magazines, paper, markers, and crayons. Have the students briefly look through the pictures and get a little background on the country or area that they chose to study. Have students write descriptive sentences about the area that they chose and try to use all of their senses. Why would someone want to go there? Cut some photographs to write captions for and to illustrate their text. Create a travel brochure from a tri-fold piece of paper.

2) To: Learn how to revise descriptive writing into active voice by using cumulative knowledge from the year to produce a piece of fictional journalism.

Prep: Assemble file folders with color photos from magazines, printed offline, or from another source that you feel will inspire your desired results. The idea is to write a piece that will draw from the class' studies over a period of time. Include a dummy article layout with room for drawing and sketching. Write several paragraphs using passive voice to introduce the concept
(with an active voice comparison) and for the class to revise. Practice writing straight into the active voice to get into a groove before the lesson. (See Notes below for Terms)

Lesson guide: Start with an attention-grabbing introduction. (See Notes below) The introduction should include the opening of the folders and a complete explanation of the writing part of the project. Key elements: Student is a reporter who traveled to the place in the photo. Describe the people there the students' age with whom they spent time. Include elements you expect from the assignment. (See Applications below) Have students write first few paragraphs while you set up to display your prepared passive and active voice paragraphs. Compare qualities of the active vs. passive voices. Walk the students through revisions of your passive examples. Have the students revise their own first few paragraphs, and continue writing the article, trying to keep in the active voice. Encourage sketching on dummy article layout if the students are stumped on subject matter. End day's lesson by describing your intentions for the whole project.
(See Final Project Ideas)

Final Project Ideas: Put the writing with the drawings together as a book. (Publication, Donation, etc) Tri-fold displays for Parents' Night Include photos of their fictional mends (Computer manipulation, Dress- up, etc) Include elements from the subject(s) they drew upon for the writing, i.e. photos of leaves from the area, or toothpick models of the buildings the people built.
(See Apps)

Applications: Cumulative English: paragraph formation, sentence structure, word usage, parts of speech, paper structure, quotes, punctuation Science: nature, habitats, biomes, biology, food chains, agriculture, geography History: Event or everyday life of a specific period Social Science: civilization, anthropology, community, group work Art: photography, computer animation, painting/drawing, collage

Notes: Intro: Grover from Sesame Street is best for the young ages, who still watch, and the older ages, who remember the show with respect or humor. Middle grades may tend to feel belittled by a childish introduction. Project: Group work is the best for the project, but for the integrity of my presentation, it is independent. Everyone in the class goes home with a full example. Terms: Brush up using handout ftom OWL Passive voice uses fonns of the helping verb "BE": am is was were are been George was climbing the rocky cliff slowly. Active voice goes straight to the action verb. George climbed the rocky cliff slowly. Prep: I found National Geographies at the Salvation Anny for 15 cents each. Other thrift stores were asking 25, but I couldn't find any other titles of magazines. Each of the department offices at Mesa has a pile of books and magazines for ftee.

Original lesson: The journalism and production ideas came ftom a project ftom a high school assignment to write a "Year in Review" newspaper in groups. The Missouri Department of Conservation, who held a contest in 1994to write fiction, non-fiction, or poetry about a specific biome, incorporating many elements of earth and biological sciences, inspired the accumulation of subject matter:
(Likely an annual contest) My introduction and the story of the project comes ftom Grover on Sesame Street who "travels" to different places around the globe and describes how children ages 5-10 approach a specific element in their life, relating to their environment or society. For example, he reported on Trinidad where a girl aspired to dance on stilts, and he followed her story of practice and successes, ending with a traditional parade of people dancing on stilts in ornate costumes. I got my personal reftesher in active voice ftom OWL at Purdue University. The website is http://owl.english.purdue.edu, and the page is printed on the handout.